Don Draper would be out of a creative marketing job in this day and age?

September 14, 2009 6:50 PM

Do the creative marketing jobs seen in the A&E TV show Mad Men still exist today?

I'm interested in becoming a creative marketer. I'm not sure if this is the correct title, but I'm interested in using my raw/pure creativity to help advertising efforts for product services companies. I'm curious if jobs currently exist similar to the raw brainstorming seen in the A&E TV series Mad Men.

If these jobs still exist, where do I apply? Can anyone provide a link to a job description (monster.com maybe)? What are the qualifications?

If these jobs do not exist or they are similar but changed, please explain. What is new? What is still the same as the good ol' days of Madison Ave Marketing? Anything else I should know?

Thanks in advance!

-Dick Whitman

posted by thankyoumuchly to work & money (21 comments total)

I doubt much is the same today as compared to 40 years ago. Your best bet would be to meet people who work in advertising today and network with them.

A friend of mine who used to work in advertising has written for this blog before about the industry and its current travails.

Presumably there are many other such blogs.

Ad Age is an industry newspaper.
posted by dfriedman at 6:53 PM on September 14

They do, but in the U.S. they are longer "creative".
posted by Zambrano at 7:03 PM on September 14

NO longer
posted by Zambrano at 7:03 PM on September 14

These jobs exist today, although there is less drinking (during office hours at least). You will be a creative, and depending on your skill set you will be an art director or copy writer. To a lesser extent and depending on the agency you might be in accounts and have a creative role, but this is rare. Regarding experience, it is unique in advertising that creatives can come from a variety of backgrounds, such as carpenters, pot heads, school, etc. Just like in Mad Men, the idea is everything.

However, despite how it may appear glamorous on TV I would really reconsider being involved in advertising. I am sure even Don said that advertising is full of failed artists. If you really have a talent for this then take it to a non profit or another worthwhile cause instead of selling more consumerism to people that don't need it. This is 2009, and not the 60's and the world needs less vapid destructive consumerism.
posted by avex at 7:05 PM on September 14 [3 favorites]

If you want to know how being a "creative" works in US advertising today, I recommend reading copyranter, the Don Draper of the 21st century. It's one of the least creative jobs out there, but it does pay well.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:07 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]

And Don Draper is in advertising, not marketing. Advertising and marketing are not the same industry, though people from those industries work closely together.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:08 PM on September 14

So do does Don Draper still exist today? I'm referring to the brain power/idea portion of the character, and not the drinking/smoking/cheating portion.

I understand that there are most likely huge advertising americanized factories (kind of what was happening for the Coca Cola account in season 1) but are there any jobs or companies out there that just use pure ideas to come up with ads that work (think of the "Carousel" for the kodak slide projector in season 1 of mad men - that's what I want to do, come up with idea's like that!).

I still see creative things in magazines, not so much on TV, but print advertising creativity still seems to be very much alive... where do these authors work, what companies?
posted by thankyoumuchly at 7:18 PM on September 14

So do does Don Draper still exist today? I'm referring to the brain power/idea portion of the character, and not the drinking/smoking/cheating portion.

Pretty much any white collar job in the US in the 21st century relies on "brain power/idea" applications.

So, insofar that Don Draper relies on his ideas and brain power, yes, such jobs exist today.

But I think you need to learn more about both the advertising and marketing industry and see if they interest you in the way you think they interest you.

A bunch of links have already been suggested to you above; read those. Network with people in the industry.

Etc.
posted by dfriedman at 7:22 PM on September 14

I'm an advertising major, and I'm taking an advertising copywriting class right now. It's set up to be like working at a real agency. Let me tell you, while it's all about creativity, there is nothing 'raw/pure' about it, really. Every detail is picked over by others and 98% of what you produce is dismissed out of hand.

My professor told me about writing the script for a makeup commercial. By the time it went to press she had four FEET of stacked-up rejected scripts in her files. Four solid feet of paper for a 30-second commercial.

Now, personally, I like working in that environment. Maybe you would too. But if you just want to express yourself, GO ELSEWHERE! They won't appreciate you and you'll resent them.

(About the structure of ad agencies: the 'creative side' of advertising is composed of copywriters and designers, working in tandem. They take the creative brief given to them and produce an ad within the constraints of that brief, which includes target audience and general message. A whole different group prepares the brief based on marketing data and stuff.)
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:26 PM on September 14

1) but are there any jobs or companies out there that just use pure ideas to come up with ads that work (think of the "Carousel" for the kodak slide projector in season 1 of mad men - that's what I want to do, come up with idea's like that!).

No. And that's not actually a particularly accurate representation of how they worked in those days, either. Like every other supposedly creative job, advertising is long periods of drudgery interspersed with flashes of insight--it's just that that doesn't make for good TV, so you leave out the drudgery.

Similarly, when you work in an ER, lots of the work is routine crap like broken legs and strep throat, but they don't show that on ER. They don't show the bedpans on House.

Pretty much any job could look awesome if you left out all the boring parts. Don't become a lawyer because you like Boston Legal; don't become a teacher because you like Fame; don't become a police officer because you like Law and Order. Check out the real-life day to day work flow.

