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"Mad Men" is back for seven more episodes to cap off the 85 so far, completing an arc that began in 2007 for us and in 1960 for Don Draper and Peggy Olson. And we're back, too, with our our final seven recaps by Matthew Creamer, more looks back at real Ad Age headlines from the era and the conclusion of our revealing, award-winning "Real Mad Men Diaries" video series, featuring interviews with the women and men who were really there -- and know what Don really could have gotten away with. Keep checking back for updates.
Season Seven, Part Two
Recap:
Homesick
What will I miss most about "Mad Men"? The fact that each and every
episode felt like it was taking a stab at perfection and every once
in a while it succeeded. One of those times is "Lost
Horizon."
Interview: Matthew Weiner Takes on an Era, the Ad
Industry and TV
The time was "more adult and dirty and darker than you remember,"
the creator of "Mad Men" told Ad Age
in an expansive interview as the show approached its
climax.
"Mad Men" 2025: Ad Leaders Predict the Future of the
Industry
As "Mad Men" brings its epic look back at agency life in the 60s
and 70s to a close, we asked today's agency leaders what "Mad Men"
would look like if it were set in the future -- specifically
10
years from now.
The Real 'Mad Men' Diaries: Howie Cohen
Video: "The best lines come
out of real life. You catch one, you shine a light on it and
you put it in the right situation."
McCann Makes Coke Pants, Celebrates Miller Win: Real Ad
Age Headlines From 1970
While he vacationed in England, McCann-Erickson Chicago VP Richard
Irwin also acted as "official courier"
to present the Bunny of the Year at the London Playboy
Club.
The Real 'Mad Men' Diaries: Would Mary Wells Have Hired
Don Draper?
Video: Advertising's
most powerful woman probably would have passed.
Recap: I Drink Your
Milkshake!
Goodbyes begin for
major characters in the second episode of the final half
season.
My Mom Was a Mad Man: How Carol Muehl Left a Legacy for
Female Copywriters
In 1960, a Detroit kid named Carol Calloway graduated from the
University of Michigan with an English major, a dance minor and a
powerful desire to make money.
A book excerpt.
Burnett Quits Entering
Awards, Media Director Turns Bikini Model: Real Headlines From "Mad
Men" Days
Our archives from the "Mad Men" era continue to turn up
oddities and news we might rather forget.
The Real 'Mad Men' Diaries: Was There Really That Much
Sex in the Office?
Our video series returns to say
there was probably even more sex in the office in real life
than on the show. We're looking at you, Y&R.
Recaps Return: Missed
Flights
"Mad Men" takes us to April 1970, though you might only be able to
tell if you know a scary lot about L'eggs.
Seven Things to Watch for in
the Final Seven Episodes of 'Mad Men'
We're probably about to dive deep into the Me Decade.
Let's hope Sally Draper gets out okay.
As AMC Says Goodbye to 'Mad Men,' It Says Hello to
Millennials
For both AMC and marketers, the
impact of the show is expected to resonate long after the
finale.
Share Your Facebook Photos
in Don Draper's Carousel Pitch From 'Mad Men'
AMC's excellent social-media promotion will either trigger deep
nostalgia or embarrass you.
Thanks AMC!
New York restaurants' promotional "Mad Men" lunch menus
are mostly booze.
The Real 'Mad Men' Diaries: Roy Eaton
An Advertising Hall of
Famer who broke the color barrier doesn't see much progress in
industry diversity.
The Real 'Mad Men' Diaries: Jane Maas
The former Ogilvy creative wonders, "Did I really write
that drivel?"
The Real 'Mad Men' Diaries: Judy Wald
Behind all those famed male creatives, there was a powerful
woman recruiter.
All the Real 'Mad Men' Diaries
Our Neal Award-winning video
series exploring the big names and campaigns of the '60s and
'70s.
Season Seven, Part One
'Mad Men' Mid-Season Finale
Recap: The Best Things in Life
Good vibes (more or less) as the
show breaks until its final act.
Brands Jump on Moon Landing, Pregnancy Detector Debuts
and Other Real 'Mad Men' Era News
Ad Age
headlines from 1969 (and beyond).
