A recovering Mad Man throws down the ultimate challenge to his profession: innovate or die.

The ad apocalypse is upon us. Today millions are downloading ad-blocking software, and still more are paying subscription premiums to avoid ads. This $600 billion industry is now careening toward outright extinction after having taken for granted a captive audience for too long, a choice that has led to lazy, overabundant, and frankly annoying ads. Make no mistake, Madison Avenue: Traditional advertising as we know it is over. In this short, controversial manifesto, Andrew Essex offers both a wake-up call and a road map to the future.

Essex helped run what was generally considered to be the hottest shop in the industry, Droga5. He is therefore uniquely qualified to report on the industry's demise - and what it must do to reinvent itself. He gives a brief and pungent history of the rise and fall of Adland - a story populated by snake-oil salesmen, slicksters, and search-engine optimizers. But his book is no eulogy. Instead Essex boldly challenges global marketers to innovate their way into a better ad-free future. Rather than clutter our world, ambitious marketing campaigns could provide utility, services, gifts, investment, and even patronage of the arts and blockbuster entertainment. Ads could become so enticing that people would pay - yes, pay - to see them.

With trenchant wit and razor-sharp insights, Essex presents an essential new vision of where the smart businesses could be headed, to the cheers of brands and consumers alike.