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Roger Sotherton (above) was a business partner of John Donovan and a key director of the promotional games company Don Marketing throughout the years in the 1980s and 1990s when it devised a host of promotional games for Royal Dutch Shell, including the award-winning game, “Make Money”.
REGULARLY UPDATED: Links to over 500 articles (and radio and TV broadcasts) by a host of publishers including the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires, Bloomberg, New York Times, CNBC, Forbes etc. Plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission website, legal documents filed in the U.S. Courts, all containing references to the Donovan’s, their Shell related websites, or their former company, Don Marketing. Includes newspaper and magazine articles, newsletters, video clip links and interview transcripts. All in date order. In addition, there are references to our websites and/or our activities, published in over 100 books. In all, over 550 externally published references to date including articles originated by news agencies such as Reuters or Dow Jones, syndicated to a variety of individual publishers such as the New York Times or The Washington Post. Plus over 60,000 Shell related articles published on our own Shell focussed websites.
By Alfred Donovan
Our High Court action in April 1994 against Shell UK Limited in respect of the Shell Make Money promotion, provides a clear example of bullying, double-dealing and deception by Shell in its dealings with our company, Don Marketing.
In June 1993, Andrew Lazenby, the Shell executive who masterminded the serial theft of intellectual property from companies disclosing proprietary information to Shell, raised the subject of Shell Make Money in conversation with us, as did his boss, David Watson. This was a promotion to which we held joint rights with Shell.
For the record, the promotional theme was developed in association with CBH & Partners and used an on-label game technique pioneered by Don Marketing for which a UK patent has now been granted.
Don Marketing directors from the left, John Donovan (Chairman), Roger Sotherton (Marketing Director) and John Chambers, Managing Director. Photograph taken at Don Marketing Chelmsford UK offices in 1983, with Shell Singapore Make Money poster in background.
Don Marketing Managing Director John Chambers photographed on Shell forecourt during the spectacularly successful Shell Make Money game in 1984.
Fast flowing Don: Marketing Magazine 16 February 1984
Shell Make Money full page advert: Daily Express 21 February 1984
Three Don Marketing directors, from the left John Donovan, Roger Sotherton and John Chambers at launch of Cinzano Instant Roulette Game in or around 1983. The worlds first scratch off competition game on a bottle label.
Same Don Marketing directors, John Donovan, John Chambers and Roger Sotherton, with John Chambers centre.
Don Marketing directors John Chambers (left) and John Donovan photograph taken in or around 1983
Related articles
Cinzano Instant Roulette Bottle Label Game
If you’ve gotta lotta bottles…: Don Marketing Cinzano Game advert, Campaign Magazine 30 September 1983
A recent, highly successful scratch card promotion was The Great Guinness Challenge' conceived by Don Marketing for London-based Allen Brady & Marsh and its client Guinness.
Don Marketing stand at a sales promotion exhibition held in or around 1982. Back row, from the left, Roger Sotherton, Marketing Director, Valerie Hewitt, Office Manager, and Ken Brown, Operations Director. Front row left, John Donovan, Chairman and to his right, John Chambers, Managing Director.
Mr Roy Rochford, joint founder of Rochford Thompson security printers, visits Don Marketing exhibition stand in or around 1979. To his left is Don Marketing co-founder John Donovan, and to the right of Mr Rochford is Roger Sotherton, Don Marketing Marketing Director.
HRH Princess Margaret opening new Rochford Thompson security printers premises in Hambridge Road, Newbury Berks in 1979. Rochford Thompson joint founder, Mr Ron Thompson, is the person standing immediately to the left of HRH Princess Margaret.
Mr Roy Rochford (centre), joint founder of Rochford Thompson security printers, visiting a Don Marketing stand at a sales promotion exhibition held in or around 1979. A founder of Don Marketing, John Donovan is the person on the left and Roger Sotherton, Don Marketing Marketing Director, is the person on the right of Roy Edward Rochford.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell-focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.website publishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA – HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. 
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission website etc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
