If you’re at all interested in the ad biz, we know where you were last night at 10pm: on the couch, eyes transfixed on the tube, eagerly ingesting the premiere of Mad Men’s fourth season. We grinned and beared the commercial interruptions (surprisingly engaging and relevant, thanks in part to BMW) to spend our Sunday evening catching up with Don Draper and company. Surprisingly, there’s a considerable amount of post-adness to be found in and around the new episode (it was broadcast live in Times Square, by the way). Let’s have a look at the key takeaways.

The irony that this is a show about advertising isn’t lost on AMC, and that’s a good thing. They actually manage to feature some good content during the commercial breaks, including an entire spot by BMW on the history of their advertising campaigns. A Mad Men TV spot is a golden opportunity for brands to try something a bit different like this, because viewers are already ensconced in a world where the veil of advertising has been lifted. In this case, the carmaker even included an interview with the creator of their slogan, “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” It felt like a scene straight out of Art & Copy. In another context, a spot like this might feel forced or just irrelevant, but to an audience so keenly attuned to advertising, it’s ideal.

As for the show itself, Don is now part of a newly formed agency (Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce) and has landed himself in a potentially damaging PR situation. While he’s created a smash hit advertisement for Glo-Coat that has the papers buzzing, he doesn’t see the point in selling himself when interviewed. He promptly gets panned in an Ad Age article. Roger Sterling, his esteemed business partner, sums it up best: “You turned all the sizzle from Glo-Coat into a wet fart.”

Draper is a virtuosic brander, but when it comes to personal PR, he’s lost. It’s the concept of personal branding he’s missing: a decidedly key consideration these days for ad execs and public figures. Luckily, by the time the credits roll, Don’s woken up to the importance of his personal brand and delivers a charming, candid interview that leverages the power of his work.

As always, Mr. Draper unleashes a deluge of quotables throughout the episode. Of his successful Glo-Coat commercial he says that nobody knows it’s an ad…“at least not for the first 30 seconds.” (The spot features a lengthy and captivating intro.)

There’s also the point when he reams out, and then throws out a potential client (!) for being behind-the-times and too stubborn to change: “You need to decide what kind of company you want to be: Comfortable and dead, or risky, and possibly rich.”

And, in perhaps the best example of ahead-of-its-time advertising (dare we say, post advertising?), Peggy orchestrates a stunt on behalf of client Sugarbear Hams, to save the account, that doesn’t sound too far removed from antics we regularly chronicle here at PA. Two women are paid to fight it out over one of the brand’s hams at a supermarket in the name of exposure and press coverage. They execute the stunt and get paid off to stay quiet — it works, but very easily could’ve gone wrong, as Don makes sure to note. This brings to mind the recent foolhardy efforts of KFC. If carried out today, the Sugarbear campaign would most likely also be recorded by an onlooker, uploaded to YouTube and spread across the net.

As a reader keen on contemporary advertising and progressive branding, what was your take on this season’s premiere? Are you seeing the same kind of parallels we are? Do you feel the efforts portrayed on the show are representative of the time period? Most importantly: WHY DOES DON LIKE GETTING SLAPPED AROUND IN THE SACK?!

(via)