Much More Than 'Mad Men'

Overlooked in the three-martini Madison Avenue lunching of TV’s fictional Sterling Cooper agency is arguably a more intoxicating story: the creative revolution that upended the New York City ad industry in the 1960s. Longtime adman Andrew Cracknell relates that tale in The Real Mad Men, a new book that includes accounts of the personalities and cultural influences that made that decade one of the most exciting in advertising history. Adweek recently caught up with Cracknell—a former executive creative director at agencies in both London and New York—who interviewed more than 50 people from that era to write a thoughtful paean about the creative people who pioneered modern advertising and the dynamic cultural environment that influenced them.