The Senior Creative People discuss Mad Men. I read and pass on some of blogger Nelle Engeron’s observations. The theme that recurs -- in the midst of the highest standards of creativity we see in the show (and Nelle’s synopses) -- is the lack of creativity in the agency’s product. “The Work” sucks.
In the May 13 episode it seems to be both nastily and nicely put into context. Pete rails because the hour he spent with a Times reporter yields no mention in the published piece. He jolts Don Draper out of bed who opens the magazine to the story. The most noticeable ad by far on the page is Volkswagen.
I recall a line Don fires at Pete: “Don’t bother me with your failures”. In The Times’ context there’s a good chance that The Work is the reason why SCDP didn’t make it. Hacks are not “hip” and SCDP’s mediocrity is on the CD’s head.
Critiques of the ad product are frequent and usually sharp in the blog's Comments. The story invites us into The Work. One viewer saw Don as “a corny old geezer” with a corny campaign. I’ll buy his “corny” campaign comment but he missed the mark with that “geezer” thing. The fact that Don is a hack has nothing to do with his age.
In the May 13 episode it seems to be both nastily and nicely put into context. Pete rails because the hour he spent with a Times reporter yields no mention in the published piece. He jolts Don Draper out of bed who opens the magazine to the story. The most noticeable ad by far on the page is Volkswagen.
I recall a line Don fires at Pete: “Don’t bother me with your failures”. In The Times’ context there’s a good chance that The Work is the reason why SCDP didn’t make it. Hacks are not “hip” and SCDP’s mediocrity is on the CD’s head.
Critiques of the ad product are frequent and usually sharp in the blog's Comments. The story invites us into The Work. One viewer saw Don as “a corny old geezer” with a corny campaign. I’ll buy his “corny” campaign comment but he missed the mark with that “geezer” thing. The fact that Don is a hack has nothing to do with his age.
Also, the fact that I'm almost twice the Don character's age may be a trigger point here.
But here's the real point: This is not a show about a great agency or great creative work, it’s about wonderful characters beautifully detailed in a finely-etched setting. SCDP could be the Ted Bates of its time. In the 60s Ted's name alone horrified more good creative people than Norman of the same surname. Does anyone remember the little Bufferin “Bs” threading their way through a crudely-animated digestive tract ahead of Aspirin “As”?
That commercial generated more headaches than it helped cure.
Mad Men is a well-told tale about an ad agency with a consistently poor-to-mediocre creative product. That means The Work is tailor-made to the firm.
Someday, when we have the time, the Senior Creative People will take a shot at a campaign for an SCDP pitch. I’ll post it here.
We’ll let this audience of consumers (of the show) be the judges.
But here's the real point: This is not a show about a great agency or great creative work, it’s about wonderful characters beautifully detailed in a finely-etched setting. SCDP could be the Ted Bates of its time. In the 60s Ted's name alone horrified more good creative people than Norman of the same surname. Does anyone remember the little Bufferin “Bs” threading their way through a crudely-animated digestive tract ahead of Aspirin “As”?
That commercial generated more headaches than it helped cure.
Mad Men is a well-told tale about an ad agency with a consistently poor-to-mediocre creative product. That means The Work is tailor-made to the firm.
Someday, when we have the time, the Senior Creative People will take a shot at a campaign for an SCDP pitch. I’ll post it here.
We’ll let this audience of consumers (of the show) be the judges.
Love your stuff, Chuck. I was never good enough to escape Grey, which I entered in 1974. My art partner, Tony Romeo, left me to go there, and had a distinguished career. I wish you guys all the luck in the world. If you ever need any help, I'm still hacking away. wwwfrankizzowriter.com
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