Q & A with the CLIO folks

In anticipation of Matt Weiner being presented with an honorary CLIO award, we thought we’d leverage the opportunity to do a little Q & A with Karl Vontz, CLIO Awards Event Director.

BoK: Is Weiner the first to receive an honorary CLIO? (If not, then who?)
KV: To celebrate 50 years of excellence in advertising, design and interactive, the CLIO Awards are very excited to present for the first time ever, honorary awards to individuals who have each created bodies of work that have evolved into cultural phenomena acknowledged around the world. Weiner will join Barry Manilow, singer/song-writer, and Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and chairman of HDNet, in receiving honorary CLIO awards for their contributions to the advertising industry.
BoK: What has Mad Men done for advertising?
KV: Mad Men has not only brought consumers into the world of advertising, it has introduced one of the most important periods in advertising history. The 1960′s really marked the beginning of advertising as a legitimate career. For the average consumer that believes they could do a better job than the professionals, this show demonstrates that it’s not so easy.
BoK: How accurate is Mad Men to its time period?
KV: It’s amazingly accurate in so many ways. Matthew Weiner is a brilliant producer and his attention to detail and history is second to none.
BoK: Do you think its portrayal of a dark world has hurt advertising in any way?
KV: If anything, creating a world where viewers are captivated by the characters and temporarily transported back in time, Mad Men gives meaning to how difficult advertising was in the 1960′s. We’ve come so far since then and I think people really appreciate the progress that the advertising industry has made.
BoK: Mad Men uses advertising as a metaphor for life. Do you think advertising really does reflect life?
KV: Wow! I could get really philosophical about this but let’s just say I’m not sure if art imitates life or if life imitates art.
BoK: What do you think of other television portrayals of advertising, past and present?
KV: I think I might have seen every episode of Bewitched during my childhood but to be honest, Darrin’s job in advertising was such a small part of the show, I can’t say much about it. Thirty Something was one of my favorites. I always hoped they would bring the show back as Forty Something. In general, anytime a TV drama or comedy uses advertising as the backdrop for a show, it’s good for the advertising industry as a whole. Of course, I like TNT’s Trust Me. It’s not as serious as Mad Men but it does a good job of using today’s agency culture as the backdrop for a drama that is fun to watch. It was also exciting to see that the CLIO Awards made a couple of cameos in the first two episodes of Trust Me!