Article first published as Mad Men: Bad Dreams, Tense Realities on Blogcritics.
Mad Men took a darker, more manly turn in this week’s episode. Don’s fevered dream in which he fights off his philandering demons and commits murder, Pauline’s slapping Sally and slipping her some Secanol, Joan’s dumping her husband and reliving her rape at his hands, and the creative department’s delight in looking at Chicago mass murder scene photos certainly made for some disturbing drama.
Compared to all of this, things seem relatively calm on the business side at the offices of SCDP. Nevertheless, there are a few crises and ironic twists of tension that spice things up at work. As expected, the new creative hire Michael Ginsberg is at the center of some of it.
Gender Role Reversals
In addition to Michael Ginsberg’s creative talents, a key factor in Peggy’s hiring of Michael was Don’s and Roger’s insistence that a man was required to interface with the client on Mohawk Airlines. Yet, for the moment, Mr. Ginsberg is working on everything but Mohawk. Peggy, Stan and Michael are brainstorming on Topaz pantyhose and Michael has taken the lead on the Butler shoe account. Both are female accounts that would normally have Peggy front and center with the client. Instead, it was an all guy team. Also, due to his mishandling of the business requirements and creative development timetable on Mohawk, Roger is forced to bribe Peggy to save the day and do the job that Michael was hired to do. This is poetic justice, Mad Men style.
The Mohawk Misstep
Mohawk is a prestige account for SCDP, and the agency is looking forward to developing high-image creative work that will get noticed. It is also Pete’s showcase account through which he can flex his new management muscles. Along with the prestige, airline accounts also bring the very real pressures and intense workload of a retail business. Mohawk requires active hands on leadership and the account, creative and media teams have to be ready to act and react very quickly to marketplace developments (like strikes), weather issues, competitive pricing moves and unfortunate disasters
Sometimes ads and commercials have to be pulled immediately, new creative work developed on the spot and placed in media on extremely short timetables. Clearly Roger does not have this sense of urgency and is asleep at the switch on Mohawk. He thinks the strike will buy him time to develop a campaign at a more leisurely pace, and he had not prepared a creative brief. Creative briefs are critical documents that define the objectives and requirements of a campaign and creative work is not initiated without them. So, while Michael is working away on Topaz and Butler, Roger had not yet briefed him on the “man’s” work he was hired to do on Mohawk. Roger is forced to wing it and provide Peggy with some sketchy information and hope that she can pull a campaign out of the hat over the weekend. In the meantime, Pete goes home for the weekend believing that his lead account guy has everything under control for their first big meeting with Mohawk. One thing for sure is that whatever Peggy comes up with will have to be bigger and better than “Mohawk: Fly Over The Picket Lines”.
Who’s In Charge Here
Michael’s first outing as a creative hot shot at SCDP is a mix of triumph and tension. His presentation of the creative work to the Butler shoe client is met with rave reviews and the campaign is sold. The client remarks that Michael really understands women and is a genius. (An ironic twist since he was hired for a “man’s” account.) The client’s comments prompt a cough of disbelief from Don. Rather than exiting gracefully and letting Don wrap up the success with some parting remarks, Michael does what comes naturally to him. He unabashedly speaks his mind and does the unthinkable. He describes in great detail an alternate Cinderella campaign that Don had rejected because it was cliché. The client loves it and decides to go with Cinderella.
Being young, brash and outspoken Michael doesn’t think anything is wrong with this but Don is absolutely furious. There are very clear rules about presenting and selling creative work to clients that existed then and still do today. The creative director always has the final say over what will be presented and recommended to the client. It is not uncommon for creative teams to have their favorite campaigns rejected by the creative director in favor of other ideas. It’s a natural part of the creative process, but in the end the creative director rules. In addition to selling products, the work the creative director approves and the client eventually runs in media also helps shape the creative image and reputation of the agency. The spontaneous advancing of ideas to clients that have not been blessed by the creative director is simply not acceptable…especially after a campaign has been sold
In the bar after the meeting, rather than celebrating, Don gives Michael a stern “or else” admonition that he would be fired if this happens again. Michael doesn’t seem to grasp the severity of it even as Ken Cosgrove tells him how very close he came to being fired. I have seen a few instances where similar things happened involving both account and creative people and they were fired for it. Perhaps if Don wasn’t feeling so ill he might have fired Michael. It’s not likely that Michael will change his ways, so we will see more of these brash challenges to the status quo in future episodes.
It’s Tough Being A Woman (Copywriter)
When Roger comes to Peggy’s office to discuss his Mohawk dilemma she has her feet up on the desk, sipping her second cocktail and is comfortably acting like one of the boys. Peggy handles Roger brilliantly and is in full control of the situation. Peggy agrees to bail him out and work over the weekend but not before getting in her zinger about Roger’s not being able to locate the “man” they hired for the Mohawk account. She also extracts a tidy sum of cash for the weekend work and turns Roger’s $10 offer into $400 with a great comment. “The $10 is for the work. The lie is extra.” Very manly of her. Despite this confident demeanor Peggy is experiencing the very real frustrations of women in the ad business at that time. Later that evening in her apartment with Dawn a tipsy Peggy expresses her doubts and frustrations about being a copywriter in a male dominated agency. She admits that being a copywriter is tough and being a female copywriter is even tougher. Peggy asks if Dawn thinks she acts like a man. Dawn is sympathetic but Peggy still expresses reservations and questions whether she really has it in her to play the role of “tough guy” at SCDP.
In her new book, Mad Woman, the legendary creative superstar Jane Maas, chronicles her experiences as a real life Peggy Olson in the ‘60s. Here’s an excerpt from one of her interviews that captures the environment and emotional quandary in which Peggy finds herself at SCDP
“I told the story of being the first woman copywriter assigned to the American Express Card business, and the account executives said, “Well Jane, the brand guys are kind of worried about a woman being on the account. They think if they turn down your ads, you’ll cry. You may be met with a little bit of hostility when you go down there for this first meeting.” And we go down there for the meeting and the big boss CEO pulls out a chair for me and shakes my hand warmly, and I think this isn’t going to be so bad as I thought and he says, “Did you forget your steno pad, dear?”
More Mad Manliness to come.