Chiat Pushes for Equality,
Revlon Plans Men's Genital Deodorant: Real 'Mad Men'-Era
News
See
what was making Ad Age headlines while Don, Peggy and company
were trying to figure out family (and the Burger Chef pitch) as the
first half of the season came to a close.
Recap: A Happy Family
"The Strategy" plays a lot with alternative ideas of family, even
the kind of family created by Burger
Chef.
The Real 'Mad Men' Diaries: Bob Kuperman
In the second in our series on the real Mad Men of the show's era,
Bob Kuperman almost passed on the opportunity to be part of one of
adland's hottest agencies, DDB, and most-salivated over accounts,
VW. "I told Ben, 'Well, I'd like to take the weekend to think it
over,'" recalls Mr.
Kuperman today with a chuckle. "And Ben said, 'Do you realize
there's a line out the door to work here?'" If he hadn't come
aboard, the classic VW commercial "1949 Auto Show" might never have
been.
Research Shows Long Client Lunches Are Actually Worth
It:
See
classic Ad Age headlines from the "Mad Men" era.
The Real 'Mad Men' Diaries: Keith Reinhard
In the first of a video series on the real Mad Men of the 1960's
and 70's, Keith Reinhard recalls landing
McDonald's for Needham Harper & Steers and coming up with
"You Deserve a Break Today."
Recap: Technophobia
When Michael Ginsberg was introduced the agency's first Jew, we
were set up for the show to grapple a bit with Madison Avenue's --
and by extension American culture's -- history of anti-Semitism.
This season, though, the quirky writer has slid into mental
illness, only accelerated by the installation of a mainframe
computer in Sterling Cooper & Partners. Read Matthew Creamer's
recap.
"Mad Men" Throwback Thursday: Real Ad Age News From May
1969
Including the classic headline "Creative Folk Strut, Talk to
Selves." Details
here.
Recap: Cosmic
Disturbance
When a drunk Don encounters the agency's computer installer, he
sounds like he's listened to "Sympathy for the Devil" one too many
times. "You talk like a friend but you're not … You go by
many names." Read the recap.
"Mad Men" Throwback Thursday: Real Ad Age Headlines From
April 1969
Ad Age used to conduct annual surveys of adland obituaries to
calculate how long you were surviving. That and other discoveries
here.
Recap:
MadTech
"We need to invest in a computer, period," Jim Cutler tells his
partners at Sterling Cooper & Partners as they decide what to
do about Don. "Not in creative hijinks." Read the recap.
"Mad Men" Throwback Thursday: More Real Headlines From
1969
Ogilvy really did win Hershey, Quaker targeted the "ghetto" and
more. See what Ad Age was covering during the final season of "Mad
Men." Check out actual
advertising headlines from January 1969.
Agency's Odd Ad for Itself During "Mad Men" Wasn't Even
Its Weirdest
The spot, which ran in the Chiacgo area, seems like a crossover
between AMC's adland show and its zombie hit "The Walking Dead."
But the agency behind it has done stranger work.
Watch it here.
Recap: Chewed Up and Spit
Out
In which the show simultaneously finds a villain who makes Don look
good by comparison and brings race back to the fore. Read the
recap.
"Mad Men" Throwback Thursday: Real Ad Headlines From the
Days of the Final Season
The return of "Mad Men" found Don Draper watching Richard Nixon
become president. Check out actual advertising headlines from
January 1969,
courtesy of the Ad Age archives.
Does Woodford Reserve's Bourbon Ad Liberate or
Discriminate?
Woodford Reserve bourbon debuted its first-ever TV campaign during
AMC's "Mad Men" on Sunday night. And by Monday morning, the
Brown-Forman-owned brand was already dealing with charges that the
debut ad is sexist. Critics missed the point, Brown-Forman
said.
Premiere Recap: Out in the
Cold
We know that the show's seventh and final season will be about
rising up out of the depths. The question before us: Just how
painful can purgatory be, especially when there's no booze to numb
it? Matthew Creamer's
recaps return.
