Marketing Mad Men

The buzz is near deafening at this point, and there's much talk of Emmys for "Mad Men" and its cast.

The AMC-defining drama already has picked up two Golden Globes (one for best drama and one for John Hamm as cad-about-town and Madison Avenue ad-man-with-the-Midas-touch Don Draper), a Peabody and fawning coverage in nearly every go-to entertainment publication around.

If the upcoming season 2 is anywhere near the quality of season 1, we'd say this is one of those rare occasions that the product will live up to the hype.

AMC, relishing the critical raves and trying to expand the modest audience, is on marketing overdrive in the lead-up to the July launch (to the tune of some $25 million). If you haven't already, you'll start to see the image pictured here pop up in magazines and on billboards everywhere.

Who can resist this atmospheric shot of Draper in Grand Central Station circa 1960? Not us. How about you newbies?

For the devotees, the season 1 DVD came out yesterday just in time for a long, sizzling weekend in L.A. We see a/c, snacks and a marathon in our future. (Speaking of marathon, there will be one, on AMC, on July 20, for the uninitiated.)

On second thought, what are we waiting for?