To launch the show Mad Men, a show about the racist, homophobic, misogynist
world of advertising in the sixties, we launched a fake advertising agency founded
on these principles.
In a haze of cigar smoke and expensive whiskey, we took premises on the 28th
floor of the PriceWaterhouse Building, one of the most high-profile offices in
Auckland.
Over the month prior to the launch of the show, Mitchell and Dyer (aka MAD)
released horrifically prejudiced press releases, job listings, and eventually
billboards and press ads - which inevitably caused controversy and got major
press coverage.
The scam was so convincing that most of the industry - including 95% of our
agency were unaware it was a hoax and thought that MAD was for real.
The truth was revealed at the official launch party – at a strip club.
The billboards were rebranded for Mad Men soon after.