Where Is Don Draper When We Need Him?

I was never seduced by “The Sopranos.” But I am mad about “Mad Men.”

It’s not just the show’s 60’s sensuality that gets to me. Or the insanesly great art direction. Or its irony-laced dialogue.

I love that it depicts a world that no longer exists—a world we all long for—a world without PowerPoint.

In last week’s season finale, Don Draper—the show’s rougish protaganist—gave an old-school lesson in how to sell an idea with an emotional point of view rather than tired deck of bullet points.

You can watch Draper’s pitch here. He is just about to begin a presentation to Kodak execs who want to market the company’s new slide projector as a technological marvel called “The Wheel.”

Without a diagram or flow chart, Draper sets them straight with a handful of snapshots and just 60 words:

This device isn’t a spaceship. It’s a time machine.
It goes backwards. And forwards.
It takes us to a place where we ache to go again.
It’s not called “The Wheel.” (Pause) It’s called “The Carousel.”
It let’s us travel the way a child travels.
Around and around and back home again.
To a place where we know we are loved.  

The whole pitch takes maybe three minutes, tops. No wonder these guys had so much time to smoke and drink at the office.