Mad Men, in case you haven’t seen it, is an original series that started last year on AMC, about a New York City advertising agency, set in 1960.

The first season was fantastic: great writing, acting and art direction. And for those of us in the business, it’s also a journey back in time to an era where going to work at an ad agency, for men, meant wearing a suit (even creatives!), smoking a pipe and drinking the proverbial three martini lunch.

For women, it mostly meant being chased around the office by suit wearing, pipe smoking, drunken letches, but that’s part of what drives the series: dealing with the changing times the 60’s ushered in. The agency is a conservative place of business, but the characters that inhabit it are all being driven by issues like equal rights, freedom of expression and the need to question authority.

The added appeal of the series for me is experiencing an agency that predates computers, cellphones, and email. The IBM Selectric typewriter was the high-tech gadget in the office, hand-drawn boards were the presentation medium of choice, and people met face to face instead of firing off endless voice- and e-mails.

The new season doesn’t start until July, but I’m writing this now to beat everybody else who will be blogging about it next month, and to tell you that if you haven’t seen the first season, see it before the second season starts. You’ll enjoy it — particularly with a martini.

Steven Stark is a writer and creative director who is mad, but only in the good sense of the word. You can see his work and read some of his other musings here.

Article Tags: advertising agencies | AMC | copywriter | creative director | mad men | madison avenue | new york | old school advertising | Steven Stark
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