If Sterling Cooper Went Social

In the spirit of the return of AMC’s hit show Mad Men, social media marketer and blogger Jason Keath gathered advertising pundits to envision what the fictional 1960’s ad agency Sterling Cooper would look like today.

In the AMC series, the characters started in radio and print ads. As the show progressed, television came on the scene. Now we’re getting a view into what the men and women of Mad Men might be doing today in the internet and social media influenced “always-on” ad world.

London-based marketer Ron Schott looked at what life at Sterling Cooper would embody once the agency went digital. Looking at the show’s protagonist, Schott writes, “Don Draper would always be giving speeches in the office about how ‘viral’ doesn’t just happen, ‘we’ make it happen.”

He also imagines how the pretentious and flamboyant character of Salvatore “Sal” Romano would take advantage of Oreo’s agile digital strategy that made a big splash during the Super Bowl.

“Sal would come back and run the real-time content department, pumping out Oreo-esque images like a machine,” writes Schott.

In a play on Instagram, Schott asks what the show’s secretary and femme fatale Joan Holloway would have to deal with on the photo-sharing platform.

“Joan would get 2,345 follower requests on Instagram a day because her profile picture is just a tad risqué,” he muses.

Marketing pundit Jesse Noyes chose to jest about the constant alcohol consumption on the show, guessing that the characters today “would drink Red Bull instead of whiskey.”

Another marketer, Joe Chernov, pokes fun at our generation’s love affair with technology and the Internet saying.

“The show would immediately become unwatchable and boring because everyone would be staring at their monitors and smartphones instead of talking to each other,” writes Chernov.

Digital and social media marketer Ryan Cohn paired a YouTube video with his quip. It features Don Draper explaining the value and majesty of nostalgia in advertising, and getting hung up on Facebook hype.

Cohn writes, “And, of course, Don would pitch Facebook on this totally new concept that would redefine the social network once and for all, Timeline.”