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Todd Spencer, the president of Louisville advertising agency Doe-Anderson, isn't at all like Don Draper, the chain-smoking, whiskey-swigging alpha male depicted in the hit TV series "Mad Men," whose setting was a 1960s New York ad agency for seven seasons until taking its final bow in May. If Draper was a ruthless and calculating womanizer, Spencer is quick with a smile, respectful and easy to talk to.
Times have changed, Spencer says. But once upon a time, Doe-Anderson wasn't a lot different than what was portrayed on "Mad Men," at least when it came to cocktails and smoking.
"I've been told it was a lot like ('Mad Men')," Spencer confesses. "Even when I came into the business (in 1993), some of that was still going on."
But an ad agency doesn't last 100 years without adapting to the times, and that's just what Doe-Anderson has done - its "Adapt or Die" mantra is no mere lip service. It is the oldest advertising agency in Kentucky and the third oldest in the United States.
Since 1915, when print reigned, it evolved with the advent and rise of radio, and through the television age and now in today's still-unfolding digital media era. Doe-Anderson remains one of the most respected agencies in the region and beyond in part because of its ability to adapt and change with the needs of the market and the needs of its clients.
Brands always need someone to help tell their story, Spencer said, and that's what Doe does.
"That has never changed, and I think we do a good job of helping our clients do that," he said.
But there's a lot to Doe-Anderson's story, too. Through February 2016, visitors to the Frazier History Museum in downtown Louisville can view an exhibit celebrating the agency's century of advertising success, from when Elmer Doe in 1915 founded the Elmer H. Doe Agency into the present.
Culture built by Anderson endures
Doe later brought on Warwick Anderson, a former paint salesman, to be an unpaid copy intern, and the nucleus began to take shape.
Even as an intern, the savvy, tenacious Anderson was determined to be more. In fact, Doe reportedly tried to fire Anderson on more than one occasion, but it didn't stick.