Scott Donaton

Scott Donaton is president-CEO of Ensemble, a branded entertainment company that delivers innovative, strategic content solutions to marketers across platforms. Ensemble was formed through a unique partnership between Interpublic’s Mediabrands unit and MediaLink, a leading advisory firm. The partners together represent blue-chip brand marketers and leading content creators and distributors.

Donaton “has the uncanny ability to anticipate the next thing,” said MIN Magazine in honoring the marketing and media executive as one of the “21 Most Intriguing People in Media.” Before launching Ensemble, he served as publisher of Entertainment Weekly. During his tenure, the title was named one of AdWeek’s “Magazine Brand Leaders,” in print and online, and one of MIN’s “Most Engaged Media Brands.”

Before joining Time Inc., Scott was best known as the longtime editor and publisher of Advertising Age, where he founded the highly successful “Madison & Vine” franchise, which grew to include print, conferences, a Web site and email newsletters. He also authored a book on branded entertainment, “Madison & Vine: Why the Entertainment and Advertising Industries Must Converge to Survive,” published by McGraw-Hill.

As publisher of Entertainment Weekly, Scott oversaw day-to-day business operations, including brand strategy, advertising sales, marketing, circulation, events, and public relations for the weekly magazine and its web site, EW.com.

Before being named to that role, Scott served as publisher of Advertising Age and Creativity, where he oversaw business and editorial strategies, and operations across all platforms. A media-content veteran, Scott was the editor of Ad Age for seven years, overseeing editorial operations of the award-winning weekly and its online edition.

Donaton’s achievements have been widely recognized throughout his career. In addition to the “21 Most Intriguing List,” he was named to the Folio 40 in 2008, and was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Achievement. He now serves on the AAF board. Donaton, a columnist for Fobes.com’s CMO Network, has made numerous national-media appearances and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences.