| Who (or what) are today's Mad Men? - Washington Post (blog) Mar 25th 2012, 18:50 The Mad Men (and women) Imagine walking into Don Draper's office and asking him for advice on search engine optimization (SEO) terms. He'd probably lean back, light a cigarette and tell you to come back when you're ready to start talking sense. It got us thinking about who (or what) are the Mad Men of today. There are, of course, men and women in ad firms around the world creating provocative and alluring ads — the traditional inheritors of the Mad Men mantle. But we decided to take a slightly more unconventional look, and arrived at five people/things that we think have emerged as the new kings (and queens) of advertising. But, before we get started, here, for your viewing pleasure, is the "Mad Men" cast — from left, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Jared Harris, Vincent Kartheiser, Jon Hamm, Robert Morse and Elisabeth Moss. Season 5 premieres on March 25 (9 p.m. for the East Coast folks). But, if you're here, you probably knew that already. Frank Ockenfels / AP Related Content You Yes, we know, "you" has been done before. Bravo, Time magazine 2006, bravo. But if you've ever uploaded a video to YouTube in the hopes it would go viral, you are, indeed, a mad man. An unknown person makes a video advocating on behalf of something they love, believe in, want or need and suddenly, almost inexplicably it's the most popular video on YouTube. It's every advertiser's dream. From "Obama Girl" to "Kony 2012," the average person has exponentially more power today to influence the general populace than they did in the days of Draper. Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images The social network Facebook probably couldn't ask for better advertising than a feature-length blockbuster (a screenshot of which is pictured here) — not that it needs it. But, let's set that aside for a second to look at the broader concept of the social network. When it comes to advertising, nothing beats a friend's recommendation. It's a sweet spot for advertisers that emerges, oddly, when they're not around. You're sitting on the phone with your best friend and he or she just happens to mention a product they recently fell in love with. Social media has taken this dynamic and exponentially expanded it, giving all of your friends an opportunity to inundate you with pretty pictures of their favorite products. Pinterest, anyone? Merrick Morton / AP The algorithm A good ad is a good ad. It doesn't matter how you slice it. The advent of the search algorithm, however, has introduced new terms and rules into the advertising playbook. This includes terms such as "traffic," "page views" and "SEO". For example, the acronym "CPM "means cost-per-thousand impressions. "Impressions" used to mean eyeballs at the theater, in front of TVs, newspapers and magazines or ears listening to the radio. Today, it also means clicks. And good luck getting those impressions online if your link's at the bottom of the algorithm-controlled search engine results queue. John Adkisson / Reuters The Google Doodle team Original mad man David Ogilvy is quoted as saying, "A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself." Allow us to introduce Exhibit A: the Google Doodle. When Google pushes a new doodle, take a look at the Google trends, which show the top search terms entered into the engine at a given moment. The Google Doodle, when the company reveals one, is almost always at or near the top of the list. And guess what that means? So is Google. When a new doodle lands, it produces instant, favorable coverage for the search engine company. It's a smart move by the company, a move certainly worthy of a Mad Man. Google Aggregation Much like a DJ remixes a song, journalists and bloggers remix popular stories, adding in new reporting and analysis. This means that, for those eager to get their message or product out there, aggregation can be a wonderful thing. The growing velocity of a story as it repeats with slight variations across the Web (assuming it's good news), is music to any product executive's ears. And, to top it all off, it's free. Michael S. Williamson / The Washington Post This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks. | |
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