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Back To The Future
Ad agencies delve into the past to seek new inspiration

Hollie Shaw, Financial Post
Published: Friday, August 22, 2008

In an era of change and uncertainty in the advertising industry, some agencies are fondly embracing -- and in some cases, overtly mimicking -- the style and ethos of the profession's golden era espoused in the sleeper TV hit Mad Men.

The critically lauded show, which chronicles the exploits at a 1960s' Madison Avenue ad agency, began clearly influencing designer runways last spring. But its depiction of the industry at a time of excitement, passion and bold ideas has also clearly struck a chord in the ad community itself.

Philadelphia-based agency Red Tettemer redesigned its Web site in homage to the show, which premiered its second season on specialty network AMC last month, and dressed up its entire staff in the fashions of the era: skinny ties, slick hair, cinch-waist dresses and ubiquitous lit cigarettes.

Closer to home, veteran independent Axmith McIntyre Wicht Ltd. recently rebranded itself as Agency59 (after 1959, the year in which the Toronto agency was founded), sending out a glossy booklet waxing nostalgic about the year, which also marked the launch of the powdered breakfast drink Tang, birth control pills and colour TV.

Agencies market themselves in the way they market a brand, so it's not surprising that when a formula gets tired (or confusing: founders Axmith and Wicht had been gone for years), it's time for reinvention.

But such back-to-the-future branding is on the rise in an industry undergoing unprecedented change.

In 1959, there was "optimism, and a sense of possibilities," the booklet from Agency59 notes. That's something many professionals in the industry seem to feel is in short supply today.

In June, market researcher TNS Media Intelligence reported spending fell by 1.4% in the first quarter among the top 50 North American advertisers from the same period in 2007.

Companies such as Starbucks Corp. and AT&T Inc. have reined in advertising spending amid a dwindling economy. But there is also a collective yearning among many industry professionals for the golden era in which agencies were not gigantic corporations and had a more open and trusting relationship with clients. "I think what was happening then, and what we'd like to see more of, was that the agency was truly a partner with clients," said John McIntyre, executive creative director of Agency59. "It's a response not so much specifically to nostalgia, but a response to the complexity," said Mr. McIntyre.

Toronto agency Huxley Quayle von Bismark Inc. also has more than a whiff of nostalgia in its brand, which opened late last year with a vow to simplify the agency/client relationship, offering a flat fee for core services.

"Whatever happened to unwavering accountability? ... It came to a point where we didn't even recognize ourselves any more," read a manifesto from the agency's founders. The corporate blog added: "The current model in Canada sees agencies spending the energy on award-show freebies, dogwalkers, while doing the bare minimum on their paying clients' businesses. We became increasingly uneasy with this, as we find it unethical and immoral."

The success of Mad Men was a "happy coincidence" for Huxley Quayle von Bismark, says partner Chris Hall. "I think you are seeing a business cycle where people are rejecting [the ad industry's] fragmentation. There is now [a desire] to get to where everybody started in the business before it fragmented. In that 'golden age of advertising' when the show [is set], there was a philosophy of getting things done."

The trend has also been visible in advertising; close to the series debut of Mad Men, an Energy BBDO campaign for Canadian Club whisky raised eyebrows and won critical plaudits for running a nostalgic print campaign pointing to the saucy escapades of Baby Boomers back in the 1960s, with the tag line "Damn right your dad drank it." The print ads featured actual photos from the archives of Beam Global Spirits employees with such provocative copy as "Your Mom Wasn't Your Dad's First," and "Your Dad Was Not a Metrosexual."

Comments

[Dave]

Noice!

BTW - I Loved that Canadian Club campaign.

[ryan Fox]

Good stuff :)