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Article
What Would Don Draper Do? Rules for Restoring the Contemporary Agency Mojo
WCBT Faculty Publications
  • David Strutton, University of North Texas
  • David G. Taylor, Sacred Heart University
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
1-1-2011
Abstract

What are the timeless truths of advertising? How can agency leaders manage their teams, their creative talent, and clients? To answer these and other questions, the mythology of the ‘Golden Age of Advertising’ is examined and analyzed herein. Specifically, using ad man Don Draper—protagonist of the fictional, but already culturally iconic, television series Mad Men—as a mythic archetype, lessons are extracted for contemporary advertising practitioners. Ten timeless rules are proposed and explicated in the areas of (1) managing intra-agency leadership processes, (2) managing creative processes, and (3) managing client relationships.

DOI
10.1016/j.bushor.2011.05.002
Citation Information
Strutton, D., & Taylor, D.G. (2011). What would Don Draper do? Rules for restoring the contemporary agency mojo. Business Horizons, 54(5), 467-479. doi: 10.1016/j.bushor.2011.05.002