It's a Mad, Mad World

AMC's cult hit is a boon for advertising -- both on the show and off it

-By Barbara Lippert

The show's about a lot more than advertising.
Mad Men, the madly loved and hugely awaited AMC series that returns tonight for its third season, is ostensibly a show about advertising. And while the latest story line has to do with a British agency taking over fictional shop Sterling Cooper, what Mad Men really dramatizes is the political and cultural ruckus that shook up the country in the 1960s. The profound social changes put Americans on the (yet unfinished) road to racial and gender equality, and also created the "generation gap" and a "youthquake," terms now so antique they seem almost funny.

But while the show, brilliantly written, is punctuated with humor, it's not exactly a laugh-fest. At heart, Mad Men is pretty sad stuff. Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the gorgeous adman at its center, is the embodiment of a divided self. Compelled as a younger man to change his identity, his adult life is a lie. Plus, he smokes and drinks too much, compulsively womanizes, and is in desperate search of a Mommy figure. (One of the things I love about the show is how it depicts some not-so-great members of the Greatest Generation, many of whom were alcoholics, racists, misogynists -- you name it. So take that, Tom Brokaw.)

While the show doesn't gloss over life's harsh realities, it does look gorgeous. The rich cinematography, evocative lighting and fantastic devotion to period furnishings and wardrobe could make a mid-century fetishist out of anyone watching. The fact that Draper looks perfectly appointed and dashingly handsome in the midst of all his inner turmoil is part of the appeal. And that's the focus of the Season 3 promotional poster, in which Draper, wearing flawless business attire (starched collar, lacquered hair, the works), sits with legs crossed, lit cigarette in hand, in an office filled chair-high with water.

Even those not following the sometimes doom-laden story arcs can enjoy the visual genius. The show is eye candy that taps into the sexy, Rat-Packy archetypes of the time. It's all there: the sharply tailored suits, skinny ties and fedoras for men; the bullet bras, girdles and waist-defining dresses for women; and the ultimate accessories for both: cigarettes and cocktails. This stuff now seems amazingly cool and comforting.

But just because Mad Men is nominally about advertising doesn't mean just any ad tie-in will work. Its artifacts, however, are put to brilliant use. For instance, there's madmenyourself.com, where users can create show-related avatars. Talk about virility! Within three hours of the site going live July 27, at least 50 percent of my Facebook friends had visited it -- with the hugely pleasing and hilariously customized results becoming their new profile pictures. (Currently, some 500,000 people have created and downloaded an avatar; as the series progresses, people can continue to update them.)

It's a social media home run because the visual components -- with illustrations by Dyna Moe -- are as layered and spot-on as the TV production itself. The app was developed by AMC and is now being sponsored by Eight O'Clock Coffee, which, with its nostalgic, more than 100-year-old name, fits the show's clever vibe. For Eight O'Clock, the sponsorship is a mellow, relatively inexpensive way to get its brand percolating in people's minds.

The Banana Republic partnership also works, managing to link a brand name that's become a contemporary classic to the cocktail culture of 1963. It features a beautifully designed Mad About Style guide distributed in BR stores, as well as an online contest, Casting Call, now closed (semifinalists will be announced Aug. 21). The winner of the contest will receive a $1,000 gift card and a walk-on part on the show. To play, users had to go to a brick-and-mortar BR store for a Casting Call card. Each card had a code that was used to upload a photo in a user's "best mad men or women style." That took a commitment.

The guide has lots of brilliant little art-directed details, with props like a rotary phone from the show. What got my heart racing was the page for Mad Men office manager Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), which features her pen necklace -- which I love and wish was actually for sale -- sitting on a manually typed "memorandum." Also in the photo is a vintage lipstick and a Banana Republic scarf.

I never thought office supplies could seem so sexy. Then again, what the whole artfully marketed Mad Men phenomenon has proven is you can't underestimate our appetites for watching hugely beautiful people playing out behaviors that, by today's PC standards, are verboten in the workplace. It's the fall of 1963. The apocalypse is coming -- might as well be dressed for it.