A Man Comes Back to Life, Almost Literally, in Duracell's Beautiful Ad About Hearing Loss

Mad Men ended a year ago, but John Slattery, aka Roger Sterling from the AMC agency drama, is keeping a hand in the ad game, providing a voiceover for this Duracell spot tied to National Hearing Month.

Slattery delivers his lines near the end of the two-minute-plus commercial, created by Anomaly to tout Duracell’s hearing-aid batteries.

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Mad Men Is Auctioning a Chararacter's Suicide Rope and These 9 Other Weird Props

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner was nothing if not detail-oriented—each scene had to have the right wardrobe, furniture, tchotchkes, and so forth, for the time period—so it makes sense that at the end of the show’s seven-season run there would be quite a few props leftover.

Roughly 1,400 items are currently up for auction on Screenbid until Aug. 6, and they range from iconic and practical to altogether odd. (Sadly Ginsberg’s nipple isn’t for sale.) 

Here are the weirdest (and yes, there will be spoilers for those who haven’t watched all the way through):

Lane’s Rope — $225

Description: “It all became too much for Lane. He was found in his office late in season five, hanging from this rope just inside the door.” 

Only someone who’s a fan of the macabre would want this. 

Ken’s Eye Patch — $200

 

Description: “The things Ken Cosgrove did for his clients. In the twelfth episode of season six, he returns to the office wearing this eye patch, after a duck hunting trip with his clients at Chevrolet results in him accidentally being shot in the face.” 

Just think about how much sweat from actor Aaron Staton’s face is on that patch. 

Roger’s LSD Sugar Cane Tray — $300 

Description: “Yes, you too can imagine you’re watching the 1919 World Series! From a bathtub! While on LSD! This Suisse Langenthal ceramic plate with golden-colored plating was used to serve Roger and his wife LSD in the sixth episode of season five.” 

If you’re looking to have a trip like Roger, purchasing this tray isn’t the way to do it. Plus, this is certainly more expensive.  

Duck’s Duck Print — $175 

Description: “Herman ‘Duck’ Phillips took his nickname seriously. This is one of two large, framed duck prints we found in his office.”

Duck’s drinking problem makes more and more sense. 

Sally’s Psychiatric Evaluation Folder — $125

Description: “Sally Draper needs a shrink… or so her mother is convinced. Sally exhibits some disturbing behavior in the fifth episode of season four and Betty wastes no time trying to find out what is happening to her little girl. Here is a black folder containing young Sally’s psychiatric evaluation by Dr. Edna Keener.” 

Yes, the psychiatric evaluation of a fictional teenage character is valued at $125. 

Don’s Note to Megan on Whale Picture — $325

Description: “In the ninth episode of season five, Betty discovers this drawing of a harpooned whale (“Why is he smiling?”) and a note from Don to Megan on the back (“Lovely Megan …”). This leads Betty to reveal part of Don’s past to Sally.” 

While the note did factor into the show’s plot in a major way, the actual whale drawing, credited to a young Bobby Draper, really isn’t much better than any other small child would do. 

Joan’s Ceramic Clown in Frame — $100  

Description: “This ceramic Chinese girl sits alone in a black frame, with no back cover. An interesting piece that belonged to Joan.” 

Not even the auctioneers knew how to sell this one. And no one should ever own clown art, even if it belonged to Joan Harris.

Playtex Media Plans —$125

Description: “‘Playtex protects a woman’s touch,’ some excellent work from Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s star copywriter Peggy Olson. Here are two of the Playtex Media Plans offered to executives in season four episode eleven of ‘Mad Men.'”

These might be a good investment, if you had a one-on-one pitch meeting with Peggy.  

Don’s Why I’m Quitting Tobacco Newspaper Ad — $3600

Description: “It’s among the more memorable moments in the entire run of “Mad Men.” In the 12th episode of season four, without informing the other partners, Don pens the letter ‘Why I’m Quitting Tobacco,’ which is placed as a full-page ad in the Sept. 16, 1965 edition of The New York Times.” 

Buying this piece of memorabilia isn’t all that odd but its price sure is. 

Don’s Typed Pages About Advertising  $950

Description: “‘It’s bigger than a car. It’s everything.’ In the eighth episode of season six, Don typed this rambling page of thoughts on advertising while in a drug-induced haze.” 

