Maddie vs. Mad Men: What a PR Intern Learned About Advertising

I’ve been meaning to watch Mad Men for years. It’s one of my dad’s favorite shows, though I don’t usually follow his TV recommendations since they tend to involve a lot more sci-fi or Vikings than I’m interested in. But once I started studying public relations, the idea of a show about the advertising industry suddenly felt a lot more relevant. When it finally became available to stream again in December 2025, I decided it was time to see what all the hype was about.

Mad Men takes place in the 1960s and early 1970s and follows the employees at the fictional New York ad agency Sterling Cooper. They work on campaigns for big brands while dealing with changes in their industry, shifts in culture, and their own personal challenges. The show is famous for its storytelling and historical accuracy, but as someone about to start a career in communications, I was interested in what it could teach me about advertising and PR.

What stood out to me most was how everything in the show is connected. The characters’ personal lives, their jobs, and the world around them all affect each other. The campaigns they make show what’s happening in society, but they also influence how people see themselves. Communication doesn’t just respond to culture; it helps create it.

Even though Mad Men is set over 50 years ago, many of the ideas behind the campaigns still seem familiar today. As a public relations student, I kept noticing moments that felt relevant to my own experiences.

Here are a few lessons I learned from watching Mad Men.

“If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.”

A line from Mad Men that really stayed with me is from Don Draper in Season 3, Episode 2: “If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.”

In that episode, Don meets with a client who wants to tear down New York’s original Penn Station to build Madison Square Garden. The project has already started, but more and more people are pushing back. Protesters are talking to the press and putting up posters against the demolition.

Instead of defending the decision head-on, Don suggests changing the conversation. At dinner, he tells the client, “change is neither good nor bad, it simply is.” He recommends focusing less on defending their position and more on what the new Madison Square Garden could mean for New York City’s future.

In public relations, it’s usually not about answering every criticism. More often, it’s about shifting the focus to a better story or a new idea that people can support.

Don’t Sell the Product. Sell the Idea.

One of the most memorable moments in Mad Men is Don Draper’s pitch for the Kodak Carousel. Instead of focusing on the projector’s technology, Don frames it around nostalgia, describing it as a way to travel through memories with the people we love.

The pitch works because it isn’t really about the projector. It’s about the feeling of looking back at moments that matter. In the scene, the client assumes Don is talking about the memories in the photos of his wife and children, but the audience knows he is also reflecting on his own past. The message works on multiple levels, something strong communicators often aim for.

What stood out to me most is how powerful nostalgia is in advertising. Once you start looking for it, you see it everywhere. Brands rarely sell products on features alone. More often, they connect them to memories, family traditions or a sense of the past.

The product may be what’s being advertised, but the emotion behind it is what people remember.

Know the Audience Better Than They Know Themselves

Don Draper’s real strength in Mad Men is how well he understands people. Before he pitches an idea, he takes time to listen and notice what’s going on with those around him.

One of the best examples of this comes in the show’s final episode. After Don leaves New York, he ends up at a retreat in California, where people are looking for meaning and connection. In a group session, a man named Leonard shares that he feels invisible and cut off from others.

As Don watches this, he realizes something deeper about what people really want. Even in a place meant for self-discovery, people are still looking for belonging and a sense of connection with others.

The episode ends by suggesting that Don’s realization inspires Coca-Cola’s famous “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” campaign. Like other moments in the show, it points to a real ad. Watching Mad Men made me notice how many classic ad campaigns are built on simple human insights like this.

The campaign’s idea isn’t really about the product. It comes from understanding how people feel and what they want.

That’s the real lesson for communicators: the best messages start with listening and paying attention. When you understand how people feel and what connects them, you can create ideas and campaigns that really resonate.

Cultural Moments Shape Messaging

A key theme in Mad Men is how advertising mirrors the culture and history of its era. The show often shows that the best campaigns are closely tied to the events and attitudes of their time.

Peggy’s Burger Chef pitch is a good example. Rather than focusing on the food, she connects the brand to the recent moon landing and explains how that shared moment brought people together.

She presents Burger Chef as a place where families can share important moments, moving the focus from just hamburgers to a feeling of connection and belonging.

This idea comes up again and again in the series as the characters go through big historical events, like presidential elections, the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights movement, and the Vietnam War. What happens in the world affects both their personal lives and the ads they make.

This link between culture and communication is still true today. Brands often react to big cultural events or join in on current conversations because the best messages reflect what people are already experiencing.

The Industry Is Always Evolving

Watching Mad Men today, it’s interesting to see how the characters respond to new technology. When the agency thinks about getting a computer, some worry about losing their jobs, while others say it’s important to adapt.

That debate feels familiar today. When people talk about artificial intelligence, the conversation often sounds the same. Some see it as a threat to creative work, while others think it’s a change communicators will have to accept.

Even as technology changes, the basics of communication stay the same. Whether it’s a cigarette ad in the 1960s or a social media plan today, the main goal is still to understand people and tell stories that connect with them.

After finishing the series, I understand why Mad Men has the reputation it does. It’s a great show on its own, but watching it through the lens of someone entering the communications field made it even more interesting. Even though the industry looks very different today, many of the ideas behind the campaigns still feel relevant. The tools communicators use will keep evolving, but the fundamentals of understanding people and telling stories that resonate haven’t changed much.

I guess my dad was right about this one.