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Health & Fitness

Even Mad Men Paid Homage

It had the feeling of an advertising Hall of Fame.

Everyone’s spirits couldn’t have been higher (even without the spirits).

Last Wednesday, June 1, on Madison Avenue and 50th Street:  the much-anticipated reunion of copywriters and art directors who worked in the 1960s at Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising, the birthplace of the “creative revolution.”

On large screens we were all reminded of the groundbreaking advertising we had been a part of:

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The famous Volkswagen Beetle campaign (voted by Advertising Age the number one ad campaign of the 20th century).

Avis’s “We try harder.”

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Alka Seltzer’s “Spicy Meatballs.”

American Tourister’s “Gorilla” commercial.

Polaroid’s James Garner/Mariette Hartley campaign.

The controversial “Daisy” commercial for Lyndon Johnson.

“Mikey” for Life Cereal.

And on and on and on.

Between the work and the people, it almost had the feeling of an advertising Hall of Fame (which, in a way, it was).

I was proud to have been a part of it.  We all were.

One of the lighter moments was when a scene from the "Mad Men" TV series was shown, where several of the Sterling Cooper employees were discussing the Volkswagen Beetle campaign. Most of them were criticizing it, when the Don Draper character silenced them by proclaiming it a great campaign, the proof being that “... we’ve all been talking about it for the last 15 minutes.”

Well, we all talked about the work for over four hours last Wednesday. Much of the talk was about Bill Bernbach, of course, the “father of the creative revolution,” as well as our surrogate father back then. Our proudest moments were returning from his office, clutching our work, and boasting to our peers, “Bill liked it.”

Well, Bill would have certainly liked the coming together of his “children” and the warm, heartfelt tribute paid to his legacy last Wednesday. On second thought, Bill wouldn’t have liked it. He would have loved it.

 

 

 

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