For all of the press in the ad trades about the first episode of Mad Men, the fact that the advertising-focused series inserted trivia and other advertising-related hooks into its commercial pods received nary a mention. I'm not at all sure how quotes from David Ogilvy go over with the average Mad Men viewer, but for people in the biz, it creates a nifty insider feel—it's as though the show's target was the ad industry itself. The rest of the viewers be damned! While that may be a bit of hyperbole (fitting, somehow though, ain't it?), the series will get even more insider come this Thursday, when, according to USA Today, the commercial pods begin to feature 30-second talks with ad legends. Naturally, but maybe not all that logically, the first person to be featured is Jerry Della Femina. (True, Jerry certainly had his time in the limelight, but it's continually frustrating to see a guy who long ago stopped being central to the industry still held up as its spokesperson.) Other ad legends in the series include Martin ("resign clients before they can fire you") Puris, and George ("I want my MTV") Lois. OK, I'll throw this out to those of you who are reading this: who would you like to see featured in one of these 30-second pods? (Resurrecting people like Bill Bernbach, a la Orville Redenbacher, is strictly prohibited.)
Monday, August 6, 2007
'Mad Men' to feature ad legends
For all of the press in the ad trades about the first episode of Mad Men, the fact that the advertising-focused series inserted trivia and other advertising-related hooks into its commercial pods received nary a mention. I'm not at all sure how quotes from David Ogilvy go over with the average Mad Men viewer, but for people in the biz, it creates a nifty insider feel—it's as though the show's target was the ad industry itself. The rest of the viewers be damned! While that may be a bit of hyperbole (fitting, somehow though, ain't it?), the series will get even more insider come this Thursday, when, according to USA Today, the commercial pods begin to feature 30-second talks with ad legends. Naturally, but maybe not all that logically, the first person to be featured is Jerry Della Femina. (True, Jerry certainly had his time in the limelight, but it's continually frustrating to see a guy who long ago stopped being central to the industry still held up as its spokesperson.) Other ad legends in the series include Martin ("resign clients before they can fire you") Puris, and George ("I want my MTV") Lois. OK, I'll throw this out to those of you who are reading this: who would you like to see featured in one of these 30-second pods? (Resurrecting people like Bill Bernbach, a la Orville Redenbacher, is strictly prohibited.)
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3 comments:
Mary Wells Lawrence started Wells Rich Greene in 1966 - prior to that she was well known in the industry and was at Jack Tinker agency....would love to see her mentioned (perhaps even cast in the show?)- she's not an unknown to today's viewers... Have the writers forgotton that the industry scandal sheet in those days was the Gallagher Report? Gallagher used to alternate between refering to MWL as "Bloody Mary" or "Bunny Wells" - both of which were totally sexist and in keeping with the times.....
Ed McCabe. a true icon of that era who never became boring. still alive. still relevant.
Like it or not, Della Femina is the first person people who have no connection to the ad business mention when you ask them to name someone in the industry. Donny Deutsch is probably not that far behind.
I TiVO'd the first episode and didn't catch the little quotes at all. Found out about them from someone's blog. Sure I'm not the only ad guy with TiVO.
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