We watched Don Draper pontificate about the ad business for seven seasons. Is it really worth buying a printed version of his Jack Kerouac-esq ramblings, too? 

At Mad Men’s End, Don Draper Finds Himself In Perfect Harmony

Don Draper and company have made their last ad. After seven seasons on AMC, Mad Men is done. Jon Hamm, the actor who portrayed Don Draper, spoke to the New York Times today about the show’s ambiguous conclusion. “My take is that, the next day, he (Don) wakes up in this beautiful place, and has […]

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Don Draper About To Board A Bus To His Future (Will Advertising Be In It?)

The last episode of the final season of Mad Men airs Sunday night. AMC’s seven season human drama set inside an advertising agency is a wrap. How is the show going to end? Don Draper, the show’s central character is presently lost in the middle of America. He’s waiting for a bus on a country […]

The post Don Draper About To Board A Bus To His Future (Will Advertising Be In It?) appeared first on AdPulp.

Your New Favorite Tumblr Shows What Mad Men Would Be Like in the Digital Age

Mad Men may be over, but it’s sure to live on forever in our hearts—and our animated GIFs.

An entertaining Tumblr, Mad Men Integrated, imagines what the show might look like in today’s digitally fueled agency environment.

Making light of digital strategy jargon might seem like low-hanging fruit—the word hashtag is immediately funny in this context—but the whole concept and execution here is delightful. Even if you don’t work for a digital, social or media agency, the reactions of Peggy, Pete, Don and the gang will give you a smile. 

Check out some of the GIFs below and head to the Tumblr for more.



Agency Execs Predict How Mad Men Will End

mad men image

Since it’s almost Friday and our PR contacts are very resourceful, here are some quotes from agency executives discussing the pending finale of the most/least realistic show about the ad industry.

First, what will happen to Don “Don’t Call Me Dick” Draper?

From Jorge Narváez-Arango, VP/ECD on IBM at George P. Johnson:

“The clue has always been there, foreshadowed in the opening credits. Don will spiral out of the industry and take on a new persona once again, starting a new life on the West Coast.”

Maybe, but that would mean reconciling with Megan. From Jason Marks, ECD/chief Kanye troll at Partners+Napier:

“Don Draper will kill himself. He’s been falling from his Madison Avenue tower at the beginning of every single episode… he’s got to hit the ground sometime, no?”

That would be way too easy, though. From David Eastman, former JWT North America CEO and current MDC partner:

“A twenty-something Martin Sorrell will find a loop-hole in the McCann contract that allows him to buy the 51% from McCann.

He convinces the partners to sell to him on the basis that they will make more money during his proposed 20 year earn-out than they would have done on their 5 year contracts with McCann. He funds the deal by a sale and lease back on their office space to a twenty something Donald Trump. The lease costs will go on SC&P’s P&L.”

Slow clap.

We would include more quotes about favorite scenes and episodes, but everyone picked the Kodak/Lucky Strike pitches.

CCO Mark Simon of Lowe Campbell Ewald does, however, have a recollection inspired by the lawn mower incident:

“I drove a Segway into a presentation once, crashed into a wall and ran over the Account Director’s foot. Fortunately, no toes were lost in the process.”

We assume he meant to say unfortunately. Finally, GSD&M Group Creative Director Scott Brewer talks realism:

“The fact that my sister can text me and ask how many martinis I had at lunch is a pretty good indication that [the show is] reaching an audience outside those of us in the industry, but also shows how unrealistic it is compared to the actual agency world we work in these days.”

That’s not what we hear…

Our predictions? Don will write email campaigns for a direct marketing agency based somewhere in South Florida; Roger will retire to Orlando, father a child at 70, and live to 95; Peggy will quit the ad industry to become a real estate mogul with a practice on the Upper West Side; Pete will die while attempting to fake his own death in order to escape from Trudy; Sally will write an anonymous memoir; Bob will somehow run SCDP after the McCann deal falls through; and Harry Hamlin will break character to remind everyone that he played Perseus before they even graduated from Tisch.

Seducing Strangers Reveals Some Of Advertising’s Open Secrets

I’ll admit I’d never heard of Josh Weltman, but boy does he bury the lede with his new book Seducing Strangers: How to Get People to Buy What You’re Selling. Because Josh Weltman is an LA-based veteran creative director who’s also a co-producer of Mad Men, and underneath the subtitle of the book is the […]

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Now You Can Put Your Own Photos in Don Draper's Amazing Carousel Pitch

It is the greatest advertising moment from TV’s greatest advertising show, and now you can be a part of it.

