Last week Andrew Cracknell took all of us here at BMB to New York and back.
Well, 1960s New York to be precise, with a very inspiring talk about his book The Real Mad Men.
His yellow cab took us through New York’s cultural history since the fifities – from the changing relationship between art directors and copywriters, to the ads that changed the world – from Think Small to ‘Chick’.
Overall, the message he impressed on half the agency was this: just because Mad Men is about events fifty years ago, its lessons – persuasion, power of narrative, simplicity, creative responsibility – are just important today, if not more so.
If you’ve not read the book already, it’s a wonderful read which takes you back to the alleged ‘golden age’ of advertising. I have to confess that we read it a year ago and have been meaning to write about it ever since – oops – sorry Andrew! I do remember very much liking his sentimental scribble in the front of my copy though – the words, ‘Maybe we should all have been there then’. Which in fairness, probably rings true more for the blokes among us than for Nat and I – who would have no doubt ended up as overweight housewives or bored secretaries.
Incidentally, Andrew is mad keen to do his talk again, and is currently available for agency lunchtime lectures, weddings and barmitzvahs, as they say.
LORELEI MATHIAS 