Spoilers can't be avoided in this week's roundup of real Ad Age headlines from the "Mad Men" era, so stop reading now if Sunday's episode is still waiting for you on your DVR.
In "Time & Life," the 11th episode of the final season, we saw Sterling Cooper & Partners about to enter a new phase of its existence: non-existence, as the partners learn the shop is to be "swallowed up" by parent company McCann-Erickson. The news draws one last rally from Don Draper and team, despite the fact that, in the words of McCann's Jim Hobart, they were "dying and going to advertising heaven." But what was happening in the real ad world at the time? In some ways it was about the same.