It has been a while since a television program has triggered the equivalent of “water cooler” conversation. Today, the discussions are happening online. The rallying point is the beginning of the fourth season of AMC’s Mad Men.
For those of you not hip to Mad Men, you can learn about it here:.
The first show this season opened with Don Draper being interviewed by a reporter from Ad Age (“Who is Donald Draper?”).
Rance Crain of Ad Age wrote an interesting story that described what it was like being a reporter for Ad Age in 1964.
Here are a few excerpts:
…I was a member of the Ad Age editorial staff in Washington, New York and Chicago in the ’60s and, heaven help us, we would knock down walls to be the first to report a big account change, major product introduction or agency startup.
…We’d come to work in at least a sports jacket or suit and tie-we had to be ready to have interviews with ad bigwigs-and we did a lot of lunches, but they were of the relationship-building kind, where we’d try to get in good with our sources.
As interesting as Crain’s story was, I found the comments even more so. For example, one person linked over to an ad from 1964 for Chevrolet’s 1965 line-up of cars.
I am glad I had a chance to hang out at Ad Age’s virtual water cooler and look forward to doing it again really soon.
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