As an avid Mad Men watcher, this series hits close to home, as I spent nearly 20 years on Madison Avenue selling advertising to the agencies there. Granted, I came in nearly 30 years after the time of Mad Men, but some of those “old timers” were still around.

The show focuses on the client/agency relationship, which my pal Sandy Gross was part of with the Volkswagen account. Gross was an account executive at Doyle, Dane, Bernbach and was working on the account during the time of the famous slogan “Think Small.”

On my side of the business, I was the advertising salesman trying to sell my media over others. Often, this involved taking clients and media teams out for lunch in NYC, which was the norm in the late 80s and early 90s. Often these “lunches” went on through the afternoon — this was the way business was conducted. Other times, we would meet after work at Bull and Bear or some other famous watering hole for cocktails. They were fun times, and it was a great way to get to know your client.

Later, as there were less and less support staff in the office, these became a thing of the past. Now it is almost impossible to secure a lunch meeting, as the mad men and women of today are doing the work of several people.

Even golf is a near impossibility. Fifteen years ago, I would have my sales director arrange client golf so we could get closer to accounts. During the summer months, we would be playing client golf twice during the week and once on weekends — it was crazy, but it was bringing in the sales. Today, it is difficult to find a client golf partner; times have changed.

If there are any mad men or women out there — or wannabes — let me know! We will meet at the Bull and Bear and reminisce about the good old days!

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO