Don Draper’s Next Client: H&R Block

It’s been a few weeks into 2017 and it’s time to start thinking about our tax returns!  Tax returns happen every April when millions of Americans collect the extra money they get from taxes (you know, those little amounts you see on your paycheck that Uncle Sam comes to collect every month!).  Luckily you receive most of that tax money back once you complete the questionnaires pertaining to things such as how many people are in your household, whether or not you are single, and other personal events that occurred during 2016-2017.  Tax companies such as HR Block or TurboTax run their season TV ads every year reminding people about collecting tax returns before mid-April.  This year we have a special guest star advertising HR Block in a few ad spots.

Jon Hamm, aka Don Draper from Mad Men, became the new brand spokesperson for HR Block’s TV advertisements about tax returns.  H&R Block decided to shake up their new ad campaign with Jon Hamm as their brand spokesperson and using the tagline “get your taxes won” to position the brand against its competitors like TurboTax.  12 TV spots are airing up to tax season, making it the largest campaign in the brand’s history.  Other than being the dapper Mad Man in Manhattan, Jon Hamm was originally from St. Louis, Missouri (Fun fact: H&R Block is currently headquartered in Kansas City Missouri!).

Hamm may be the new spokesperson for H&R Block, but I still see him as Don Draper from Mad Men.  That ending really rattled me when I saw it almost a year ago, leaving me with lots of burning questions!  But after seeing Jon Hamm in the H&R Block advertisements, I finally figured out a theory for what happened to Don Draper AFTER the cameras stopped rolling.

Here’s the theory: When we last saw Don Draper in the series finale, he was seeing brainstorming the new ad for Coca-Cola.  After his vision for Coca-Cola’s new ad, he flies back to NYC to pitch his new idea.  He pitches his LAST advertisement idea to the company (which they actually liked!) and starts work on the campaign for Coca-Cola.  After months of being dissatisfied with how the company runs, Don Draper finally throws in the towel and flies back to California for good.

Fourty-six years go by since his early Mad Men days and Don gets a call from the CEO of H&R Block.  The CEO was very impressed by Don’s work in Manhattan that the company wanted him to become the new brand spokesperson.  Don hesitates at first, remarking that he’s retired from doing any advertising work.  After about a half-hour of negotiations, Don Draper signs on to be the brand spokesperson for H&R Block for their 2017 TV ads.

So THAT’S what happened to Don Draper after Mad Men: he comes back on TV decades later as H&R Block’s brand spokesman.  He looks like he’s never aged since the series ended (probably because of the new age diet crazes he got into while living in California!) and it’s great to see him return as a brand spokesman rather than work behind the scenes of the advertisement.  That may be Jon Hamm on the TV ads, but we all know that it’s really Don Draper making his comeback.  It’s good to see Don Draper in another one of his dapper suits these days!