1962, Meet 2008: Mad Men Characters are Twittering
Monday, August 25th, 2008 | 3 Comments »One of my favorite shows on TV, AMC’s Mad Men is getting bigger audiences in season 2, and treating them to an expanded look into the lives of the [fictional] ad world of 1962. The tone is pitch-perfect, the characters are deep and flawed, and the set pieces, costumes, and era kitsch are all intriguing.
I just stumbled across something totally separate from the show: someone has created Twitter accounts for a couple of the main characters, and they’re interacting, as if from 1962, with fans from 2008 (and with each other). Brilliant.
Twittering from the Past!
So far, I’ve been able to find a couple of character Twitter accounts. Don seems to be the most active, with over 800 followers and 170 status updates. Sure, Twitter is mostly for early-adopter technophiles, much like being on Digg, but it’s a probably a smart tactic for engaging the fans most likely to blog and use online media to spread your messages…
- Don Draper: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
- Peggy Olson: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
- Pete Campbell: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
- Joan Holloway: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
- Updated: Sal Romano: Twitter
- Updated: Bud Melmen: Twitter (and LinkedIn)
- Updated: Bobbie Barrett: Twitter
- Updated: Paul Kinsey: Twitter
The most interesting part of these accounts is that the characters are responding back to questions, rants, references to post-1962 pop culture (e.g., Peggy has never heard of “A Clockwork Orange”), and furthering the fan interaction into the show. Most of their updates are replies. Official or no, this is cool.
And, probably pretty easy. All it would take is someone with a deep knowledge about the show and a program like Twitterific or twhirl, where you can have multiple Tweet windows open.
And it doesn’t stop with Mad Men. After a little more research, I found Twitter accounts for:
- Liz Lemon (Tina Fey on 30 Rock)
- Michael Scott (Steve Carell on The Office)
- Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson on The Office)
- Darth Vader
- Borat (with over 5,000 followers!)
- Norman Dale (Gene Hackman from the movie Hoosiers – seems abandoned, but you get the point)
That’s a lot of fake Twitterers! Perhaps a real fake Twitter account might bring in the right audience to kick-start your communication strategy.
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