To help promote Man Men’s upcoming final episodes, AMC has launched a Mad Men Carousel app on Facebook. The app pulls random photos from your Facebook galleries and drops them into Don Draper’s pitch for the Kodak Carousel from Season 1’s finale.

It’s a truncated version of the original scene, which you can watch below, but it’s still a great way of reminding us how potent and touching Mad Men could be at its best.

Depending on your results, you might find the video generated by the app to be hilariously off (as when it included the time I ate a hamburger between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts) or tear-jerkingly perfect (as when it showed my daughter’s birth as the first slide on my first time using the app).

So go give it a shot and see which of your memories get recaptured for the Carousel.  

Via Mashable.



Mad Men Chops Its Pilot Episode Into 154 Clips and Wants Fans to Reshoot Each One

Ahead of Mad Men’s final episodes on AMC this spring, the series has launched The Fan Cut, a contest that lets would-be auteurs remake scenes from the show’s pilot episode in (almost) any way they see fit.

That first episode has been cut up into some 154 clips ranging from 8 to about 40 seconds long. Up to five fans can “claim” each scene, and they have 30 days to create and upload their own versions. Ultimately, the entire pilot will be re-assembled and screened online based on select submissions.

The rules warn us: “Any depiction of consuming alcohol or smoking tobacco should be simulated.” (The crew behind the camera, presumably, can get as sloshed as they like.) And just in case any wisenheimers get ideas about crashing this bash and bragging about it to the ad blogs, the inclusion of third-party brands is strictly prohibited. (But if you do manage to sneak in a plug for a real client, be sure to tell AdFreak about it first!)

On the one hand, The Fan Cut is a creative way to connect with the landmark show and puts a sort of reverse spin on breaking through the fourth wall, letting the audience do it instead of the cast. On the other, it’s a huge waste of time, just like the ad business itself!

Kidding, of course. The competition promises to be a ton of fun and should yield some intriguing, and possibly insane entries. Look for anime Don, emoji Pete and sock-puppet Peggy. I’m also expecting scenes featuring helium-voiced stand-ins for the regular cast, along with cuddly puppies and adorable babies.



Mad Men's Final Episodes Get a Premiere Date: April 5

The end is nigh, as AMC on Saturday announced the premiere date for the final Mad Men episodes. The second half of season 7 will begin on Sunday, April 5, at 10 p.m.

“What an incredible journey this has been,” showrunner Matthew Weiner said in a statement. “We sincerely thank the fans for joining us on this ride and hope it has meant as much to them as it has to us.”

Weiner and several of the advertising drama’s stars—Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, John Slattery and Christina Hendricks—will be on hand Saturday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., to talk about the final run.

Moss recently spoke about the pain of filming the final scenes. “The last three days were kind of like a funeral,” she said. “It was just everybody crying all day long—these big, giant men bursting into tears.”

The image above, of course, is from the very first time we saw Don Draper—the first scene of the pilot episode, which aired on July 19, 2007.



1960s Adman Makes a Hilarious and Obscene Visit to a Modern Agency (NSFW)

We’ve already seen how Joan Harris (aka, Christina Hendricks) might adjust to life at a modern ad agency. Well, this guy is way more of a train wreck.

Canadian ad agency Zulu Alpha Kilo put together this crazy video for Wednesday’s Agency of the Year event in Toronto. It’s hilarious, if you don’t mind a little nudity, profanity and off-color humor.

It took some balls to make this. Well, one nasty, hairy, protruding ball.

Credits below.

Video is NSFW for various reasons, but watch it anyway.

CREDITS
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Creative Director: Zak Mroueh
Writer: Sean Atkinson
Art Director: Shawn James
Agency Producer: Tara Handley
Editor: Michael Headford
Accounts: Devina Hardatt
Director: Bruce McDonald
Production Company: Revolver Films
Producer: Luc Frappier/Rob Allan
Director of Photography: Johnny Cliff
Casting: Jigsaw Casting/Shasta Lutz
Transfer/Online: Alter Ego
Audio/Music: Pirate Toronto
Audio Director: Chris Tait



Missing Mad Men? Here's Christina Hendricks Trying to Work in a Modern Office

The final half of the seventh and final season of Mad Men won’t premiere until next spring (although filming has wrapped—and according to Elizabeth Moss, there was a lot of crying going on as the cast shot the finale).

