Don Draper (Jon Hamm) with wife Betty Draper (January Jones)
I’m reminded of the shoot I attended for a major QSR (“quick service restaurant”). The one with the clown and his big red shoes.
The actor took 36 bites out of cheeseburgers that were meticulously crafted by food artists (mustard-brushes and all). He spat each bite out into a bucket that was just out of frame between takes. Couldn’t decide if I felt more sorry for his now-ruined relationship with burgers or my being there.
There was also the time I had to cover a shoot for a major Japanese electronics company… The spot introduced its portable CD-player with new fangled “skip protection” — so my job was to monitor the signal coming out of the unit as the actor bumped his way through a crowded bus (we were worried about “false advertising,” you see).
Which brings up a timely issue for me: the recent change in the importance of TV commercials to the industry.
Last night’s episode depicted an ad business still in the clutches of TV-centricity. Less and less is this the case.
Great marketing campaigns are conversations, not lectures, and recent changes in media have facilitated our ability to start or sustain these conversations on behalf of our clients.
On the surface, this shift has been driven by media fragmentation — from broadcasting (ABC, NBC and CBS) to narrowcasting (specialized cable networks, blogs and podcasting). In addition, TiVo and DVRs let viewers avoid TV spots all together.
The best marketers are thinking about how brands behave as much as what brands say: when, where and how do customers interact with the brand? The context for advertising has become as important as the content used to be.
I doubt that we’ll get much discussion of “context planning” in Harry Crane’s office. (He’ll be too busy figuring out how much everyone else is making at Sterling Cooper).
But I’d sure like to see future episodes take a glimpse at a media department pastime that never goes out of style… free seats to concerts and games from media reps.
Ed Castillo is VP, Director of Account Planning at PHD, part of the Omnicom Media Group. He helped create the “What Happens Here, Stays Here” campaign for Las Vegas.