Why I am glad I am not a Mad (Wo)Man

Image by Mad Men Yourself

First published on the Capstrat website 7/20/10.

It's easy to get caught up in the AMC series Mad Men, the characters are flawed, glamorous and brilliant. I celebrate the notion that great creative, paired with a great product, can move the needle on sales and awareness. BUT, despite all that they have right, it is important to look at how far we have advanced over the past 50 years.

• On Mad Men research does not impact the work. In early episodes, Don Draper throws away research on the harmful effects of tobacco. Other than focus groups, research is not mentioned. It seems that research is used only if it is convenient. You'd get in a lot of trouble for that today.

• The work/life balance is very different. On Mad Men the staff places their job at a higher level of importance than their family. Today we make sacrifices for our jobs, are rarely away from our Blackberries and iPhones and always work more than 40 hours per week, but I have a hard time believing an ENTIRE agency would work on a holiday as they do one July 4th at Sterling Cooper.

• The constant party would be tiring. I am glad I don't have 3 martinis while at lunch. I'd either not be able to drink all three drinks, or be a wreck when I went back to the office. Either way it would be embarrassing and unproductive. There is no way I could hang. Who wants to blend work with a party?

• I am glad I don't have to golf to win over clients. In one of my favorite episodes a rising star at the agency gets his foot run over by a John Deere. His career is proclaimed to be over.  Thank goodness my performance is not based on my golf game. I've spent most of my golfing career learning how to caddy. I still can't golf worth a damn, but I make a great caddy.

If a show were made in 2060 about advertising in 2010 what would they say?

• Can you believe people typed in 2010?
• Can you believe people carried more than one device?
• Look at the size of that computer!!
• Look at what this bunch of nobodies did to transform the industry!!