Lessons from Mad Men

With this wildly popular, and fantastically written, show drawing to a close (and with very few people likely to read this blog since it’s the Friday before a long weekend), I thought it’d be fun to talk about a few of business lessons I’ve gleaned from the episodes I’ve watched so far.

The millennials aren’t the first generation with a “you-don’t-know-how-to-advertise-to-us” attitude. This topic came up at least once during the show’s run. I connect it with the character Michael Ginsberg, a young copywriter in his 20s who first appeared on the show in the fifth season. I believe he said something to the effect of “advertising doesn’t work on us” about his generation to his older boss, Don Draper.

I know from hearing from jewelers that it’s tough to reach millennials today but it’s always important to keep perspective. This isn’t the first generation that feels like they don’t know how to reach younger people and also not the first to have to embrace new technology.

During the run of Mad Men, Harry Crane recognizes the advertising power of what was at that time still a fairly fresh medium and makes himself head of a new department for the agency—the television department. The employees of the agency must learn the best way to reach people through something that is not a billboard, radio or print ad.

Sticking it out with a company can be rewarding, even when times get tough. One aspect of Mad Men that I really enjoyed was watching the dedication the primary characters—Don, Peggy, Pete, Roger and Joan—have for the agency, through good times and lean, and various sales and mergers.

I was with National Jeweler when we had a magazine and a full staff and were owned by Nielsen. We got moved around on so many different floors on 770 Broadway that I lost count. We lost our magazine. We got moved downtown. Then Nielsen didn’t want us anymore and there was “Emerald Expositions.” Now we’re owned by Jewelers of America and there’s a digital magazine.

You just have to keep your head down and make it about the work.

Things always have changed and they always will. It was true at a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the 1960s and it’s true for businesses today.

Don’t allow smoking in the office. Also not advisable: smoking and/or drinking while pregnant, smoking