I recently started watching the first season of AMC’s hit show Mad Men and I am hooked. The story encompasses the employees of Sterling Cooper Advertising, a fictional firm in New York City during 1960. The writing for the show is incredible and the set, prop and costume designers have done an amazing job at making it feel authentic. Did I mention the acting is incredible? You should definitely check it out if you haven’t yet.
More and more marketers are finding Twitter as an amazing way to give their products, shows and services personality. AMC has setup several Twitter accounts that follow the lives of the characters from the show. So far I have found:
- Don Draper
- Peggy Olson
- Roger Sterling
- Pete Campbell
- Joan Holloway
- Paul Kinsey
- Sal Romano
- Bertram Cooper
- Bobbie Barrett
It really adds another level of depth to the show and characters, I’m enjoying following their tweets. If you find anymore characters on Twitter let me know in the comments!
Update: I recently noticed that the Don Draper and Peggy Olson accounts were suspended by Twitter for “suspicious activity.” VentureBeat’s MG Siegler saw my tweet and decided to investigate more. He cracks the case stating:
Twitter has responded back to me on the issue. Apparently it wasn’t a spam issue at all, but rather a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice that Twitter’s support team responded to, co-founder Biz Stone tells me. I guess AMC didn’t like others playing the roll of its Mad Men characters besides the actors who play them on TV.
As much fun as the characters were, and commendable the persons’ behind them are for not abusing the power, I see why AMC would ask for them to be taken down. Maybe they will get the right idea and takeover the accounts themselves, or commission the original people to continue tweeting under official supervision.
Update 2: Well this story really took off today and was featured in Silicon Alley Insider, InformationWeek, Valleywag and is currently featured on Techmeme. Just now, Silicon Alley Insider received word from Deep Focus, AMC’s web marketing firm that all of the Mad Men Twitter accounts are being restored. From the article:
What happened? Deep Focus, the Web marketing group that works for AMC, tells us that they gently nudged their client into rescinding the DMCA takedown notice they’d sent to Twitter.
See, in Web marketing parlance, the Twitterers assuming the names of Mad Men characters are actually “brand ambassadors” meant to be cultivated, not thwarted. “Better to embrace the community than negate their efforts,” says a Deep Focus spokesman. We agree!
Us upset fans reacted quickly and the issue has been resolved. Great work.
