Thoughts on season 2 of Mad Men

I just finished watching the season two finale of Mad Men. Here are some thoughts about the show, the characters and story lines as we look forward to a third season at some point next year:

Plot Twist #1
Will the birth of Draper kid #3 compel Don to open up his closet and let out the skeletons with his wife? I imagine the convo going something like this:

Don: "So Bets, you know that I was in the war and was injured. Well, Some other dude got whacked and I took his dog collars. The powers that be thought I was him and I took the opportunity to ditch my crazy hillbilly life to take on the persona of thus guy named Don Draper."

Bets: "Oh Don, that's ok. I finally got back at you by sleeping with some random dude at a bar. And oh yea, I MIGHT be going a little insane from living in this dream world."

Plot Twist #2

Pete Campbell is finally going to snap. He's going to empty a couple of shot gun shells into his father-in-law. I can hear Pete now:

"So, you want to pull your account? Well, let me know how buckshot tastes in your teeth before you give me your answer."

Plot Twist #3

Don is going to bitch-slap Duck. It'll go something like this:

Don: "So, you think you're running things around here huh?"

Duck: "Yea, that's right. Got beef with that?"

Don: "No. How about we go out for a drink and celebrate your kingdom over this place."

Duck: "Sounds like a plan."

The next scene Don is shown hooking Duck up with a couple laced high balls. Quick cut to the next scene where Duck is standing on top of a roof top screaming, "I'm a golden god..." Then he jumps off the roof and then Don's promoted to president.

Plot Twist #4

Peggy is tried of all the man-handling that her and the ladies receive in the office. She organizes a revolt with Big Red and they trap all the men inside the conference room with only rice and water to eat. After months of captivation, the men come out crying like school girls. PR/Advertising is never the same as women rule the workplace.

Plot Twist #5
The television market explodes and a new product comes on the scene - personal computers. Don creates something called the World Wide Web and has the foresight to talk about something called social media.

The media/PR/advertising landscape changes forever and Madison Avenue days become a relic, sort of like newspapers.

What do you think? Am I close with any of these predictions? Read more!

Am I a Mad Man?

A colleague of mine hit me off about a show called "Mad Men." Yes, that show. The one that everyone seems to be talking about - well at least those in the PR/ad business. I caught a glimpse of the first episode of season two on Sunday and was instantly hooked. I decided download the entire season 1 to catch up. I mostly found it interesting because I'm in the same line of business. So I thought to myself, am I a Mad Man?

I plan on blogging my thoughts on the episodes and how they relate to the PR business. Here are my first reactions of season 1, episode 1.

Lung Cancer Anyone?
MAN, do the smoke a lot. I'm surprised the actors haven't gotten lung cancer already.

Male Domination
It amazes me how male dominated the business was back then. When I say dominate, I mean dominate. I couldn't believe what the male characters (and even the female characters) were saying to the ladies in the office. There's NO WAY that stuff would fly in the current working environment. These days, the PR business is dominated by women. At each of the agencies I've worked for, women far out numbered the men. And in terms of the environment being PC...for the most part it is. There tends to be a bit more openness to wise cracks, off-color remarks, etc. in the PR business than on the client side (I've worked both). So that really hasn't changed since the time frame of Mad Men, but it's most definitely NOT the same.

Race Card
At one point, the team needed a Jewish person to chum up the cigarette exec who was coming in for a meeting (apparently the exec was Jewish). They ended up pulling a kid up from the mail room. Imagine pulling a stunt like that these days? Hey, let's grab Martelli. He's an Italian. He likes pasta. He'd be perfect for this Barilla pitch. Maybe this has turned into the best practices approach where you find the best person for the team based on experience and obviously NOT on ethnicity or religious background.

Positioning
- The first episode deals with a mental block Don, the main character, is having around a campaign for Lucky Strikes cigarettes. Basically, all the health concerns are legit and are hurting the business. He can't figure out a way around the road block. This happens often in PR where you're faced with a stumbling block that is irrefutable, but has to be defeated because that's what your clients are paying you to do. There's always a way to spin something. Don the genius, as I'll call him, gets around the health issues by realizing that hey, all of the cigarette makers are up against the same problem. Let's move in another direction. He then comes up with the concept, "Lucky Strikes: It's Toasted." The idea here is that Lucky had to own something in order to get their customers to continue to buy the brand. What were they going to own? If all cigarettes are the same, what can we say that sets us apart? While other cigarettes are poisonous, Lucky's are toasted.

We do this all the time in PR. We find a way around tough points as they relate to a brand and develop talking points that resonate with audiences. I realize that most of the time we're dealing with non-life threatening products/services/campaigns, but the idea generation concept and messaging exercise is the same regardless of the client.

All in all, I'm find the show to be entertaining, insightful (as to the early days of our business) and captivating. I'm sure it'll get smutty at times, but I'm looking forward to all the PR/Advertising concept talk, crisis stuff (if there is any), positioning discussions, banter between co-workers, etc. It's similar to the movie "The Paper" with Michael Keaton. As a former reporter, I was dying to see that movie, especially if it depicted the journo life accurately (IMO it did).

This closes the Mad Men, Season 1, Episode 1 recap.
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