For now, Mad Men fans have to snack on whatever measly morsels they can get—like Jon Hamm goofing around on Fallon, or Christina Hendricks trying to navigate a modern office in the Funny or Die video below. And good old Joan, she’s still the sharpest person in the room even when she can’t find the phone.



Does Your Agency Have a Big Wireless Client? Why the Hell Not?

Attention all #WWDDD acolytes: “If Don Draper were working today, he’d want a wireless account,” writes Michael Learmonth in the International Business Times.

Does your agency have a wireless client? IBT provided some numbers to show us why the answer should be “oh yes.” (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Mad Men Stars Pose for Vintage-Style Product Ads in ‘For Your Consideration’ Campaign

AMC serves up a fun Emmy Awards campaign for Mad Men, casting its stars in print work that has the look and feel of classy period advertising from the Sterling Cooper era.

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and The Martin Agency helped craft the well-realized ads, which capture the flavor of the show with a credible '60s vibe, and mark the first "For Your Consideration" effort the series has ever done. "In the past, we’ve campaigned for Mad Men by letting the show sell itself," says AMC marketing chief Linda Schupack. "This year, we wanted to be a little more fun and playful."

We get Jon Hamm as Don Draper himself wearing cool shades and an enigmatic expression, along with the headline, "Behind every pair of our glasses is a man with winning character … and much more." Redheads get more nods (Emmy nods), according to the fiery ad with henna-haired Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway. And Kiernan Shipka, who portrays Don's daughter Sally, looks all set to frug on Hullabaloo or Shindig in her mod minidress. (The copy touts "Statuette's. For the young girl who has ALMOST everything.")

My favorite is the ad with John Slattery as a dapper Roger Sterling, attired by "The Madison Avenue Collection." This might be the most period-conscious execution of the lot, with dead-on detail and art direction. (Is that pristine airport ashtray Sterling silver? No butts about it!) His smoldering stare, directed at the fishnet-stockinged legs of a woman nearby, speaks volumes, while the copy is pure '60s: "You move through life with ease, and sometimes people take your quick mind, sharp wit and wry sense of humor for granted. But those who know, know—you always give your best."

Named outstanding drama series in each of its first four seasons (in addition to numerous other awards), the show hasn't won an Emmy over the past two seasons, and some critics say its poignant pathos has slid into sappy soap opera shenanigans. Well, even if Season 7 isn't vintage Mad Men, its Emmy campaign sure is.

See all the ads below. Via THR.




X-Men Meet Mad Men in Quiznos’ Newest Pop Culture Sandwich

Quiznos' Toasty.tv, a branded content hub that got an early boost from a popular Game of Thrones-House of Cards mashup, is once again pounding together two pop culture icons.

The results of Mad X-Men: Don Draper's Future Past are mixed, but one theme is consistent with the previous video: The main actor (Ross Marquand, who also played Quiznos' Frank Underwood and Rust Cohle in a spot-on AT&T parody) may not look the part, but he sure talks the part.

Somewhat ironically, the video's best scenes are almost pure Mad Men homage, with a random X-Men reference thrown in at the end. (If you're going to put that much effort into Mystique special effects, why waste it being awkward and quasi-homophobic? Eh, it's your money, Quiznos.)

Via Digg.




Don Draper Has an Impressive Portfolio

draperWhile preoccupied with criticizing “Mad Men” for its soap-quality sheen, superbly fitted suits and slightly unrealistic portrayals of life–agency and otherwise–in the “turbulent” 60′s, we sometimes lose track of something more interesting than the many women Don Draper takes to bed: the clients.

We know the obvious ones: Lucky Strike, Jaguar and Kodak.

But today FiveThirtyEight’s Walt Hickey tickled our curiosity and presented us with some irresistible click bait: a list of every Sterling Cooper client throughout the series.

Our favorites after the jump.

continued…

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Mad Men Wishes You a Happy Secretary’s Day. (Wait, Peggy and Joan Aren’t Secretaries!)

It's Secretary's Day—the more politically correct name is Administrative Professionals' Day. And Mad Men, its feet still set firmly in the '60s, is wishing you a very happy former (with a hashtag nod to the latter).

