Wow, that whole Connie flip-out was over the top (the moon?).  Did anyone see that coming?  Was this the event that threw Don over the edge and led him back to his late-night tom-catting?  How will the whole Don/Connie thing play out now?  Was Conrad Hilton really that eccentric? 

Am I asking too many questions?

I'll add another question, why did Peggy not want to walk out, she leaves last with a lingering look.  Did anyone else think that might have been her work?

I've had clients with empires far smaller than Connie's wig out on me in meetings. Not quite like that, but close.

I think in Connie's case, he felt like Don hadn't listened to him or understood him. To him, the idea of having a Hilton everywhere, even the moon, was something they could run with.

Don took Connie's whole moon thing figuratively, while Connie meant it literally. He expected Don to know him well enough to know the difference, or at least consider it. But Don isn't as tuned into Connie as Connie would like. It's possible that Connie, as a shrewd businessman, is seeing through Don's "attentive" veneer. Don isn't living Hilton Hotels. And someone with the advertising budget of a Hilton wants to believe their team is living their account.

Anywho, a good account person (Don is a creative, not an account person) would have directed the creative team to come up with one idea that had the moon in it and another idea focused around global locations. If you could do it all in one brilliant concept great. But clients these days usually see 2-3 options. I don't know how it was back then.

And I think Peggy did do the work and was proud of it. I think she either wanted to be sure Don fought for it, or she wanted to fight for it herself... or at least take responsibility for it if the client didn't like it. I think Peggy wants more power than she has.

Adgal - thanks very much for your insight, it really was quite penetrating.  When I first saw the episode, I wondered to myself how it could be possible that someone would go so nuts over something seemingly so trivial.  But, given the budgets you speak of as well as the need to maintain a couple of alternatives, I totally see what you mean.

I am sure the character Conny is meticulously drawn to be exactly the way the real Conrad Hilton was.  I am always impressed by Hollywood's ability to do that.  I am sure that the original CH spoke in the same way, dressed like this actor, and looked pretty much like him.  Wonder if Paris watches or her parents.  Bet they do.

Interesting you should say that Becky - I found this yesterday:
Mad Men nails its History

Cool, jk, thanks.

I think that Connie was proving to Don that nothing is ever good enough.  Often times, people are that successful because they never let a single thing be 'good enough'.  Even when the work is excellent.  Don pointed out that he's not used to having clients not like his work, especially since it was such a good campaign.  Connie lets him know that he shouldn't assume this or get overly confident in himself when he points out that he can't just say yes to everything.

He wants Don to know that he's still the boss.  And that Don has to work every minute, every hour.  People like Connie are never pleased and always want more.

Great link Jack - thanks.

Despite some of the predictions otherwise, the whole SC/Don Draper is in trouble with Hilton thing seems to have been overblowned. Just because Connie didn't get what he wanted, he probably still saw the value in Don's campaign. It's there as a backstory, but there wasn't any particular urgency about it this past episode, other than "we've got to pay attention to Hilton", which is what you'd expect for your biggest client.

Very informative, adgal.  Thanks for the insight.

Although Connie had a very strong reaction to the ad campaign Don presented, I do think that if he doesn't like it he certainly should speak up.  It's his money after all.  I did think it was strange that they don't present more than one ad campaign idea to the clients at a time.