The agency was spiraling out of control. Because they lost Lucky Strike’s revenue, they couldn’t meet payroll without a loan from the bank, and they began laying off employees. Competing agencies were circling overhead, waiting to pick off clients. They were near death.

Draper, though, had an idea: turn a weakness into a strength. He took out a full-page ad in the New York Times and published an open letter titled “Why I’m Quitting Tobacco.”

He wrote that their agency helped sell cigarettes for 25 years, a product that kills people, but now that Lucky Strike’s taken their business to a different firm, he has a chance to help sell products that don’t kill people, and that SCDP will no longer take tobacco accounts. He went further than that; he then listed several competing agencies who will take tobacco accounts if people are interested.

They might still fail, but Draper gave them a chance to survive. That letter changed the rules of the game. When they were attempting to reassure current clients and gain new ones, they were playing by the rules that said losing your biggest client is a terrible event that means the death of your agency. No matter what they did under those rules, they would lose.

But after the letter, that was no longer true. Instead, losing Lucky Strike became a strength, an opportunity—a chance for them to make an idealistic stand against tobacco.

If you change perspective, sometimes what looks like the end of the world can actually be an opportunity for an even better tomorrow.

A nice piece referencing the exciting turn of events when Draper turns a weakness into a strength in Season 4 of Mad Men.

My grandfather was an ad guy in the 60’s (the same time period that Mad Men takes place), and was faced with similar struggles.

We’ve talked about this many times together. He was faced with a great moral dilemma, and ultimately turned down several clients.

At one point, while arguing with one of  bosses, he was told:

“There are more carcinogens in the steak you’re eating than there are in a cigarette.”

His response was:

“That may be true, but people don’t get addicted to steak. They don’t crave it all day long. They don’t get upset when they can’t have one. People don’t eat 20 steaks a day.”