Advertising is a business rooted in art, an art rooted in business, and it reached its peak in a specific place at a specific time: New York City at the end of the 1950s and through the ’60s.<p>AMC’s award-winning drama<i>Mad Men</i> has garnered awards for its portrayal of advertising executives. This engaging, insightful narrative reveals, for the first time, the lives and work of the real advertising men and women of that era. Just as portrayed in the series, these creative people were the stars of the real Madison Avenue. Their innate eccentricity, vanity, and imagination meant their behavior and lifestyle was as candid and original as their advertising. They had it and they flaunted it. People like Bill Bernbach, George Lois, Ed McCabe, Mary Wells, Marion Harper, Julian Koenig, Steve Frankfurt, and Amil Gargano, and others, who in that small space, in that short time, created some of the most radical and influential advertising ever and sparked a revolution in the methods, practice, and execution of the business. Including over 100 full-color illustrations, the book details iconic campaigns such as VW, Avis, Alka Seltzer, Benson & Hedges, Polaroid, and Braniff Airways.
The Real Mad Men
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Review
Publishers Weekly
“Cracknell's account of the heyday of advertising—currently being explored on AMC's hit show Mad Men--is a terrific supplement to the show, as well as a primer on the evolution of the industry…Advertising geeks will gobble this up, but even those completely unaware of Don Draper and Sterling Cooper will appreciate this lively and spirited account.”
David Abbott
“Andrew Cracknell tells it like it was—the inside story of the men and women who kept Don Draper awake at night. Witty and invigorating.”
Ken Roman, former chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and author of The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising
“Andrew Cracknell has accurately captured what many people called the Golden Age of Advertising—with its postwar milieau, strong personalities and creative philosophies—and pinned it to the wall like an exotic butterfly in a collection. Like the period, the book is fun.”
Jerry Della Femina
“Andrew Cracknell has really nailed the “Mad Men” years. He tells the inside story of the advertising business as only someone who’s been right in the middle of the ad business can. I enjoyed reading it, and I’m really looking forward to the day they make a movie out of it because there’s a great movie here. I can only hope that George Clooney is around to play my part.”
George Lois
“I lived through half of what Andrew Cracknell writes about—and there's so much action on each page, my head was spinning. The Real Mad Men nails those days in real time – but take a valium before you read it. It's an eye-popping, roller-coaster ride, and the true story of the original Mad Men. Reading any chapter in Cracknell's book beats the hell out of watching a dozen segments of Mad Men.”
Amil Gargano, former CEO & Creative Director of Ally & Gargano
“In 1955, I tiptoed into advertising with apprehension and distrust of a business that appeared to rejoice in its triviality. In 2000, I left advertising without regret and an enormous sense of pride. In those 45 years, I saw it all.
Now, Andrew Cracknell, has captured the essence and true character of advertising's Creative Revolution with meticulous research, deep insight, and revealing interviews with the serious and outrageous real Mad Men and Women of that radical era in this brilliant new book.”
Josh Raymond, (London) Times Literary Supplement
“As befits an ad man’s output, Cracknell’s book is a sensuous beast. It exudes gloss, and the dense full-color pages curate classic advertisements and photographs of industry players, all large and juxtaposed attractively with the text…much like a good advertisement, the book successfully informs, entertains and pleases the eye.”
Book News
“The text will interest students, academics, and professionals in business and advertising as well as general readers fascinated by the this period in advertising and American History.”
About the Author
<b>Andrew Cracknell</b> served as Executive Creative Director for many major international agencies, on both sides of the Atlantic, for every business category and in every available medium. For this book, he undertook extensive in-depth research and recorded many hours of interviews with the advertising women and men of the era, from secretaries to directors. He also writes regularly for<i>The Financial Times</i> and<i>Campaign</i> magazine. He can usually be found in London, New York, or sailing his boat in the Aegean.<p><b>Sir John Hegarty</b> was an award-winning art director at Benton and Bowles, London, and later started Bartle Bogle Hegarty,<i>Campaign</i>’s Agency of the Year in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2005, the International Clio Awards awarded John with the Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in London.<p><b>Fred Danzig</b> was the executive editor for<i>Ad Age</i> from 1968 to 1995. He is the coauthor of<i>How to be Heard: Making the Media Work for You</i> with Tim Klein and was adjunct instructor at the New School in NYC.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
9 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Advertising Revolution
April 30 2012
By James D. Crabtree
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
So many books concentrate on advertising from the perspective of the hit television shows Mad Men, set in the 1960s, but THIS book discusses advertising and what was really going on with the industry.
