The Real Mad Men

Last week, I ran a Bucks AdSoc event called The Real Mad Men, an event title shamelessly stolen from the book the event was about. Andrew Cracknell, author of (you guessed it) The Real Mad Men: The Remarkable True Story of Madison Avenue's Gold Age, When a Handful of Renegades Changed Advertising Forever, came into Buckinghamshire New University to discuss how advertising got started, the journey it went through and where it's going now.

Andrew began by stating that, working in this industry, it is necessary to know about its history. The Mad Men lead a Creative Revolution by tearing down what was already there and rebuilding a more inspiring, intellectually creative industry. This era gave birth to persuasiveness, simplicity, humanity and candour within the industry and everybody in advertising owes something to the Mad Men.

Between 1948 and 1968, there was an explosion of art in New York City which naturally helped to drive creativity in advertising and change the way advertisers communicated the products they were selling. This was lead by first and second generation immigrants, whose parents and grandparents had arrived at Ellis Island in hope of the 'American Dream'. This group of people had brought their own traditions and cultures with them and once in America, they developed in a new way.

With a fresh sense of creativity came a new challenge. The Mad Men had to convince their clients that these alternative methods of advertising would be effective. At that time, clients were the part of the chain that 'ruled the roost', then the researchers, then account directors and at the bottom of the ladder - the creatives. This system wasn't ideal when it was the creative people in agencies who were  making essential changes in the industry.

In 1950s America, ads contained illustrations rather than photographs. This allowed advertisers to exaggerate certain details and lifestyles to better sell to the American public who aspired to a perfect, picket fence surburban life. For example in the ad below, the illustration shows a typical 'WASP' lifestyle and depicts alternative colours and models of car. However, as Andrew said, this was all bollocks and the public knew it.

It was up to those behind the Creative Revolution to address this issue. They did this by using photographs and cleverly written copy. It was that simple.

When the rest of America was being encouraged to Think Big - Bernbach's VW campaign told them to Think Small. This campaign was simple, but it was intelligent and managed to 'sell a Nazi car in a Jewish town'. Many other agencies tried to jump on the bandwagon but had only recognised the simplicity and not the thought behind the idea. This produced a number of substandard ads which their agencies thought were creative but fell flat. As a result, creative teams were valued more and so moved up the agency ladder.

The point behind this concept is that brands needed to talk to people like grown ups, talk to humanity and avoid talking to faceless consumers. Furthermore, it was essential to talk to people about products rather than talk about products to people. Style and gloss in advertisements remained important, but it was vital to underline fashion with ideas and recognise a product when it was brilliant.

All of this has trickled down into advertising today. Simplicity, honesty and understanding audiences remains at the heart of advertising. When the Creative Revolution was happening, the people in the leading agencies were looking to be more open with the public and stop lies appearing in ads. They were reaching out to society and when I asked Andrew what role advertising will play in society in the future, he said it won't change.