This week the First Generation office has been ‘a-zou-bisou’ about the season 5 premiere of Mad Men and the swinging 60’s shenanigans at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

Perhaps the show resonates with us because of our mutual advertising agency settings or maybe it’s the outlandish behavior that we find so amusing, but in either case, there are always lessons to be learned from our stylish fictional counterparts. So here are our top 5 Mad Men-inspired lessons, martinis optional:

5) Equal Opportunity: When a competing agency is shamed for their part in dropping water bombs on civil rights protesters, the SCDP folks pull out a mock ad claiming to be an “Equal Opportunity” employer. But when African-American jobseekers approach the agency for work, the partners quickly learn that this is no laughing matter and it’s time for them to open their doors. Lesson: It’s never too late to right a wrong.

4) Belle Jolie Lipsticks: When testing lipsticks for a Belle Jolie ad, then secretary Peggy Olson coins the phrase, “A Basket of Kisses”. While the client eventually goes with another idea, this creative copy gets Peggy noticed and eventually helps her say goodbye to the secretary pool and hello to the shark tank as the Junior Copywriter. Lesson: Seize opportunities – you never know where they may lead you.

3) Honda: When Roger Sterling’s drunken big mouth almost kills all chances of landing the high-profile Honda account, Don employs some smart thinking to beat the competition. The team pretends to shoot a video pitch, seemingly spending far beyond the strict $3,000 limit imposed by Honda. This leads the competing agency to up their ante and pull out all the stops. When Don goes into the pitch meeting with Honda, he tells them that he knows that the other company has broken the spending rules and since his conscious couldn’t allow him to do the same, he cleverly returns their $3,000. Impressed with his integrity, they tell Don that SCDP still has a shot at winning the bid. Lesson: Know your client and know what they believe in.

2) Sugarberry Hams: In order to drum up some much needed excitement for Sugarberry Hams, Peggy and Pete employ some Barnum and Bailey-inspired antics to generate some free publicity for the normally less than exciting pork product. Peggy hires two actresses to “tussle” over the last ham at the grocery store. But what starts as a fun gag ends up as a full-fledged brawl with arrests, hair pulling and newspaper coverage.  Lesson:  Contrary to popular belief, sometimes all publicity isn’t good publicity.

1) John Deere: When Account Executive Ken Cosgrove lands the John Deere account, the office celebrates with yet another wild party. But what happens when you mix lots of booze, a secretary who can’t drive and a pompous executive with bad reflexes? The answer: Gross, dark and hilarious television comedy. Lesson: If you’re going to drive a lawn mower at work- take out the blades.

Last night’s ADDY Awards Gala brought out the best of the best in Lehigh Valley’s advertising scene. Representatives from agencies and organizations across the Lehigh Valley came together to celebrate the creative spirit of advertising at this year’s awards ceremony and reception at the Hotel Bethlehem, hosted by the Lehigh Valley Ad Club and sponsored by First Generation.

The ADDY Awards are the nation’s largest awards competition, awarding excellence in advertising through over 200 American Advertising Federation member clubs across the country.

First Gen truly represented itself as a creative force to be reckoned with at this years ADDYs,  not only sponsoring the event, but arriving with a total of 19 attendees (all looking quite sharp, I might add), providing our A/V services through our Hotel Bethlehem A/V partnership, and leaving with a total of 11 awards – including 2 Gold!

I wouldn’t expect any less from the amazing team at First Generation. As Creative Director, I’m proud to represent such a talented and committed group who consistently puts forth an incredible effort to create award-winning work for our clients.

First Generation congratulates all of this year’s winners, and sends out a big thank you to the Lehigh Valley Ad Club for hosting the event. We also thank all of our clients, who know that working with us is a “win-win” situation!

Check out our winning entries:

 

Meet Carpenter Technology and Keystone Automotive Operations – FG’s Newest Clients   

First Generation has been named agency of record for Carpenter Technology Corporation, Wyomissing-based global specialty materials manufacturer.  FG will work side by side with Carpenter’s marketing team on all aspects of the Company’s marketing, advertising, branding, and marketing communications programs. Already, FG has launched two specialty market campaigns, developed a media plan and produced trade show collateral including pre-show mailers, video, displays and an iPad game!  

“We are excited to partner with an industry leader like Carpenter and look forward to implementing strategic communication programs in support of their business goals, innovative products and technical expertise” remarked First Generation President Alexandra Shade. “The First Generation team has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the B2B and industrial space and we are honored to be selected by Carpenter as their agency of record.”  

Read the Press Release!

About Carpenter  

Carpenter Technology (NYSE: CRS) produces and distributes conventional and powder metal specialty alloys, including stainless steels, titanium alloys, tool steels and superalloys. Information about Carpenter can be found at www.cartech.com.  

