Below the Line

Pink wash

I've already discussed the trend for stylized Mad Men-inspired typography. But what's an agency creative to do if the target audience is women? Oh I know - paint it pink.

Avon:

Bare Escentuals:

Where have all the Mad Men gone?

If, like many people in marketing and advertising, you are a fan of Mad Men, you may bemoan the fact that season four won't start until around July. Perhaps this has been playing on the subconscious of agency creatives, who can't seem to get enough of that Mad Men typography.

Here is the Mad Men logo and an intro to one of their online video clips:

This tagline from Kentucky Fried Chicken looks awfully similar:

 

Here is CNN's take on the trend:

Mad Men validates account management

For every person in account management who has suffered through the "what is it, exactly, that you do" line of questioning, the season three finale of Mad Men offers some great validation.

Roger Sterling: I'm not going to throw it all away because he doesn't want to work at McCann.

Don Draper: Do you want to work there?

Roger Sterling: You don't value what I do any more than they do. 

Don Draper: I was wrong. I learned that with Hilton. I can sell ideas, but I'm not an account man. 

Roger Sterling: You're not good at relationships because you don't value them.

...and in a later scene.

Roger Sterling: Yes we want your accounts, but we also want your talent.

Pete Campbell: Really? What are my talents?

Roger Sterling: You'll do what it takes.

Pete Campbell: No. I want to hear it from him.

Don Draper: It's not hard for me to say, Pete. You saw this coming, we didn't. In fact, you've been ahead on a lot of things: aeronautics, teenagers, the negro market. We need you to keep us looking forward. I do, anyway.

That should put a smile on the face of account managers everywhere. Except McCann, of course.