I don’t watch much tv, but when I do watch TV, its Mad Men. Of course I love Mad Men. I am in the business of marketing, advertising, and design. And who doesn’t love a stylish, scandalous TV show that seems more like a movie?

Mad Men

 

I was lucky enough to be introduced to Mad Men by the very talented Adam Rowe. Adam was working on the set of Mad Men as it was in its infancy and told me I needed to watch. He was right. Adam is now the Art Director of the hit TV show Dexter and was recently on board at Criminal Minds.

 

Mad Men is fascinating.The culture and lifestyle of the advertising executive has to be well, somewhat different today than it was in the 1960’s, but is it? Lets compare and contrast how advertising in the 1960’s compared to today:

 

Then: Word of mouth advertising was prominent. You had radio, tv and your friends and family as resources for information on what to buy. People would talk to each other about what they saw on TV or heard on the radio.

NOW: Word of mouth advertising is STILL the best way to get known. The exciting thing is, social media is really just word of mouth advertising on steroids! Every “like”, share or comment on Facebook is like a little endorsement for a person, place or product!

volkswagen

Isn’t this intriguing? The Volkswagen company actually advertised that the car was ugly.

Then: Advertising executives and marketers wined and dined their potential clients and business deals were made over a glass of well, anything…

 

NOW: Meeting in person with clients is still the most important thing, but in order to get those meetings may be a little harder. Everyone does their homework before getting to know someone. Everyone. There are plenty of platforms to check out a prospect before deciding to meet, Facebook, LinkedIN, the company website, Twitter, Youtube, the list goes on. Make sure that the way you are found online, and what your potential client finds before they meet you – is strong and on message with your brand.

 

 

Then: Creative departments used a pencil and a piece of paper to flush out designs before creating them in print or TV campaigns.

NOW: Well I wont write the above sentence verbatim but the same goes today. The creative process starts with a brilliant idea, moves to pencil and paper, or cocktail napkin or something similar.

So get inspired, go watch Mad Men and call me in the morning.

Truthfully,

Amanda