"Who is Don Draper?" Seems like an obvious question, right? For three seasons, loyal Mad Men viewers have been asking themselves this very question. The "half-a-reporter" from AdAge put this question to Don, and received very little in return. No cute answers like "I'm a lion tamer." And no holier than thou attitude…just an ordinary (if abrupt) response from a seemingly ordinary man: "I'm from the Midwest, we were taught that it's impolite to talk about yourself."

And this is where we find ourselves, one year after Sterling, Cooper, Draper and Pryce were "fired" and moved into the Pierre Hotel. It’s Thanksgiving week, 1964: Johnson just defeated Goldwater for the presidency, Beatlemania is in full swing, the Civil Rights Act has just been passed, the Vietnam War rages on, and the New York World's Fair just introduced the Ford Mustang and Walt Disney's "It's a Small World."

In advertising, 1964 was the year of "Please don’t squeeze the Charmin", "Does she or doesn't she?", "Let your fingers do the walking.", and "Daisy" the first negative political ad ever aired. And in the heart of Manhattan, at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, Sterling, Cooper, Draper and Pryce (SCDP) have set up shop in the relatively new Time & Life building.

Can we take a brief moment and talk about the new agency digs? As Roger, Don and Pete return from their meeting with Jantzen, we see the new agency for the first time. I must confess my heart began to race as they swaggered into their shiny new offices. It was like watching a well-orchestrated long take from a Hitchcock film set to a Henri Mancini score. The new office provides stark contrast to Sterling Cooper, where walls were dark and heavy with wood paneling, doors were closed, and meeting rooms, well, they had tables. SCDP (with period-perfect curvy blocked logo hanging on the wall) is bright and airy, wood paneling has been replaced with glass panes, open doors and pops of color everywhere. Knoll sofas, George Nelson clocks, white lacquered desks, and bright red and blue accent chairs are placed throughout the office (love those mid-century furnishings). It was nice to see so many familiar faces, and some new faces, as the camera moved down the hall of SCDP...and also nice to see Joan in her own office.

And was it me, or did there seem to be more common areas in this office… areas that foster collaboration and creativity, like the one where Peggy and Joey playfully recount Stan Freberg's "John and Marsha" routine?

For those who may not be familiar with this routine (and I confess I had to look it up as well), Stan Freberg was an author, artist, voice actor, comedian, radio personality and an advertising creative director. Largely responsible for injecting humor into advertising, he was appropriately deemed "the father of funny advertising" by Advertising Age.) At any rate, I think the new office is outta sight.

The AdAge reporter reveals that SCDP has found some success with a new creative campaign for Glo-Coat. (an actual product, with some interesting advertising)

The Glo-Coat commercial, created by SCDP, contains 30 seconds of narrative filming at the beginning, which was a relatively new concept for the mid-sixties. The spot puts SCDP on the map. They are building a name as the small shop that big companies, like Jantzen, go to for great creative ideas—the “scrappy upstart."

We also learn that one SCDP client, Lucky Strike, makes up 71% of their billings. As everyone in the agency business knows, this is never a good thing. They're struggling to hang on to the Sugarberry Ham business, and after Don's unsuccessful AdAge interview they are on the verge of losing the Jai-Alai account. Peggy and Pete devise a way to potentially hang on to the Sugarberry account: a publicity stunt that involves two housewives fighting for the same Sugarberry ham in the grocery store. This works well, but not without unintended consequences.

Personally, things are looking fairly grim as well. Don returns home from work every night to a seedy, dark apartment in Greenwich Village, nothing like the bright and modern office he goes to every day. He is greeted by a sassy housekeeper, who cooks him meals and cleans. He sees his children (who are probably relieved to have some time away from Betty) on weekends. And in one shocking scene, we see the dark underside of Don’s life…the abused child seeking “punishment” for his transgressions? I wonder what the Jantzen people would have thought about that Thanksgiving rendezvous.

As the episode nears the end, we see Don pitching his idea to the morally minded Jantzen executives. "So well built, we can't show you the second floor." The viewers snicker as if they're being let in on an inside joke. The prudish Jantzen executives, however, were offended. Somehow they felt the ad seemed dirtier by showing less. But honestly, was Don's idea any more suggestive than this vintage Jantzen ad I stumbled upon?

To me, Don seems to be right on the money. He predicts the company will lose market share and they'll be out-advertised by competitors willing to play "in the gutter." Ever the creative, Don kicks the Jantzen executives out of the office. He tells his secretary to call Bert Cooper's man at the Journal. Don can no longer simply afford to sell good ideas, he realizes he must sell himself and in turn the agency. He must shamelessly self-promote. Forget modesty, Don and SCDP must embrace a little bit of sensationalism in order to stand out, as Peggy so aptly proved with the success of her Sugarberry ham stunt.

As the Wall Street Journal reporter listens intently to Don's story of how SCDP came to be, we hear "Tobacco Road" begin to play in the background (I love the music from this show). "Tobacco Road," written by John D. Loudermilk, was made popular by British Invasion group The Nashville Teens. In 1964, The Nashville Teens became a one-hit-wonder with Tobacco Road, reaching number 14 on the US singles charts. According to a site devoted to the songs of Loudermilk, Tobacco Road "was a grassy strip in East Durham, where hogsheads of tobacco were rolled down to the warehouse…[an area] so rough that the police would not venture there at night." The song depicts a man who grew up in a "rusty shack" on Tobacco Road. His mother died and his father was a drunk. But the man got out and made something of himself…he reinvented himself. Sound familiar? Take a look at (some of) the lyrics.

"Gonna leave, get a job
With the help and the grace from above
Save my money, get rich I know,
Bring it back to Tobacco Road.
Wo wo wo

Bring dynamite, and a crane,
Blow it up, start all over again.
Build a town, be proud to show,
Give the name Tobacco Road

But it's home.
The only life I've ever known
I despise you 'cos you're filthy,
But I love you 'cos you're home."

And if you’d like to take a musical walk down that road, here’s the video:

I don't usually read into these things but one might argue this was a fairly appropriate way to end the episode. Will Don re-invent himself, once again? I say yes. As he sat down with that reporter we saw Don the ultimate salesman, creating a new legend for all "scrappy upstarts" to be measured by. And did you see the young reporter, sitting on the edge of his chair, just eating it all up? Yes, I believe we are in for a good season.