David Miami on Mad Men's 10th Anniversary

It’s been 10 years since Mad Men first hit our screens. How significant and relevant do you think the show was for adland today?
 
When Mad Men first aired, it changed a lot of things, not just for advertising but for the world of entertainment as well.
 
For our dear adland, the show is as relevant today as it ever was. It is a testament to the power of creativity, that makes us remember how this industry used to be in the golden era and how much everything has changed since then. It’s also a master class on the art of presenting ideas, with those memorable pitches from Don that we all remember.

 
Earlier this year, DAVID agreed to run a Heinz ad [above] that was initially pitched in Mad Men, making you the only agency to realise one of the show’s ads. What inspired this decision and why did you feel it would work in today’s market, especially considering it was ‘designed’ to be received over 50 years ago?
 
The PASS THE HEINZ campaign was a really special project for the agency, the opportunity to bring to life an idea from Don and share credits with Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce.
 
What inspired everything was the perfect connection that the show’s campaign has with the brand positioning our agency had been working on for HEINZ. People never settle for their favorite meals without their favorite condiments, and the PASS THE HEINZ ads communicated just that. It also had a deeper and more meta meaning, which was never settling for an idea, even if it takes 50 years to make it happen.
 
We feel the campaign by itself works as well today as it’d have had it ran 50 years ago, and the reason for that is, and we are quoting Don himself here: “The greatest thing you have working for you is not the photo you take or the picture you paint, it is the imagination of the consumer… And if you can get into that space, your ad can run all day.” So basically by having the consumers add the condiments to the images in their heads, they get more engaged with the ads. And that’s the beauty of great ads, they are timeless and will be effective no matter what.
 
We also think that the fact that it was the first time an ad from a fictional TV show was aired in real life helped a lot, it generated a big conversation around the idea and the brand, with many media articles talking about it and generating more than 2 billion impressions.

 
Tell us about the pitch process… How different was the real pitch for the Heinz ad from the pitch featured in the show
 
We actually used the pitch from Don to help us sell the idea, so he did most of the heavy lifting for us being the great salesman that he is. But the main difference for us would be the clients working for the brand, the real team behind the Heinz brand is much braver than the one from the show, they loved the idea from the beginning, so we worked together with them as partners to make it grow and finally ended up making it a reality.

 
Why did you decide to share the credit with the show’s fictional agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce?
 
That decision was actually part of how we sold the idea, it was a brand campaign but also a tribute to the show for the 10-year anniversary of the premiere, as well as to it’s characters and creators, which also appear on the credits. Also, sharing credits with the best fictional agency and creative director in the world felt pretty amazing for everyone involved in the project.

 
Did you watch the show; if so, what did you enjoy most about it and how different do you think adland is today?
 
Of course, it’s one of our favorite shows ever. We think that one of the greatest things about it is the journey and transformation the characters go through, and not just Don, also Peggy, Roger, Betty, etc. The depth and emotions the show made us feel was something unique.
 
Another thing we all really enjoyed were the nods to iconic advertising and brands from that era, and how it portrayed the agency life from those times. It’s like a history lesson on how our industry grew. From watching the show and comparing how advertising was back then to how it is right now we can clearly see that a lot has changed, the glamour, the lifestyle, the craft, but there is one thing that stayed the same, great ideas are still at the heart of this wonderful profession.