Mad As Ever

Anyone who's spent any time in the advertising business has by now seen, if not at least heard of, the TV show "Mad Men," AMC's hit drama about big-time advertising in the 1960s. I tuned in to watch season one and have not missed an episode since (FYI, it's wrapping up season three now!) It's easy to get caught up in the drama, especially if you've worked in a big-time ad agency -- and most especially if you lived through any of the "good ole days" when you could pull off a three-network TV buy and block the entire nation. I admit it. I've been around long enough to make that claim. I started out in Dallas at Bozell & Jacobs in 1979, when UHF channels were still the biggest threat to ABC, NBC and CBS. Everyone in the agency was apt to have a bottle of hard liquor tucked away in a desk drawer, and secretaries typed hand-written copy, supplied by copywriters, to prepare clean text for client presentations. I remember witnessing in amazement my first facsimile transmission and sitting in a training session to learn about the proper care and handling of floppy disks. The business has come a long, long way since then. But some things haven't changed. Big ideas are still the stock and trade of a winning agency. Clients continue to be fickle and demanding. And the creative team is as mad as ever. In many ways, advertising today is nothing more than the latest season of "the good ole days."