We much appreciate the two shout-outs we got from Kelly Barbrey Wednesday at the Hospitality Hotspotters meeting, giving us credit for helping the community come up with the “Famously Hot” campaign.

We’ve been greatly gratified by the wide acceptance the campaign has achieved, from social media to major local events to common, everyday conversation in the Columbia area.

But even we were not quite prepared for this photo that Kelly flashed on the screen at the gathering. It was taken at Williams-Brice Stadium during the USC-Georgia last year.

So now we have the key bodypainters demographic on board. Wow. We’ve achieved acceptance with every group now.

We’ve never felt validated with such … enthusiasm… before.

And now we can celebrate the wide acceptance of the campaign (which was created by guess who) at the official Famously Hot New Year’s Eve party:

Get excited because this New Year’s Eve, the biggest, most exciting event in the Southeast is the Famously Hot New Year celebration on South Carolina’s Main Street in the heart of Columbia, South Carolina. This is not your grandmother’s family get-together, unless of course, your family likes to party. With beer, wine, and champagne vendors, an ESPN Zone playing the college bowl games, a Palmetto Tree and Crescent moon display during the midnight countdown, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, George Clinton, and his group the Parliament Funkadelic headlining, this is a one-of-a-kind celebration you will not want to miss. Plus it’s FREE!

See you on Main Street in 19 days…

Wow! We knew Mary Pat Baldauf, sustainability facilitator for the city of Columbia, was smaller than she used to be (here’s where she blogs about her successful reducing campaign), but this is taking things to extremes.

OK — truth be told, it’s the recycling bin that’s out of proportion here.

The giant bin was on display in the Bi-Lo parking lot in Parkland Shopping Center in Cayce today. Mary Pat and others were on hand to announce that the city is entering into a public-private partnership with Coca Cola and Bi-Lo called “Recycle and Win” — a program to increase public awareness of recycling and boost recycling collection.

And what better way to emphasize that than to have on hand what organizers billed as the “world’s largest” recycling bin.

Doubt that claim? Well, let’s see you come up with a bigger one…

Check out this hilarious depiction of a traditional agency trying to put out its first Tweet.

If you’ve worked at an agency — any agency other than this one, of course — this may seem familiar.

By the way, that account now has a grand total of 10 Tweets. All of them very well thought-out, of course.

You probably have, since this one has already been watched 1,644,717 times. But in case you haven’t, do watch.

And then watch some of the other “RSA Animate” vids.

Wonderful, thought-provoking content presented in a highly engaging, multimedia format. Can’t beat that.

Check it out.

Some of the conversation at the start of this morning’s traffic meeting was about the Super Bowl ads. I missed part of the exchange on account of going down the hall to get more coffee, but I also felt a bit left out since, well, I didn’t see watch the whole game. In fact, all I did was record part of it (I didn’t think to activate the DVR until long after it started), and occasionally flip back to it in hopes of catching a commercial.

Not having seen them all, though, I felt unqualified to say anything at the meeting about which was the best, or anything like that. I was able to chime in when someone mentioned the beaver one (below). That was awesome. I called my wife into the room and replayed it for her.

So, since I don’t have time to sit here this morning and watch all of these… which did you think was the best, and why? What should I go find and watch? What would be worth my time? Or rather, ADCO’s time, since that’s what I’d be using.

– Brad Warthen

You think YOU’VE got it tough this Thanksgiving – what about the poor turkey? With the president too busy fielding questions about official airport groping this holiday season (and we are not making this up), the noble bird might not get the traditional pardon. Only you can save him! Help him collect enough balloons to get off the ground. Then you can gorge on Thursday with a clear conscience!

If you could get through the first level of Super Mario Brothers, you can save the turkey! Click here to play the game.

And yes! This is what we’ve been doing while you were working, you poor sap. You can thank us later…

A few days ago I had an e-mail exchange with a reader on my blog about that anti-bullying video that Cindy McCain did, which caused my reader to think Cindy was GREAT.

But I just found it stilted and stiff and painful to watch. Which I guess was the intent. But that painfully earnest message couched in politically correct clichés really made me not want to hear any more about the subject, however serious it is.

But then, a couple of days later, Lora brought to my attention the companion videos above and below.

Now — without getting into the merits of the political issue either way — to me, THIS is the way to make the point. Whether I go away agreeing or disagreeing with the political point, at least I go away with a smile. And I’m therefore more predisposed to listen to these folks in the future.

Way to communicate there, guys.

– Brad Warthen

Draper "Dan" Daniels and Myra Janco in 1965.

As the fourth season of “Mad Men” unfolds, fans wonder:

• Will Don Draper get it together, or continue to unravel?
• Will Peggy or Joan just get fed up to the point that she slaps every man on the show upside the head in a vain attempt to inject some sense into them?
• Will Betty and her new husband just be written out of the show? Please?
• Now that it’s 1964, will the show work with a post-Beatles sound track, or will the whole martinis-and-skinny ties mystique evaporate? (Hearing “Satisfaction” in the background the other night really made ol’ Don seem more anachronistic than usual, which I suppose was the point. Although I suppose the “can’t be a man cause he doesn’t smoke/the same cigarettes as me” part was apropos.)
• Is Don Draper actually modeled on real-life Mad Man Lanier Jones?

On that last one, to end your suspense, the answer is no: The uncanny physical resemblance is merely coincidental.

In fact, we have learned who the real-life model was: Draper Daniels, whose friends called him Dan. His widow wrote a fascinating piece about him, and about their relationship, in Chicago magazine. You should read the whole thing, headlined “I Married a Mad Man” — but here’s an excerpt:

In the 1960s, Draper Daniels was something of a legendary character in American advertising. As the creative head of Leo Burnett in Chicago in the 1950s, he had fathered the Marlboro Man campaign, among others, and become known as one of the top idea men in the business. He was also a bit of a maverick.

Matthew Weiner, the producer of the television show Mad Men (and previously producer and writer for The Sopranos), acknowledged that he based his protagonist Don Draper in part on Draper Daniels, whom he called “one of the great copy guys.” Weiner’s show, which takes place at the fictional Sterling Cooper ad agency on Madison Avenue, draws from the golden age of American advertising. Some of its depictions are quite accurate—yes, there was a lot of drinking and smoking back then, and a lot of chauvinism; some aren’t so accurate. I know this, because I worked with Draper Daniels in the ad biz for many years. We did several mergers together, the longest of which lasted from 1967 until his death in 1983. That merger is my favorite Draper Daniels story.

Reading that article, we wondered: If Don is Dan, who on the show is Myra?

Could it be… Peggy? A woman who was a professional colleague of the main characters, a woman who had risen to an unprecedented role for her gender at the agency? Sounds kinda like Peggy to us — aside from the age difference. After all, Peggy and Don got awfully cozy that night of the Clay-Liston fight…

We’ll see…

Peggy and Don on the night of the Clay-Liston fight (Feb. 24, 1964).

OK, not really (after all, how many years can a guy be red-shirted and remain available?).

But Lanier still had a big night at the Rogers, Townsend & Thomas law firm’s “Honoring South Carolina Businesses” reception at the Zone at Williams-Brice Stadium Tuesday evening. He was one of the lucky winners of an autographed baseball, hence the picture with Coach Ray Tanner, coach of the National Champion Gamecock baseball team.

The coach and team were fresh back from their trip to the White House to meet President Obama, and the coach had a few good stories to share with the folks at the reception. (Actually, “fresh” might not be the right word, since they had gotten in at 4 a.m. But the coach was still full of energy for the gathering at the stadium.)

Lora and Brad were also in attendance, but did NOT win door prizes. They had a good time anyway…