Madison & Vine

by Scott Donaton

From the sharp decline in CD sales to the fragmentation of network TV audiences, the business models of the entertainment and advertising industries are showing severe cracks. Advertising Age editor Scott Donaton-- who coined the term Madison & Vine TM --lays out a case for why these industries will need to converge to survive, overcoming hurdles and creating business models based on content-commerce partnerships. Madison & Vine reveals how new technology is disrupting traditional business models, giving the consumer more control over the product. Donaton explains how these industries will need to overcome distrust, divergent agendas, and creative conflicts to form mutually beneficial alliances--or face the threat of extinction.

Genres: Business

240 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Colin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good breakdown of the cutting edge thinking in marketing circa 2003ish as DVR machines threatened the supremacy of the 30 second tv spot.

I think a lot of the book’s central tenants (namely that media and entertainment are entirely consumer controlled and marketing needs to cede to that) still hold true today even if the DVR is a laughable problem compared to streaming, mobile, etc.

Also just glad that for once a recommended business book wasn’t a fluffy memoir or a self help book. Well thought out and we’ll reported.

[Justin Gerhardstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes the point that Madison (advertising) and Vine (Hollywood) are coming together to make profit in ways that have previously never been explored. New technologies have allowed consumers to view advertising differently...meaning, they can skip them with TiVo and DVR. This is not the only topic that is breached in the book, in fact, Scott Donaton, the author and editor for AdAge publication outlines the Advertising industry's current trends in a variety of chapters that jump around. The only problem I had with this book is that it is a compilation of chapters about various advertising trends, yet lacks structure...meaning it is not continuous; you read one chapter about product placement and the next chapter is about Tivo. He does make some great points, and as the editor of advertising's number one trade publication, I would assume this guy knows what is going on in the ad world.

[Matt Chisling (MattyandtheBooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott Donaton's 2004 work was his first foray into full-length works: He is best known as the former editor and publisher of Advertising Age, however in 2004 he published a book based on his experiences analyzing two very important media industries: the advertising industry and the entertainment business. Donaton' work is a breezy, concise read: In just under 200 pages he is able to highlight the largest problems facing these two industries: particularly the fact that they utterly fail at working together to create synergistic benefits 99% of the time. That aside, he pinpoints effective cases that show why his recommendations for the future will be revolutionary. This book is readable in a few short hours, and Donaton's crisp argumentative style flows wonderfully - however, this does read too much like an overextended op ed piece more than a fact-based manifesto at times. Totally worth reading, but get this one on the kindle.