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Keystone Automotive Operations recently came to FG with a unique marketing challenge: Can FG partner with Keystone to brand a category of products not only to our distribution channel, but to our customers and internal sales force? And can we do it in seven weeks? The Result: A successful branded category with customized messaging to each segment – internal sales, the distribution channel and the consumer – that utilizes multiple tactics such as print brochures, tradeshow graphics, point-of-purchase, email, and a microsite.  

FG is also in the process of wrapping up production on Keystone Automotive’s newest 400+ page product catalog for their RV division. We are excited to be working with Keystone and look forward to future successes!  

About Keystone Automotive Operations  

Keystone Automotive Operations, Inc., based in Exeter, Pennsylvania is the leading distributor and marketer of specialty automotive equipment and accessories in North America. In its 38-year history, Keystone has grown from a single auto parts store to a $600MM warehouse distributor. Keystone offers the largest assortment of specialty products in the automotive aftermarket industry including 250,000+ SKUs from over 600 suppliers. The company’s fulfillment network utilizes 300 trucks/trailers providing next-day or two day delivery to customers in 47 states and Canada, as well as exporting to more than 40 countries.

Last Friday evening, creative professionals gathered at the 2011 Addy Awards gala to recognize the best of the best in Lehigh Valley advertising. The event, hosted by the Lehigh Valley Ad Club and proudly sponsored by First Generation, saw an impressive turnout and showcased a variety of oustanding creative work. Work was awarded throughout categories in print, web, interactive, video, and non-traditional media. First Generation took home a total of 9 awards – gold, silver, and bronze – for our work in 2010 throughout these categories.

“We are incredibly excited to share this success with our clients and are proud to have made such a mark on this year’s ADDY awards, ” remarked Sara Lorenz, Creative Director for First Generation. “First Generation’s recognition at this year’s ADDYs continues a tradition of excellence, and I am proud to be a part of a team that consistently produces such high-caliber work.”

We congratulate all the recipients of the 2011 ADDY awards and thank the Lehigh Valley Ad club for putting together a spectacular event.

Below are First Generation’s winning entries.

GOLD: Crayola Solar Farm video

SILVER: Coordinated Health Art of Medicine TV Program, Olympus SP-800 UZ video

BRONZE: Inky the Inkblot (fginkblot.com), Crayola 2011 Products Catalog, Sprinters Edge website (sprintersedge.com), Crayola On the Go Brochure, First Gen Brain Trust Brochure, Crayola Green Products Ad

In cooperation with 24-7 Fitness Clubs, First Generation has recently taken on the project of creating the 24-7 Fitness PRO AM SERIES logo and signage in preparation for the new season. The Velodrome in Trexlertown PA held its first race in October of 1975 and after 35 years of top international, Olympic-caliber bicycle racing, will be introducing and hosting its all new Pro-Am Series. The Pro-Am series features Category 1-3 riders — some of the best up-and-coming racers in cycling — and every Tuesday night they will be given the opportunity to match their skills against many of the Valley Preferred Cycling Center Friday night pros. First Generation is proud to work together with other local companies and looks forward to supporting the new 24-7 Fitness Pro-Am Series.

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Occasionally I need to work in the PowerPoint world. Usually it requires re-designing and converting slides from a client’s existing presentation so they will be legible and useful for a video or interactive presentation that we would be producing here at First Generation. PowerPoint is not my favorite piece of software — and I’m happy I don’t need to deal with it on a daily basis. It’s not the most elegant piece of software in the world, and it seems to me that it is poorly used by many people.

Because of its very purpose, many PowerPoint users are not designers, and it is the design aspect of building a slide that is often the last item considered by its legions of users. It can be frustrating for those of us who are designers to look at some of the incredibly bad PowerPoint slides we see.

Anyway, the whole PowerPoint experience got me to think about the word “slides.”

And I thought of my dad.

My father was a professor of Civil Engineering and researcher at Lehigh University for 50 years. As his career flourished, he traveled extensively — teaching, lecturing, and speaking around the world. He became a master of what he called the “slide talk.”

He did it in a world before PowerPoint.

Today, the word “slide” seems forever tied to PowerPoint. Click the mouse or press Page Down… view the next slide. Bullet point after bullet point. Need more information? Add a slide.

In my father’s world, slides were something quite different. They were individual frames of 35mm film, fixed in 2 inch square cardboard mounts. One hundred-forty slides could be carefully inserted in a “carousel” holder, placed on a slide projector, then projected in the dark — hopefully on a silver-coated screen for an optimum viewing experience.
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