AMC Builds Partnerships to Promote "Mad Men"

Diverse Team Formed to Market 3rd Season of 1960s Advertising Show

Jul 18, 2009

AMC has partnered with Banana Republic, Clorox, Variety magazine, Vanity Fair and Lionsgate in a unique promotion that may inspire similar marketing campaigns.

The American advertising industry image as depicted on "Mad Men" may get a little stronger this year as the AMC television show returns for a third season, supported by a unique marketing blitz. The promotion involves such diverse participants as Banana Republic, Clorox, Variety, Vanity Fair and Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

AMC planned to debut Season 3 of its Emmy-award winning drama August 16. Meantime, marketers may be asking what AMC, Banana Republic, Clorox, Variety, Vanity Fair and Lionsgate have in common. The simple answer is "Mad Men."

Lionsgate, which created the cable series, planned to issue the second season DVD in mid July, accompanied by a Clorox promotion.

Fashion Plate Don Draper

Don Draper, "Mad Men’s" philandering creative director for the Sterling Cooper advertising agency in New York, is being promoted this summer as a male fashion plate by Banana Republic. So is his beautiful but usually moody wife. Bloomingdale’s conducted a window display promotion for the show last year.

Banana Republic is producing displays and contests featuring photos of Draper, his wife and a line of suits, dresses, hats, ties and shoes similar to what the Drapers might wear if they lived in the 21st Century,

"Mad Men" won Emmy Awards in 2008 and has been nominated again in 2009. According to Wayne Friedman of Media Daily News, it averaged about 900,000 viewers in its first season and 1.5 million in its second. Leading cable shows often attract 5-to-6 million viewers.

Modern Takes on 1960s Styles

Friedman said Banana Republic will dress mannequins in "modern takes on classic, iconic 1960s style. The retailer also planned to develop a style guide profiling "Mad Men" characters. The displays are to be placed in the company's 400 Canadian and American stores.

AMC and Banana Republic also will cosponsor a photo "Casting Call" contest in which participants compete for a walk-on role in one of the "Mad Men" episodes. "Think you have that Mad Men look?" the company asks in its promotion.

Banana Republic Perfect Partner

Linda Schupack, AMC’s senior VP-marketing, told Advertising Age that Banana Republic was a "perfect partner" for the show. She said "the style and sensibility of that brand perfectly mirrors what ‘Mad Men’ is about."

Variety is tapping into the new interest in the 20th Century that "Mad Men" has generated. It is launching its new archives service with previews of its 1960-65 issues, which carry articles about Marilyn Monroe, Jerry Lewis and other television stars of the era. The Variety archive website also carries ads for the "Mad Men" DVD, including a look at the show’s flip book.

Go Mad for Mad Men

The August issue of Vanity Fair was scheduled to run a "Go mad for 'Mad Men'" promotion for the new DVD.

Clorox joined the promotion by creating an ad for the show’s second season DVD. The ad features a lipstick mark on the collar of a Draper-style white shirt. The headline says Clorox has been "getting ad guys out of hot water for generations."

It’s another acknowledgment that the show is about much more than advertising.

The copyright of the article AMC Builds Partnerships to Promote "Mad Men" in Advertising Agencies is owned by Carroll Trosclair. Permission to republish AMC Builds Partnerships to Promote "Mad Men" in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.