Creative Wannabe

A new episode hasn’t aired in almost two years. I’m pretty sure there were contract battles going on behind the scenes that shut down the studio for some time, but that’s irrelevant to my question. Madmen carried a cache for a couple of years–so much so, that people would watch it just so they could talk about it or post on Facebook how “brilliant” last night’s episode of Madmen was. I don’t have proof of this, but I dare you to form an argument against it. Madmen was “cool” – whether you really liked the show or not.

Fast forward a year and a half and the coolness factor is gone. Sure, millions of us will still watch it, but even though the show was on a hiatus, the hourglass was still running, and after all this time, the sand has run out. 

If you’re fortunate enough to have a moment with your brand where individuals earn credibility with their peers just by associating with it, you better maximize that time because it’s not going to last forever. I’m sure there were lots of dollars involved with Madmen’s contract negotiations, but I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that the millions they lost by wasting their moment could’ve gone pretty far.