When it comes to up-and-coming stars in advertising, one clear leader is Don Draper of Sterling Cooper. Mr. Draper, 36, who recently was named partner in addition to creative director of the New York-based agency, has spent eight years in advertising, including six at his current shop. He is credited with Sterling Cooper's innovative Lucky Strike campaign earlier this year and just wiped out the competition for Kodak's new slide projector with his "Carousel" concept. In addition, he was responsible for the agency's hire of Herman "Duck" Phillips as head of account services. In a recent interview with ADVERTISING AGE reporter Julie Liesse, Mr. Draper discussed Sterling Cooper's recent account wins and losses as well as his new role at the agency and what to expect in the future.
Ad Age: It has been a roller-coaster year for Sterling Cooper and for you personally. Your agency has had a couple of high-profile account wins recently--Kodak and Clearasil--but also lost Dr. Scholl's. You have won awards and have a new role at Sterling Cooper as partner and creative director. But overriding everything has been the health of Roger Sterling. What do you think about the year your agency has had, and what do you forecast for the coming year?
Don Draper: It has been quite a year, but I don't want to give the impression that things are unstable at Sterling Cooper. We continue to bring in new business and offer an alternative to larger firms by providing cutting-edge creative.
Ad Age: How is Mr. Sterling doing? Do you anticipate his return to the agency soon?
Mr. Draper: Why? What have you heard? Roger's in perfect health. Roger is recovering nicely and has worked as hard as he ever has.
]]> Ad Age: How have your clients reacted to the absence of Mr. Sterling from day-to-day business? For instance, he is especially close to your Lucky Strike client.Mr. Draper: Roger has always entrusted me with the Lucky Strike account, and during his brief vacation, I've tried to keep Lucky Strike happy in Roger's inimitable style.
Ad Age: What is your working relationship with Bert Cooper? He has a reputation as a tough boss but also a, well, unique personality.
Mr. Draper: I'd be lying if I didn't say Bert Cooper is a character. But I feel lucky to work with him; and, let's face it, he's a legend.
Ad Age: In a high-profile move, you just recently landed Duck Phillips as your head of client services. Why did you go outside the agency for this position? How is Mr. Phillips adjusting to life back in New York and at Sterling Cooper?
Mr. Draper: Duck Phillips is a thoroughbred. The better question is, can our team live up to his expectations? But I can say so far, so good.
Ad Age: Some in the industry have characterized Sterling Cooper as a "mom and pop" agency; others have pegged it as amore traditional agency compared to today's hot creative shops, such as DDB and BBDO. How would you describe your agency's niche on Madison Avenue?
Mr. Draper: Pretty much when you look at Madison Ave. right now, it's a battle between the dinosaurs and the Tinkerbells. Sterling Cooper is steeped in tradition while still being able to take chances, and that's all about overhead. We're not going to be bankrupted by the next fad.
Ad Age: Many in the ad business were impressed by your "Jesus Over Rio" campaign as well as your "Mark Your Man" ads for Belle Jolie. How would you describe Sterling Cooper's creative philosophy?
Mr. Draper: I'd like to think that our work springs from somewhere deep in the heart of our artists. We try to be mirrors for consumers. Of course, there's another art, and that's getting ideas past clients. So we try to be practical.
Ad Age: Your clients love you and your work. Joe Harriman and Lynn Taylor at Kodak can't say enough nice things about you. The head of a rival agency says your client United Fruit practically thinks you invented the banana--your creative insights have been so valuable to the Chiquita brand. What is the secret of your success as an adman?
Mr. Draper: I've been very lucky. I have a great team. And most important, I believe in research. Personal, one-on-one research--not the stuff that comes from reports. You'd be surprised what you can learn about tobacco sales from talking to a busboy.
Ad Age: As advertising increasingly moves beyond magazines, newspapers, billboards and radio to television commercials, how does your job change? How do you think this new medium, television, will change the way advertising talks to consumers--and how will it affect advertising in general?
Mr. Draper: Well the first thing I've noticed, it seems to be more about show business, not just putting ads into television shows without irritating viewers. But the ads themselves have to tell stories, have music, have striking images, be entertaining--maybe even more entertaining than the shows. It's going to be a tough one.
Ad Age: One of your cornerstone clients, Lucky Strike, just lost a major lawsuit and faces the prospect of increased government regulation of the tobacco industry, including possible health warnings on cigaret packages. How does all this change the creative challenge of marketing cigarets? What do you predict for the near future of the tobacco industry?
Mr. Draper: Right now it seems like a lot of hysteria. As far as the future goes, I don't see a reason to change anything. Prohibition was 30 years ago. I think the government's interference will have similar success.
Ad Age: You have a broad portfolio of clients, including not only Lucky Strike but also Maytag, Bethlehem Steel and some top package-goods brands such as Right Guard and Clearasil. What other categories of advertisers would you like to pursue as clients in the coming year?
Mr. Draper: We've been very successful at getting smaller divisions of big companies. Right now we're really trying to land a whale. We have Clearasil, but we'd like a shot at their parent, Vicks, and obviously we'd like some other clients as big as Lucky Strike: a major airline, an automobile. Everyone must give the same answer to this question, am I wrong?
Ad Age: It's no secret that you were wooed this year by other, bigger shops. Why did you decide to stay at Sterling Cooper?
Mr. Draper: Sterling Cooper has always taken care of me, financially and creatively, and maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I've tried to reward that with my loyalty.
Ad Age: The word on the street is that your wife is a former model and was considered for a role in a Coca-Cola campaign this year. Are you looking to be an advertising wonder couple--behind and in front of the camera?
Mr. Draper: It's true I've been blessed with a beautiful wife. But she's made it clear she has no intention of giving up her life as the world's happiest housewife.
Ad Age: Other Madison Avenue shops, notably J. Walter Thompson, are promoting more and more women in their creative departments. What do you think of the future of women in the ad industry?
Mr. Draper: I don't really think of the industry as coming from men or women. Either someone gets it or they don't. There is a generation of women coming up right now who seem more ambitious and more logical than emotional, and that's useful. We'll see what happens, but we've definitely started moving in that direction. But I'd like to think it's more about ideas than anything--the right person for the right product.
Ad Age: It's a new decade. The U.S. has a young, inspirational new president, and consumers are feeling good about the economy. How do you view the decade ahead for the ad business?
Mr. Draper: I don't think too much about the future. I was born in the Great Depression, and I know consumer confidence is a shaky horse to hitch your wagon to. We've made a lot of money in the '50s without much effort. Same thing in the '20s. I don't know where advertising's going, but it's not leaving.
(NOTE: The above interview originally ran as part of a 16-page special section in the June 23, 2008 issue of Advertising Age. To view the entire feature, click here.)
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