"Mad Men" is set in the 1960s. The scene is the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York City. Later it becomes the newly created company, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (later Sterling Cooper & Partners). According to the show's pilot, the phrase "Mad men" was a slang term started in the 1950s by advertisers working on Madison Avenue to refer to themselves. This claim has since been denied. The main character is Don Draper (Jon Hamm), creative director at Sterling Cooper and a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. The plot focuses on the business of the advertising agency as well as the personal lives of the characters.