The 1960s saw enormous growth in advertising as more and more corporations increased their spending to get the word out. Advertising was just beginning to become "scientific," that is, the result of consumer research. Before that advertising was a "fire and forget" weapon, placing ads and then judging their effectiveness based on sales or coupons. With true consumer research the agencies wished to find out WHY they buy, to better sell to the potential buyers.
There was also space for the ART of advertising, for creative campaigns (like "Think Small" for Volkswagen) and this field greatly expanded during the 1960s. It involved many free-thinkers in the industry.
If you're really interested in advertising this is an awesome book. If you want something that keeps talking about this character or that character from the TV show you will be disappointed (although they use the fictional characters to illustrate this type of person or another) because this book is based upon real people, many of whom are just as interesting or even more so than those of Mad Men.
Illustrated with many great photos and ads.
The 1960s saw enormous growth in advertising as more and more corporations increased their spending to get the word out. Advertising was just beginning to become "scientific," that is, the result of consumer research. Before that advertising was a "fire and forget" weapon, placing ads and then judging their effectiveness based on sales or coupons. With true consumer research the agencies wished to find out WHY they buy, to better sell to the potential buyers.
There was also space for the ART of advertising, for creative campaigns (like "Think Small" for Volkswagen) and this field greatly expanded during the 1960s. It involved many free-thinkers in the industry.
If you're really interested in advertising this is an awesome book. If you want something that keeps talking about this character or that character from the TV show you will be disappointed (although they use the fictional characters to illustrate this type of person or another) because this book is based upon real people, many of whom are just as interesting or even more so than those of Mad Men.
Illustrated with many great photos and ads.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
HISTORYWISE, IT'S DEFINITIVE
Feb 23 2012
By Tom Messner
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
If business schools taught advertising as a history (which they should as teaching it as dogma has only 15 minutes of value), then this book should be the
text for the second semester following a first semester with Madison Avenue USA by Martin Mayer. Thus students would have Cracknall's easy to read grasp of the essentials of the 60s Creative Revolution as well as Mayer's easy to read summation of the post-war establishment agency business through the introduction of the Edsel. The Mad Men are all here in their variously modest poses as well as their full frontal braggadocio. But what is especially satisfying to the congnoscenti as well as the neophyte is that some of the brilliant Mad Women are given their due credit, most especially Rita Selden who wrote the advertising headline of the century, Lemon, for an imported car that would move from sales of two cars in their intro year to more than half a million in 1970.
Read it. Buy it. Act now before it's too late. Amazon's operators are, if not standing by, then sitting still waiting for your call. Makes a great gift too!!
text for the second semester following a first semester with Madison Avenue USA by Martin Mayer. Thus students would have Cracknall's easy to read grasp of the essentials of the 60s Creative Revolution as well as Mayer's easy to read summation of the post-war establishment agency business through the introduction of the Edsel. The Mad Men are all here in their variously modest poses as well as their full frontal braggadocio. But what is especially satisfying to the congnoscenti as well as the neophyte is that some of the brilliant Mad Women are given their due credit, most especially Rita Selden who wrote the advertising headline of the century, Lemon, for an imported car that would move from sales of two cars in their intro year to more than half a million in 1970.
Read it. Buy it. Act now before it's too late. Amazon's operators are, if not standing by, then sitting still waiting for your call. Makes a great gift too!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting for marketing and advertising professionals
Aug 9 2012
By Deedee45
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a quick read and interesting for anyone but especially those who work in marketing and advertising. There are lots of bits of trivia on ad campaigns from the 50-60s.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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