I’ve been ruminating for the past few years about advertising, and last week something came into focus courtesy of the infamous Don Draper, anti-hero of AMC’s award-winning show, “Madmen.” Draper is a creative director for a big New York ad agency. Pressed into responding to a prospect’s inquiry about advertising, he answered:

“It’s all about entertainment. In the end we delight people, and make them feel good about their choice of products and themselves.

“Sure, we inform in a way,” he continues, “but the primary reason people remember advertising or respond to it is because they’ve been entertained in some small or big way.”

I thought about that. Even though Draper’s character is captive to a 1950’s mentality, where post-war media and television were somewhat new to an audience that had spent the past 25 years fighting either a deep economic depression or the bloodiest war in human history, he was right about his industry.

That doesn’t seem to hold true today.

Too much of what passes for advertising today is either heavy-handed, trying to bludgeon the customer into buying or trying products; or it is so post-modern that the point sort of escapes you. My major problem with the “new advertising” is that it attempts to be anti-advertising, striving instead for transparency, authenticity and relationship-building.

I don’t disagree that advertising should be more in tune with modern sensibilities, but come on, guys… let’s put a little creativity and high-quality fun back into the work. I’m not talking about providing belly laughs, but about making people look twice, or getting a knowing smile on their face when they view or hear or read the work. Or, even better, getting them to follow that amusement with a “Hmmm… that’s pretty cool.”

I refer to work like Apple’s "Mac vs. PC" ads, or the wonderful ads from Fidelity starring real-life couples talking about money. This kind of work sort of reminds you of the first time you heard James Garner and Mariette Hartley banter about Polaroid; or the Bartles & James gentlemen talking on the back porch; the special entrée into the world of the wealthy gained by looking at a Blackglama fur ad; or even the feeling of warmth one felt hearing Paul Anka sing “The Times of Your Life” for Kodak.

I think it’s time for those in the agency business to stand fast for what we believe in: a superior creative product that turns people on to our client’s products and services. If we do this better than anyone else, clients will beat a path to our doors, like they always have—to ad agencies that can deliver entertaining, memorable ads that make customers feel good.