The
Direct Marketing Creative Dream Team:
Bill Jayme and Heikki Ratalahti
When Bill Jayme ran out of money while attending Princeton,
little did he know that his next step – becoming a messenger for
Young & Rubicam on Madison Avenue in new York, would be the start
of one of the world's most brilliant careers - and a new way of approaching
direct mail and marketing. It was right after his time at Y&R that
Fred Johnson (yes, the Johnson Box guy!) offered Bill work in the circulation
department for Time-Life.
It was in this environment that Bill Jayme perfected his exquisite narrative
style in his “cool Friday” letter, an evocative and graceful
correspondence – real correspondence!! – that seduced his reader
into continuing the relationship with Time Life.
After becoming a hot commodity at Time Life, Bill was lured to CBS as
copy chief, where he continued his stream of breakthrough work. Then after
a brief and miserable stint at McCann-Erickson, he took off for Europe
to decide his destiny. Old mentor Fred Johnson made the most brilliant
suggestion: become a freelancer.
It was not until 1962 that Bill met his ultimate creative partner, and
the one who would complete his life as well, Heikki Ratalahti. After enduring
countless designers and art directors who just couldn’t understand
Bill’s brand of salesmanship by mail, Ratalahti was the perfect designer,
a good listener who understood the human spirit and was the ultimate visual
communicator. Together they changed the face of direct mail through the
60's, 70's and 80's prior to Bill's retirement in the early 90's.
Through the years, Jayme’s impeccable instinct for human nature and
life led him to create some of the most powerful and most intimate of
correspondences in the history of direct marketing. Clients like Bon Appetit,
Cooking Light, Mother Jones and many more benefited from his artistry.
Who can forget the famous “Do you close the bathroom door even when
there’s no one home” headline of Psychology today’s subscription
package?
As Bill said in the talk he gave for many years to DM clubs, the outer
envelope was truly the ‘hot pants on the hooker’ when he created
it. A colorful way to turn a phrase, and accurate! Over the three decades
that Bill Jayme and Heikki Ratalahti worked as a team, some of the most
colorful and colorfully worded marketing in history hit the mailboxes.
Many think of that time as the golden age of direct mail - particularly
since today many writers don't even understand how to write a compelling
letter! Those who do, we salute you. And those who do are now saluting
the great Bill Jayme.
For more on Bill Jayme, who we mourned the loss of only a few years past,
an excellent article is available at www.napco.com,
in Target Marketing.
