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kottke.org posts about Don Draper

Heinz is actually running ketchup ads created by Mad Men’s Don Draper

Heinz Ads Mad Men

In the second episode of the 6th season of Mad Men, ad man Don Draper of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce pitches Heinz on a campaign where you never actually see the product. The ads show French fries, steak, and a hamburger with the tagline “Pass the Heinz” and your mind fills in the missing ketchup bit. Here’s the pitch (which doesn’t exactly land w/ the Heinz folks):

Now, in the real universe, the actual Heinz is running Draper’s ads.

Partly a PR stunt, partly just solid on-brand communications, the campaign is sure to delight fans of the AMC show, which in July will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its premiere. And in a nice touch, the ads are officially being credited to Heinz’s current agency, David Miami, and to Don’s fictional 1960s firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. (Draper and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, who approved the idea, are both listed in the credits.)

Heinz tells AdFreak that each one will get its own billboard in NYC. All three ads will also run in the New York Post, and the fries execution will run in Variety too. The ads will get support across Heinz’s social media channels as well.

See also Malcolm Gladwell on The Ketchup Conundrum.


Mad Men coming

Season 5 of Mad Men starts on Sunday. It’s been on hiatus for 12 years, and it might be hard to remember season 4 without some of the Mad Men related info linked below. With such a long break, there’s been quite a bit of Mad Men news floating around. In order to cut it down a little, most of this stuff is from the last week or so. Don’t try to eat it all in one sitting you’ll get a stomach ache and have to sleep off your hangover on your office couch.

-Here’s where we left off in Season 4.

-Everything Don Draper Said in Season 4.

-Although, Matthew Weiner has asked reviewers with advanced copies of Sunday’s premier not to discuss key details in their previews, such as the year this season takes place, Weiner is changing a song featured in the episode because it wasn’t released until 6 months after the episode takes place. ‘Look of Love’ was released at the beginning of 1967 placing the episode in, or around, the summer of 1966. This is about a year after Season 4 ended. Maybe this is subterfuge?

-George Lois is still mad.

-Newsweek recently had an issue celebrating the return of Mad Men where the ads were all retro. Here are all those ads.

-The psychotherapist who consulted on Mad Men’s development talks about why the characters feel so real.

-Some (spoiler free) previews of what to expect on Sunday.

Imagine if Mad Men was a Nintendo game…