Read copyranter. See what he does every day. He has a Don Draper type of job. If that still looks fun to you, here's a good panel discussion on how to break into the US advertising industry. In fact, most of the stuff on that website is helpful.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:28 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]

(Just a tiny correction that it's on AMC, not A&E)
posted by sharkfu at 7:30 PM on September 14

posted by Zambrano They do, but in the U.S. they are longer "creative".

This is not true.

Don Draper is the creative director of Sterling Cooper. He meets with potential clients, determines marketing and/or advertising strategies, manages a pool of talent--copywriters, designers, and artists--to create his vision for a successful campaign, and he makes pitches to clients, hopefully winning the account for the agency. Mad Men is somewhat slick and romanticized, but these positions still exist today, in advertising and design firms and in-house marketing groups.

Unless you've got an extensive portfolio built from several years of experience working as an art director at an advertising agency, design firm, or in-house marketing group, I would be very surprised if you were hired as a creative director. The position does not simply require being able to have great ideas for products; the position requires being able to have great ideas and vision for a wide range of products, it requires diplomacy and tact, management skills, excellent salesmanship and presentation skills, and the ability to keep the client and a wide variety of talent on-spec, on-message, and on-budget.

Depending on the firm for which he or she works, the overwhelming majority of a creative director's work involves selling new ideas and strategies for a wide variety of products or services--dog food, liquid-crystal televison displays, aircraft parts, banking institutions, medical technology--you name it. Not all accounts are fun and exciting like Kodak's slide projector--some are interesting, others are mind-numbingly dull. Here's a quick test--can you come up with a creative direction for a large American auto manufacturer? How about a creative direction for a new bank that says trust and new directions in banking? How about petroleum refining? How about marketing tobacco to 14-year-old kids in South America? I've worked on all of these. Remember, you don't get to turn down the work to which you object or don't find inspiring.

I don't mean to dissuade you--everyone has what they think are awesome ideas, but those ideas are only a small part of the job. You need to know how to tell a client "No". You need to be able to manage talent. You need to be able to sell your idea to the client, you need to convince the client to spend the money to make your idea work, and most importantly, the idea you sell needs to work. Don Draper's job looks easy for two reasons: he's good at it, and it's television. Being a creative director in real life is a lot less sexy and exciting, and you're not always selling products you like or would buy.
posted by mattdidthat at 7:52 PM on September 14 [6 favorites]

Of course everything is different than it was in the 60s (or 70s, 80s, 90s) but sure creative marketing exists. Where do you think all the print/radio/tv/internet/billboard ads and packaging and marketing campaigns come from. A friend of mine owns a design firm, and this is exactly what they do: create and pitch ideas to client, then act as a buyer for media for the advertising. They do this alongside creating websites, packaging, billboards, logos, posters, and whatever else a client might need.

You can get into this kind of work with a degree in marketing, of course, but also if you are a graphic/web designer, illustrator, copy writer, or have any of several other skills. It just depends on the business and your skill set.

Like almost every other career, a great deal of the actual work is not the "cool part" that makes it seem glamourous. Even Don Draper deals with paperwork, budgets, schedules, and a myriad of other boring work. It just doesn't make good TV, so all we see him do is wax on poetically about some product he wants us to buy.

But don't expect anyone to hire you just because you have cool ideas and a creative mind.
posted by The Deej at 7:55 PM on September 14

Yes. The job still exists, and it's exactly like Don's minus (most) of the drinking. You want to apply to be a brand strategist for a communications / advertising agency of some kind. It's a killer job. You basically sit around all day constructing an argument for using a product that "creative" then turns into marketing campaigns.

This is an extremely rewarding job, and, yes, it's still glamorous too. Creative, fun, smart, but can be a bit like being a lawyer, in that you need to think of your client's selling needs, not what's necessarily best for the world or whatever. You align products to customer beliefs.

Not to disparage the other responses, but these aren't brand strategy related. Copy writing, etc. is the creative production side of the house. Very rewarding in its own right, but totally different.

Good luck!
posted by xammerboy at 8:00 PM on September 14

My husband is in brand management for a major Pharmacy chain in the US. He gets to do this sort of thing all the time. Like, soup to nuts brand creation. I would think that any retailer with a house brand has these sort of positions.
posted by Biblio at 9:15 PM on September 14

I actually asked a very similarly worded question a while back: http://ask.metafilter.com/121311/Does-Don-Draper-still-exist
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 11:02 PM on September 14

Having worked on ads, not at an ad agency, but in-house: It's about one zillionth as glamorous. It's working on something you love, sending it upstairs and having it come back: "Can we do this in Comic Sans and BIGGER?!". Or, at least, that's where you'd start.

I'd make sure you're morally/ethically comfortable with the, uh, challenges of trying to make people buy stuff they're not entirely sure they need. That was the harder part for me and a big reason why I left.
posted by GilloD at 11:36 PM on September 14

The way to go is free-lance marketing/advertising. It's the most practical way to practice "ethical advertising" or "ethical marketing." Pushing or propelling a product/service you have no faith in - or worse, disagree with - is rightly a horrible proposition.

