Lizzie Carr

The Remarkable True Story of Madison Avenue’s Golden Age by Andrew Cracknell

If you’re interested in the shaping of culture and society over the last 50 years, then ‘The Real Mad Men’ is a book for you to read. Not only does it give a bird’s eye view of the huge changes in the advertising industry from the 1950s onwards, but it also gives you great insight into the shifting mood of consumers within America and their need for consumerisation. It even suggests why we relate to brands in the way we do today.

There are huge similarities in the creative leaders of this advertising revolution as there were in the technological advancement that took place in Silicon Valley during the 1970s. Both were driven by a sense of wanting to change the world and to be different. These visionaries and thinkers took their creative influences from the world of art and used this to help create a vision for the future. They certainly didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and looked to push the boundaries; telling consumers what they wanted, rather than asking them what they needed.

A great read that will inspire you to think creatively, challenging the norms of the corporate mould.