Mad Men

People are always asking me what I think of Mad Men. That’s because for the last three or four years I’ve included a section in my presentations about the history of advertising creatives, and a big chunk of it focuses on the era Mad Men inhabits.

Now everybody thinks I do it because of Mad Men.

Someone left a comment on an Ad Age article that sums up my take on the show.  It went something like this:

“Mad Men is as much about the advertising industry as The Godfather was about the mafia.”

Great movies, The Godfather I & II. Classic tragedy, genius movie making. And I enjoy Mad Men.

However, as a rule I’m not a big soap opera fan – and Mad Men is primetime soap. My guess is that only about a fifth or sixth or less of screen time has anything to do with the wonderful world of advertising. Mostly it’s steamy bubbles. 

And that's fine. Probably better. It's sumptuously produced dark froth, brilliantly performed.  At times it morphs into classic tragedy and very good theatre.  Just as often it sinks into cliché silliness. 

Partly to ride the crest of the show’s success and partly to defend the industry, The One Club (along with The New York Public Library) is sponsoring an exhibition titled The Real Men and Women of Madison Avenue and their Impact on American Culture. AdRants’ Angela Natividad was there for the opening and has a fascinating take on it all. 

While it wouldn’t make good soap – Leo Burnett, Rosser Reeves, David Ogilvy, Shirley Polykoff, Bernice Fitz-Gibbons, Mary Wells Lawrence, Bill Bernbach, George Lois, and others were infinitely more interesting than the stereotypical characters on Mad Men. A series inspired by the lives and work of these real life ad folks would entertain me a lot more. Drama?  Sure. Comedy? Oh, yes.     

However, Mad Men doesn't pretend to be about the greats of 1950s/60s advertising – but about  the others who worked in the industry.  Your normal neurotic types.  They also represent a dying breed. If the series plays out with any nod to reality, they'll be picked off one by one.     

So enjoy Mad Men. Sterling and Cooper are good godfathers. Dan Draper is a good Michael Corleone. Pete makes a good Fredo. Betty is the perfect Kay.

And those creative team hit men do scare the bejesus out of me.

Obsessive Branding Disorder

I linked to a piece in The Huffington Post awhile back because it was about one of my favorite subjects:

What's a Little Marketing Between Friends?
By Lucas Conley

... When marketers mingle among consumers, the results are often more artifice than advertising. Posing as consumers and littering the Internet with bogus comments and reviews, today's unscrupulous marketers champion their wares via fake blogs ("flogs"), artificial grass-roots campaigns ("astroturf"), and surreptitious product placements in every corner of new media.

Then a few months ago I heard about a soon-to-be-released book by Mr. Conley:

Obsessive Branding Disorder

The world is more branded than ever before: Americans encounter anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 ads a day. Increasingly, brands vie for our attention from insidious angles that target our emotional responses (scent, taste, sound, and touch).

That's another subject I've written and talked about. In my book there's a chapter titled The Branding Circus. It's the one that unnerves ad and marketing folks the most. So you can imagine what they'll think of a book thoroughly researched (and thoroughly entertaining) that's all about branding and how dumb it's become.

Lucas Conley takes on even another subject I've discussed now and then: product placement (aka Madison & Vine). Here are a couple of blog comments from 2005 where I yack about all three subjects. (Scroll for the second one.)

So ... Mr. Conley of Fast Company is fast becoming a fast hero of mine.

Obsessive Branding Disorder is required reading. Even more impressive: it's fun reading. A business book with twists and turns, shocks and surprises? Trust me, they're there.

Also, keep an eye on the author's blog.

No doubt Obsessive Branding Disorder will get the "Nyren Bump" courtesy of this post. The book will skyrocket on the bestseller lists. However, less astute media and marketing analysts will likely attribute this sharp rise in sales to Mr. Conley's appearance on The Colbert Report tonight. Pure hogwash. It'll all be thanks to me.

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Full Obfuscation: Did the author send me a free copy of his book? I'm not telling.
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Next Day Update:

July: Unused Ether

Miscellany I didn't get around to blogging this month because I was too busy or too lazy:

Sense of Style: The entertainment industry is finally noticing women over 40

Are you missing out on the boomer market?

In Act 2 of Life, Doing Work That Matters

Baby boomers and seniors volunteering for Peace Corps in bigger numbers

Communes for grownups: Co-housing for Boomers a growing trend

The Graying of the Great Powers

Dick Stroud writes: Engaging with the over-50s: It's about lifestyle not age!

Yours Truly quoted (more or less accurately, a few points perhaps taken out of context): Baby boomers become the forgotten consumer (The Kansas City Star)
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June: Unused Ether

Inter-ActiveAge

ActiveAge.org is a virtual think tank and consortium of organizations involved with aging issues in The U.K. - specifically Scotland. 

My book Advertising to Baby Boomers has been selected as a reference.  It's in heady company.

Read about ActiveAge - and it's connection to the work and philosophy of Dr. Joseph Coughlin.

While much of the content is password protected, click around the site.  There are a dozen or so PDFs available to the public.
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And minutes after I post the above - a fun, fascinating interview with Dr. Coughlin pops up on The Boston Globe web site:

Answers on Aging

Too busy to blog.

And I will be for a week or two.  So read some other blogs:

Brent Green screams about small fonts and even smaller minds at REI.

I like this post by Mark Miller because I talk about the same stuff in my presentations:

What’s interesting here is that most traditional media continues to run away from valuable older audiences.

I likewise talk about what Carol Orsborn is ranting about:

I wonder how many marketers get lost in the forest of the 50+ wilderness of nuances and terminologies, decide that these demographics don’t respond to advertising and decide to target their efforts to younger consumers?

Dick Stroud is fiddling with Google Ad Planner.  I signed up - but don't have the patience.

Jane Sarasohn-Kahn starts off talking about the Ad Age piece by Peter Francese - and ends up talking about my book.

Carol at MarketingHerbs likes the first four chapters of my book.  I warn her to stop reading.

Matt Thornhill will rag on me if I don't link to him.

and ...

Lucas Conley says he's sending me a copy of his book.  Do you think I'll like it?