I used to work with an ad agency - a pretty well-known and successful one here where I live - and got to be good friends with the 2 owners (a guy and a gal). (In fact, I married one of the AE's at the agency.) The principle owner was "Don Draper," but with much higher morals. To a large extent, everyone in the office was a creative force, and everyone's voice was heard. Sure, each played a role in the organization, and some cogs are smaller than others, but the philosophy was that any good idea - regardless of who it comes from - is still a good idea. So that's one way to be a Don Draper - own a small but cutting edge ad agency.

Or do what I did.

Years later my wife and I started our own advertising company. We take on only the amount of clients we can comfortably handle, but better yet we only take on clients we believe in. We do all the market research, creative, design, media buying, shmoozing, copy writing - everything. Just me and her. It's a dream.

Business owners will always want to make cutbacks in marketing and advertising first when trimming the budget. Unfortunately, that has never proven to be a wise decision. Smart business owners, representing the kinds of companies you want to work with, will put more money into marketing and advertising in order to find that increase in financial success. This business axiom - that maintaining or increasing the ad/marketing budget in times of famine - will always sustain a demand for creative individuals.

If you want to be Don Draper, you can. Be a free-lance creative director. You can offer rates much lower than agencies can, but you need (or need access to) a very wide skill set. My recommendation is to find someone who is a great graphic designer and artist. Find someone who is a great writer. Network with media buyers, printers (both paper and other forms of printed advertising), and reps at radio/tv stations - even apprentice with some of them. These people will be your "creative department." Just farm out most of the work to them; leverage their talents. It's tough to break through, but it's worth it.
posted by Detuned Radio at 12:54 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

hello,
I do that for a living. I'm an advertising creative. or art director, whatever you hate more. creative teams (copywriter, art director, creative director) do still exist and this is still done, though there is less drinking and racism involved. the career you are interested in isn't something I would recommend as a stepping stone. you would be competing with a lot of kids who are very very passionate about this. consider long hours and -depending on where you work- frustrating clients. still, if you do it right you can have loads of fun doing it.

entry is gained via a portfolio of ad campaigns. you essentially build 5 campaigns of 3-5 pieces each that show what you would do were you working for a client of your choosing. this should be executed at professional level or slightly below. things have changed in portfolios over the last five years (much more web, viral and similar work) and some agencies, wieden+kennedy comes to mind, love to see non-advertising stuff just as much, but generally this is how it works.

a good way to get deeper into this topic is to request information on the advertising curriculum at art center college of design (my alma mater), VCU Brandcenter or Miami Ad School. most other programs are crap, though WK Platform may end up being great, too. they have a counterpart in portland called WK12 but I can't tell you much about it.

consider reading Agency Spy, I have an idea, Adcritic, Adage, <>Adsoftheworld, Communication Arts Magazine, a book called Hey Whipple, Squeeze This and every One Show Annual you can find.

My husband is in brand management for a major Pharmacy chain in the US. He gets to do this sort of thing all the time.
uhm no, he does not. he's a client, not a creative. big difference. this kind of statement makes me want to slap puppies.

You basically sit around all day constructing an argument for using a product that "creative" then turns into marketing campaigns.
sit around all day? I logged 95 hours last week and had more meetings than I care to recount. this job is far more stressful than you think but you are right that it can be exciting.

If you want to be Don Draper, you can. Be a free-lance creative director.
sorry, that is a bad recommendation. he's a junior. you need to be a former star creative at a great shop like WK or goodby to be able to get into those gigs on a freelance basis. first learn the craft, then amass some fame and then go freelance or do your own thing. you are setting him up for failure.

you can always mefi-mail me if you need any specific advice.
posted by krautland at 2:30 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Don would likely be working for an advertising firm like TBWA (a.k.a. Chiat\Day). These are the folks very wealthy clients call when they have brand identity problems. These are also the same folks behind the Apple 1984 ad and the Absolut Vodka campaign (as well as others).

Small aside… I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but Draper appears to be fashioned indirectly after Raymond Loewy, whose accomplishments are so extensive they are hardly believable when listed out. He's the man that designed the logos for Lucky Strike (they're toasted!), British Petroleum (BP), Shell Oil, the Schick electric razor design, Exxon Mobile's logo, the design of a bunch of iconic locomotives from the 30s, the interior for Skylab, the '64 JFK postage stamp, the Coke bottle, various Greyhound buses from the 50s, and other assorted "futuristic" 40s and 50s stuff from Sears catalog (refridgerators, toasters, etc.) If you had to pick a single person responsible for the "look" of the 1940s and 50s, he would be the guy.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:29 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

TBWA (a.k.a. Chiat\Day). These are the folks very wealthy clients call when they have brand identity problems. These are also the same folks behind the Apple 1984 ad and the Absolut Vodka campaign (as well as others).

1984 was done by Lee Clow, who still is at Chiat and currently leads the Media Arts Lab, a unit that does the Apple ads.

The LA office of Chiat (TBWA is the network, Chiat\Day the office cofounded by the no less legendary Jay Chiat) has some problems right now but there's a fun little video of the front part of the building here.
posted by krautland at 6:32 AM on September 15