There's a lot riding on the broad shoulders of Don Draper, Madison Avenue adman extraordinaire.

The dashing, Brylcreemed character, played by John Hamm, is at the center of the biggest marketing campaign that Rainbow Media's AMC network has ever launched. The cable channel, best known for airing classic movies, will spend a reported $25 million in the coming weeks to promote the second season of Mad Men, launching July 27.

"This is an event for us, and we've elevated our game," said Linda Schupack, AMC's svp-marketing. "We're looking for a bigger audience, and we're treating this like a movie opening."

While aiming to boost the audience of about 900,000 that watched the Golden Globe- and Peabody-winning drama, the network also wants to use the kickoff to reposition itself as a place on the dial to find daring original programming. Since Mad Men, AMC has debuted Breaking Bad about a teacher-turned-meth-dealer and plans to develop more of its own shows and miniseries going forward.

TV ads will make up the bulk of the marketing for Mad Men, AMC's first original show, with a mix of network and cable buys. A 30-second spot also will run in Landmark Theaters, which cater to art house devotees who've been the Mad Men early adopters.

There will be some high-profile stunts and outdoor ads that look to spur water cooler chatter. The shuttles between Grand Central Station and Times Square in New York will become Mad Men set pieces, with the interiors decorated to evoke Draper's early 1960s world of men in fedoras and martinis with lunch. The cars will have "chandeliers" on the ceilings, snappy lines of dialogue on the walls and life-size images of Draper himself appearing on the commute.

People in period costumes (think: lots of pencil skirts) will roam around Grand Central Station vogueing with cigarettes and handing out cards that say Sterling Cooper, the fictional ad agency on the show. A deal with Bloomingdale's put Mad Men window displays at the flagship New York store and 13 other locations through July.

Print and outdoor will be prevalent, with a giant 45-foot-by-100-foot wallscape announcing the new season at the Hollywood & Highland shopping/entertainment complex in Los Angeles. Digital efforts via amctv.com will include streaming video, live chats, online quizzes and contests, photo essays and a chance for fans to audition to be on the show.

Along with critical raves, the show has brought in new advertisers—BMW and Target among them—and the network plans to continue its "madvertising"—Mad Men-themed intros to the commercials that give trivia and factoids on the sponsors. Jack Daniels was woven into the show's first season. After all, it was the height of the cocktail culture and the characters have mini-bars in their offices. The liquor brand hasn't struck a product integration deal for season 2, but talks are ongoing with other marketers.

Mad Men will be part of a busy summer on cable TV, with hits like USA's Burn Notice, Lifetime's Army Wives, Showtime's Weeds and TNT's The Closer, vying for eyeballs. "Viewers are increasingly trained to go to cable for great scripted fare in the summer,"said Shari Anne Brill, svp-director of programming at media buying firm Carat. "Mad Men is defining AMC. They just need to get the point across that this is a great character drama. You don't have to be in media or advertising to appreciate it."