One of the greatest “ad men” was David Ogilvy. Back in 1948, he started a Manhattan-based ad agency known as Ogilvy & Mather. This agency produced some of the world’s most iconic ad campaigns, and later, in 1963, he wrote the best selling book Confessions of an Advertising Man.
Time magazine called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry” in the early-’60s; his name, and that of his agency, have been mentioned more than once in Mad Men for good reason.
Donald Draper’s character must have been at least partially modeled after Ogilvy.
Here is a letter written by Ogilvy in 1955, sharing his work habits as a copywriter: