Sterling Cooper is a full-service advertising agency. We have been making people want things they didn’t know they needed since 1962. We intend to continue.
Make an AppointmentAdvertising is not about selling a product. It never was. What we sell is a version of yourself that you haven’t met yet — the one who drives that car, wears that watch, pours that drink at exactly the right moment in the evening when the light comes through the window just so.
The greatest trick of this business is making people believe they arrived at the decision themselves. They picked the brand. They chose the color. They felt the feeling. All we did was leave the door open.
Sterling Cooper has been leaving doors open for sixty-two years. We have made cigarettes romantic, automobiles personal, and ketchup emotional. If you think that last one is impossible, you haven’t seen our Heinz campaign.
That line has been attributed to Don Draper so many times it might as well be true. What is true: every campaign that has left this office began with the same question. Not “what are we selling?” but “what are they feeling?”
In 1960, Kodak asked us to sell a slide projector. We sold nostalgia. The device became a “time machine.” Three executives in the room cried. One left his wife a voicemail on the way home. The product outsold projections by 340%.
When the government said you couldn’t claim cigarettes were healthy, Lucky Strike needed a new angle. Everyone else panicked. We said two words: “It’s toasted.” Every cigarette is toasted. That wasn’t the point. The point was: we said it first.
You have a product. Congratulations. So does everyone else. What you don’t have — yet — is a reason for someone to choose yours at three in the morning when they can’t sleep and they’re thinking about all the things they wish were different.
What We Do & What It Will Cost You
We take on six new clients per year. Not because we can’t handle more. Because we don’t want to. Quality has a number, and it’s smaller than you think.
Write to us. Be specific about what you sell and vague about your budget. We find the latter more interesting when it’s a surprise.