• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, May 4, 2015

In two weeks, Mad Men will conclude. Shortly thereafter, all the Mad Men references every journalist and person working in advertising has been using over the past 7 years will begin to subside. What, pray tell, will we all latch onto after that? And just how is this series going to end?

Will Don Draper/Richard “Dick” Whitman disappear into the Midwest sunset? Will he jump out of an airplane D.B Cooper-style? Will he jump out of that loose window in his McCann office? Will he find and shack up with waitress Diana? Will he start a new ad agency with Joan? Or will "he" wake up Bob Newhart-style in that foxhole in Korea as the real Don Draper who proclaims to Richard Whitman (Jon Hamm), "You will never believe the dream I had about you!"

How will the ad industry go on without constant comparison to Mad Men? Will we have to stop comparing the 60's to the 10's? What will Barbara Lippert write about? What will happen to all those faux Mad Men accounts? Will we have to go back to riffing on the idiocy of Donny Deutsch, who will soon be seen in a new USA comedy series? Oh God, please, no! Will the Richard Whitman who writes this column have to out himself?

These are the burning questions that we must deal with over the coming weeks as we all search for another metaphor to use in our next new business pitch, concepting session or industry boondoggle.