Home   ›   Columns

Sterling Cooper's Retail Handbook

AMC's "Mad Men" goes old school on shopper marketing in the 21st episode.

By Bill Schober, Editorial Director

Any fan of the AMC series Mad Men will tell you that one of its many charms is being transported to the 1950s side of the 1960s. It's an exotic world where men are mean but well-pressed, women are well-dressed, repressed and depressed, and everyone litters. Little kids are weird, once you get to know them, which is rare because they're inevitably shooed out of every scene by some adult holding a tumbler of bourbon. Office interiors aren't all that different from contemporary workspaces if you just reduce family/friend/pet photos by 98%, tear down all cube walls, and swap out every three of your company's computers for a middle-aged lady fastened to an IBM Selectric.

In short, they seem to get the details right. Personally, I've had an ear cocked from day one for a scene where the folks at the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency go "old school" on shopper marketing. There have been a few table tents bandied about during client presentations as well as passing references to "promotion." But it wasn't until the 21st episode that they got truly tactical in the aisles, albeit briefly.

Don Draper, the series' protagonist, is creative director at Sterling Cooper. He's the heroically handsome center of the show who we sort of root for despite strong suspicions that he's fundamentally loathsome. He does, however, almost always deliver the goods when it comes to marketing.

In episode 21, Draper and Pete Campbell, a junior account executive with a sniveling streak of his own, want to convince the skeptical executives of a new beer import named "Heineken" to market to consumers directly, via retail, instead of focusing exclusively on sampling at the tap. Although they're convinced that appealing to upscale, suburban women who give parties ("Holland is like Paris to them") is the way to go, they have no data to support this recommendation. So Draper, who's known to taunt market researchers by tossing their binders into wastebaskets, devises a scheme:

"We go up and down the Hudson," he says.

"Northern New Jersey, Connecticut -- the 'Cash Belt.'

Set up a few end-aisle displays at the A&Ps -- away from the other beer. Surrounded by cheese and crackers and toothpicks with cellophane tips."

"Maybe short, uneven stacks," adds Campbell. "Make it look popular. Plus housewives love green."

It all works splendidly, of course, and in typical Mad Men fashion: (1) Shoppers respond with Pavlovian predictability; (2) sales are spiked; and (3) at least one character's feelings get hurt. Granted, the cheese & cracker cross-merchandising is a bit cliche, but the test's targeting is right-on, and Campbell's display-facing instincts are brilliantly devious.

While it's not shown, it's suggested that a Sterling Cooper secretary can arrange all of this within a week via a few phone calls.

I could be wrong, but I think things have changed a bit since 1962. To gauge just how much, I looked up A&P in a new edition of an old industry bible, "The Retail Handbook," that had just arrived* on my desk.

Whoops. The book notes that A&P endcaps are primarily reserved for major vendors. That could be a stumbling block for a mystery beer. And while A&P does offer its own P-O-P vehicles, the book says they're primarily dump bins and tables. We might have to re-think the art. Someone will have to place another call to NewsAmerica Marketing if they want floor decals and shelf talkers.

And listen up -- about 12% of A&P merchandise is private label, so some special accommodations (maybe that cheese & cracker tie-in?) might have to be made there. Yet another call. It might also be useful to know whether or not A&P's community activities (the book lists a lot of them, ranging from pediatric cancer research to the American Heart Association) as well as its various loyalty cards (Bonus Savings Club, Valued Shopper Club, etc.) are a factor in display placement. And while it's too early to worry about category management issues, someone tell Mr. Draper that he may have to bring in one of his hated research firms to come up with ideas such as a "purchase decision hierarchy."

And so on. Like I said, apparently in 1962, an ad agency secretary could get on a phone and organize multi-state retail compliance for a product nobody had ever heard of along with logistical support ranging from merchandise delivery to the design, manufacture and in-store execution of custom P-O-P.

Boy, "the good old days" must have been something, eh?

*Okay, I fibbed. A bit. "The Retail Handbook" that's on my desk is actually a 2-inch-binder with 58 tabs that contains selected "Retailer Profile" pages I printed out from www.instoremarketer.org/retailhandbook. Understandably, there's more information on some chains than on others, but generally there is a wealth of practical information on every one of the major U.S. players, ranging from policies to store formats to circulars. I recommend, in particular, our most recent updates on Rite Aid, Dollar General, Ahold USA and Publix. Sorry, these are members-only pages, but I guarantee, if Sterling Cooper were real, they'd be members.

Published: September 2008

Source: In-Store Marketing Institute/Shopper Marketing

Related Articles

More Reading