Let’s be honest here: last night’s premier of MadMen (season 3!) was so packed with brands that from here on out it will be impossible to tell which are paid and which aren’t. That’s due in part to the fact that the show deals so frequently with brands and that Matthew Weiner will kill anyone who talks about details.
The last thing I want to do is spoil the show so if you haven’t seen it, maybe stop reading after this: the program’s ratings set a record over last year, climbing 33% to 2.8 million. According to the Live Feed,
“Moreover, adults 18-49 jumped 71%, from 705,000 to 1.2 million. And you use the cume number from the premiere and AMC’s two repeats, “Mad Men” garnered 4 million viewers, up 29% from last year’s premiere episode cume. AMC also noted that its create-your-own “Mad Men” avatar was downloaded 485,000 times.”
Tomorrow’s episode of The Week in Advertising will go further into what we thought about the premiere episode. In the meantime, check out this BrandWeek story about the show’s product placements.
OK just one little thing: my favorite part of the episode is when Don and Sal are on the plane back from Baltimore and Don turns to Sal and says, “just one thing,” or whatever. Then he goes on to explain how the new campaign for London Fog should include the tagline, “limit your exposure.” Best double entendre, ever.