When you watch a show like The Sopranos, you get a good sense of how the Mob might actually operate in a town like New Jersey.

The same can be said for The Wire, which details the narcotics scene in Baltimore through the eyes of law enforcers, drug dealers and users, because it makes you feel like you’re there in the trenches yourself.

Those familiar with the ad agency game, and in particular the ad agency game around the 1960s, will probably say the same about Mad Men.

David Ogilvy (above) served as inspiration for the show, and remains one of advertising’s most iconic names, with Michael Ball often dubbed his protege. According to MBR, in 1965, Ball was “tasked with deciding how Ogilvy could enter the southern hemisphere so it could call itself a truly global agency”.

In fact, he was dubbed ‘Australia’s Mad Man’, and carried with him the ethos that David had cultivated back home.

Here’s more from Michael on MBR:

“The key to success was to introduce a totally new idea, a vision of what advertising was about. Previously until then, and even today, so much advertising is sold on hunch and creativity and the sales ability of somebody in the agency to convert a client. David Ogilvy had been a researcher with George Gallup in the US and when he started the agency, he started it as the research director. He was not the creative director at all. He couldn’t get anyone to understand the importance of research.

“David was able to prove that you could improve the effectiveness of advertising by using proven methods. So what I brought into Australia was the idea of utilising research for a campaign. That may seem so obvious today.”

…“It’s one of those things where chemistry played a role. David was 34 years older than me but there was this chemical attraction. We just clicked.

Yeah, he brought that idea to Australia, and he also brought along more practical advice.

These documents below come from a former senior Ogilvy executive, and outline some of the concepts that David felt were important for Ball to follow.

To start, a little note:

Followed by that advice.

Look, much of it makes sense, and probably still rings true today.

Hire mavericks, behave professionally, always wipe the top of the cistern down after use and take frequent vacations – sure, I’ll buy into that.

All very Mad Men-ish, right?

Ogilvy died in 1999, but his legacy lives on, not least of all in the show which drew so much inspiration from his life.

Later, when pressed on the connection and the show’s accuracy, Ball had this to say:

Mad Men was exactly correct except in one detail, which was in Mad Men everyone’ in their office had a bar. That’s not true. but we had a bar in the agency.

We drank like fish, but you didn’t walk into a guy’s office and take a handful of ice. Everyone smoked all the time. David was a chain smoker, he had a pipe, cigar and cigarette all going at the same time. Our biggest clients were cigarette makers.

Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that Ball died from cancer back in 2016.

Before we go, here are some of Ogilvy’s most famous quotes via Goodreads:

“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”

“What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.”

“Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals.”

“The most effective leader is the one who satisfies the psychological needs of his followers.”

“The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife.”

Charming. That’s where the casual misogyny in Mad Men comes from.

Thanks, Rupert

[sources:mumbrella&goodreads]