In a curious move, the AMC show's Twitter account is celebrating the occasion with a photo featuring two former secretaries, Joan and Peggy. Why not use current secretaries Dawn and Shirley, both of whom had interesting arcs in this Sunday's episode?

Did they pick our two female leads from Sterling Cooper & Partners deliberately to show that you too can move up the ranks from secretary (administrative professional) to account man (Joan) or copy chief (Peggy)?

H/T: Gothamist's Jen Carlson.




Real Mad Men, um tumblr que reúne personagens ‘reais’ do mundo publicitário

Aproveitando o buzz gerado pela 7ª e última temporada do seriado “Mad Men”, o criativo Fernando Barbella criou o tumblr Real Mad Men, que usa o design de contorno de perfil, consagrado no seriado, para retratar personagens da vida real que, segundo Fernando, fazem parte de agências no mundo todo.

Claro que são estereótipos, mas a brincadeira é ao menos divertida, e certamente se encaixa com algum profissional da publicidade que você conhece. São casos como o ‘Bat Men’, aquele que trabalha até tarde na agência todos os dias, e que mal parece conseguir pegar um solzinho, ou o ‘Bad Men’, que teria o sombrio prazer de acabar com as boas ideias de outras pessoas do time, apenas porque ele pode vetar alguma sugestão.

bad-men bar-men fad-men gal-men

Vale conferir algumas das outras descrições, como o Mag Men (fissurado por impresso), Lag Men (que está sempre viajando), Fan Men (obcecado pelos próprios hobbies), e o Bar Men, que parece só ter boas ideias enquanto toma umas.

lag-men lab-men lan-men fan-men mac-men fat-men

Esse tumblr já foi citado pelo Brainstorm#9 em março, e continua recebendo novos ‘tipinhos’ publicitários.

Brainstorm9Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Bullova Accutron—It’s Not A Timepiece, It’s A Conversation Piece

Mad Men season seven debuted on AMC last night. While it is a fictional show, it’s also instructive about the actual ad business in ways that Bewitched and other pop culture looks at the industry are not.

… SPOILER ALERT …

Season seven opens and we find that Don Draper is banished from the agency for a time. There is an imposter in his place. Entertainment Weekly describes the poseur like so:

Lou Avery is calling the shots, and he’s everything that Don was not. He dresses like Mr. Rogers, chuckles at his own corny jokes, and brags about his “peachy” weekend chopping firewood. Most importantly, he is immune to Peggy’s charms. We know this because he tells pesky Peggy, who is sure she knows better than anyone, “I guess I’m immune to your charms.”

Ah, Peggy. Where fore are thou? The show’s female hero—the bright counter to Don’s dark anti-hero—is distraught. She’s been spurned by a married man (who happens to be a partner in the agency where she works), her landlord thing isn’t working out and now she has to smile while pitching the biggest oaf in fictional advertising history. Bleh.

Mad-Men-Season-7-Peggy

The sad reality portrayed by this fiction is people who don’t belong in the role of creative director sometimes end up there despite themselves and against all logic. When this occurs, things can unravel pretty rapidly.

Let’s watch the digression of a tagline for Bullova watches, as it took place last night’s episode, “Time Zones.”

Don (speaking through Freddy): “Accutron. It’s not a timepiece, it’s a conversation piece.”

Peggy: “Accutron, it’s time for a conversation.”

Lou Avery, the imposter: “Accutron is accurate.”

“Accutron is accurate.” Now, that’s going to sell Swiss watches! Yet, when Peggy fights for the work, she’s rudely shot down by the doofus CD who wonders aloud at his own ineptitude, “Why would you put something in front me that you don’t want me to pick?”

The best line does not always win. The best idea does not always win. However, in this made-for-TV dramatic series, I do believe Peggy and Don’s good ideas will surface once more as winners. They may need to break off from the corporate hegemony of Sterling Cooper to re-achieve greatness, but ideas and people with ideas will be free. In 1969 and always.

The post Bullova Accutron—It’s Not A Timepiece, It’s A Conversation Piece appeared first on AdPulp.

‘Mad Men’ Stars Tell Diane Sawyer What They’ve Stolen from the Set

Diane Sawyer’s interview with the “Mad Men” cast will air in about an hour and a half, so here’s your quick preview.

Turns out certain actors and actresses might be a little too fond of the period props on set…

There’s another teaser in case you’re curious; in the meantime, we have no word on the previous owner of Vincent Kartheiser’s beard.

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