AMC's "Mad Men" Premieres
Down in Viewers
"Mad Men" came back with a strong episode but a weaker audience
than the premiere a season earlier. Numbers
here.
See Our Favorite (Real) Ads
From the Final Season of "Mad Men"
From American Tourister to Volkswagen, check out the work that
closed out one decade and opened another. 15
great campaigns here.
Do You Have Your "Mad Men"
Drinking Game Ready?
Simon Dumenco tries to remember what the show is about but knows it
has something to do with drinking. Prepare.
AMC Will Hold Back Ad Time
in the Last "Mad Men" as Long as Possible
TV networks typically sell commercial time far ahead of time, but
AMC Networks President Charlie Collier thinks he can get way more
money by waiting until the last second. Read Jeanine
Poggi's report.
Season Six
Finale Recap: Goodbye to
All That
The sixth season of "Mad Men" was bookended by a pair of brutally
honest moments with unsuspecting clients. Read Matthew Creamer's
final recap of
the season.
Introducing
SC&P
Life is all about compromise. The naming of this unholy union was
no different. Read the
recap
Betty's
Back
When Betty and Don end up playacting husband and wife at an event
for Bobby's summer camp, you have to suspend some disbelief.
Read the recap
Need for
Speed
That the electrifying opening -- a dark, tight, frantic shot of Ken
Cosgrove, a speeding car, a gun -- was not even the strangest
moment in "The Crash" tells you just how bizarre it was. Read the recap
Don Is Not My
Co-Pilot
Don doesn't drink blood -- at least not yet -- but last night was
an object lesson in how the 1968 version of Don Draper wields power
in the office and out. What was once slick and attractive is now
boorish and bleak. Read the recap
SCDPCGCWTF?!: What Should the New "Mad Men" Agency Be
Called?
There may be a new agency arriving on the scene, giving us an
opportunity to kick around likely names with Jane Maas, Wexley
School for Girls, Walrus and others. Your
turn!
Size
Matters
For anyone who felt the sixth season was veering into the soap
operatic, this episode should have been a return to form. Read the recap
Yep, That's How the Ad Biz
Reacted to a National Tragedy
Can this episode possibly, really represent how the ad industry
really dealt with such a horrifying moment? Actually, yes.
Read
the recap
The Invisible Woman: Is
'Mad Men' Finally Taking On Race?
Dawn's introduction last season, coming after that memorable racist
water-balloon incident, felt like a head fake. We got that one
strange night on Peggy's couch and then nothing. But now with the
King assassination looming, we're getting some sense of a more
developed black character. We even see Dawn outside of work twice,
eating at a black coffee shop with a friend. Read the recap
Trouble at SCDP? Fo'
Chaough
As more than one central character verges on falling apart, it's
beginning to seem like the moral center of the show is over at
Cutler, Gleason and Chaough. Bonus material: We've got a real
Heinz-DDB presentation from 1968. Read the recap (and DDB's
presentation on Heinz to the 4A's)
How to Capitalize on Your Brand's Unplanned Star Turn on
"Mad Men"
Even after Koss got wind of its headphones' role in the "Mad Men"
premiere, producers wouldn't explain the part it would play, CEO
Michael Koss said. Read the
article
Try the "Mad Men" Rewrite Generator
Think you could write "Mad Men"? Give us a noun, a verb and a job
title. Fire up the rewrite
machine
Premiere Recap: Blue
Hawaii
The late 1960s are in full bloom, along with beards, mustaches and
sideburns. Pot smoke flows freely. Peggy Olson leans in. Don goes
way off-brief. But it begins in an emergency. Read the
recap
In Honor of "Mad Men"'s Return, See Our Favorite Ads
From the 1960s
How does the work of today compare with that of the '60s? Check out
some of the classics from advertising's golden age and see how far
creativity has come -- or not.
See the ads
Banana Republic's CMO on the Latest "Mad Men"
Collection
The brand is working with the show's costume designer, Janie
Bryant, on its third "Man Men" collection and has introduced an
online content hub themed "Mad for Mod." Read the
story