Advertising Age - When Trains Fly

From Observer to Participant

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:47:11 -0500

Or, Why I Made the Difficult Decision to Leave Ad Age for Consumer Media

Taking a Page Out of the Past

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:13:12 -0400

Preparing to attend this year's American Magazine Conference, which starts this Sunday in Boca, I analyzed the agenda. Despite a ridiculous theme -- the MagaBrand? Really? -- it's a pretty good lineup, recognizing publishers' awareness of how much their world has changed. In past meetings, it has somehow felt like TV or online execs were brought in so publishers could scrutinize the enemy up close or ponder tacking on a "new media" wing to their print castles.

Mass Media Is Alive and Well

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:48:14 -0400

The Catch: You Have to Live and Work in Brazil. And You Have to Get Here Soon

'Time Warner Should Buy Starbucks'

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:29:04 -0400

'Don't Budget by Medium'

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:20:13 -0400

Buried in a keynote presentation by Yahoo Chief Marketing Officer Cammie Dunaway was this advice to marketers: "Don't budget by medium." And as Tony Weisman, Digitas Chicago president, pointed out, they may have been the wisest words spoken during Advertising Week.

Theater Owners Need Directions to Madison & Vine

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:38:20 -0400

If I Can't Hear the Ad, How Can it Entertain Me?

It's Not About Your Brand; It's About Your Customer

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:24:02 -0400

The first step in the transformation of the legacy media model was for media owners to take the distribution platform out of the center of how they defined themselves and replace it with the brand. ESPN (the gold standard of this model) is not a TV network, but a brand, and that brand expresses itself through a TV network, a magazine, radio programming, a Web site, a mobile service, and so on.

Welcome to My Clog

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:28:52 -0400

Or, Why I Prefer to Post When I Actually Have Something to Say

Ideas Created Elsewhere

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:57:45 -0400

Dell CMO's Comments on Split Between Creativity and Distribution Reveal Core Challenge for Big Agencies

Quit Whining About 23-Year-Old Media Planners

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:37:23 -0400

Keep Complaining About Buying Silos: Advice to Media Owners

Restrain Yourselves

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:31:30 -0400

So Says MSN's Gayle Troberman

Strange Bedfellows, Stranger Rivals

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:24:40 -0400

These Days, You Never Know Where Competition Will Come From

My Advice: Kill Things

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:16:48 -0400

As Budget Season Nears, Media Execs Need to Make the Tough Calls; Nothing Lasts Forever

The Bias Behind Media Neutrality

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:45:25 -0400

I'm not sure quite when, but somewhere along the line the phrase "media neutrality" became synonymous with "digital bias." Nothing wrong with digital bias, really. The sustaining concept behind "When Trains Fly" is the exploration and development of new business models to replace those disrupted by digital technology. But an overly aggressive bias towards all things digital could pose more of a threat to traditional media businesses than necessary.

Fifth Place Isn't Always the Worst Place to Be

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:10:03 -0400

There's never been a better time to be an also-ran. That's the thought that occurred as I read this story about the CW network's new "cwickies" ad format. It describes various innovations at the CW -- innovations of the kind broadcast's Big Four have resisted. What the piece also implies, but doesn't say directly, is that CW can do things its much-larger rivals can't because it has less to lose; it draws fewer viewers, and has fewer advertisers. But less to lose also means more to gain.

Guessing Game: Why Ad Forecasts Are Meaningless

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:47:17 -0400

For many many years, Bob Coen of (what is now) Universal McCann was essentially the ad industry's forecasting guru, never mind that his predictions often had to be revisited and revised. Then others got into the fortune-telling game, and now there are at least three industry soothsayers vying for attention. And they're getting it, from the business and from the media, Ad Age included.

Break the Tech-Ad World Divide

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:29:25 -0400

Digital Players Need to Tell Their Stories

Lots of Process Monkeys, Little Substance

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:52:52 -0400

Here's what we learned at the high-powered Cannes Debate panel on agency reinvention, which I moderated during last week's International Advertising Festival: next to nothing. Here's what that means: The ad business has a bigger problem than it realizes. Because its leaders refuse to share real learnings and best practices, or to discuss the frustrations they face in reinventing their legacy businesses, there's little chance of harnessing their collective wisdom to benefit the industry.

The Gift No One Wants

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 05:05:46 -0400

Or, When Did 'Legacy' Become a Dirty Word?

Fact Trumps Fiction

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 07:00:00 -0400

A Word of Advice from Ideo's Bennett

Can Fat Birds Fly?

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:32:24 -0400

Cannes Panel to Explore Whether Ad Agencies Can Remain Relevant; Questions Welcome

Only a Dinosaur Would Deny the Value of a DVR Viewer

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:32:53 -0400

The TV upfronts have always involved a lot of posturing on both sides in advance of negotiations, with each side making a show of digging in its heels on this issue or another before beginning to oh-so-generously grant concessions to the person on the other side of the table. In that way, it's no different than any negotiation, and completely acceptable practice.

Integrate Already, Wouldya?

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:22:23 -0400

It's amazing how many people casually mouth the word "brand" in the media business while not acting anything like brand marketers. Just saying it isn't enough; being a brand isn't a label, it's a mindset. And it needs to thread through everything from internal structures and compensation systems to consumer-facing communications. One of the areas where this disconnect between language and behavior is most glaring is in the continued existence of silos separating digital from everything else.

Do We Really Fear Murdoch, Or Change?

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 10:21:09 -0400

The persistent hand-wringing and ceaseless navel-gazing over Rupert Murdoch's likely acquisition of The Wall Street Journal goes a ways towards explaining why...

A Few of My Favorite Things

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 10:00:00 -0400

Hard for me to believe, but some of you may never have seen my old columns in Ad Age. Others may have read them but quickly forgotten what they were about (I know I often did). But two of my more recent columns dealt with issues that are like...

Lose the Scorecard

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:28:11 -0400

Obsession With Stats Obscures the Real Story

Big Ben and the Peacock

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Mon, 28 May 2007 20:09:23 -0400

Silverman Must See More Than TV

A Tilt of the Glass to Bud.TV

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Thu, 24 May 2007 10:52:18 -0400

Bold Experiment "Fades" but Concept Still Sound

Don't Get Blinded by Google Envy

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Wed, 23 May 2007 11:50:34 -0400

Quit the Hand-Wringing and Play to Your Strengths

When Trains Fly: Explaining the Name

sdonaton@adage.com(Scott Donaton) — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:19:33 -0400

Ad Age Publisher Scott Donaton returns to the conversation with his new blog, When Trains Fly, after his column in these pages ended after an 11-year run that spanned his time as executive editor and editor. He's back, and his first order of business is explaining what the title of his blog means.