By Barbara Goldberg
This week, when I was interviewed by Mother Love on LA Talk Radio, she asked me how I got into my first career, advertising. I told her that my best friend in high school had a father who knew someone high up at a Madison Avenue ad agency and he was going to get her a job there. That never happened but it planted a seed in my head: advertising sounded very glamorous—a place to be. It sure was.
As I was watching Mad Men last week, with only two more shows to go, I was astounded to realize how closely they re-created the very exciting world of advertising. It was the perfect backdrop to depict individual angst and the search for meaning in life.
Last week’s episode depicted the agency, Sterling, Cooper, merging with the industry giant Mc Erickson, where I had worked during same period in New York. I watched, wide-eyed as they mentioned “Carl, the associate creative director.” That was my friend and colleague, Carl Abrams, who held that title. Then they rattled off a few of McCann’s clients, NCR, Hilton International, all of whom were my clients at McCann! Matthew Weiner must be commended for portraying the accuracy of that time and place. Too bad he didn’t call me to consult for the show!
Mad Men aficionados will recall that when Sterling, Cooper announced the merger of their agency with McCann Erickson, there were moans and groans from the Creative department. That’s because McCann, being the largest ad agency in the world at the time, was not known for brilliant creative work. Unlike Doyle, Dane and Bernbach and Ogilvy & Mather who were known for innovative and memorable ad campaigns, McCann was run by “the suits,” the account executives who “managed” the clients. That meant taking them out to the best restaurants in town for their famous three martini lunches. I learned quickly that you never tried to plan a meeting with these guys in the afternoon— you’d find them with heads on their desks, out cold.
There was a vicious scene in last week’s episode of “Mad Men” when Joan, who rose to become a successful account executive with her own clients, challenged the top management of McCann. She was crushed, brutally, and even though she walked away with half a million dollars (that’s1970 dollars!), all that she had worked for fizzled. While that scenario likely came out of Matthew Weiner’s head, it was completely in character with the mentality of that agency. Women were not held in high regard.
How did I get to a lofty position of Research Director as a 26-year-old woman? It’s not what you think. More to come on that…
