There's no question that Paul Woolmington is both a champion of innovative thinking and a veteran of the marketing, advertising and media industries. Prior to his current role as Founding Partner of Naked Communications, he worked at both large marketing and advertising concerns, including IPG, Y&R, and WPP, as well entrepreneurial ventures like the Media Kitchen, which he founded. His objective thinking often shapes new directions for our industry, and today he believes we are at an inflection point in marketing and communications.
Interestingly, the term "inflection point" comes from Mathematics where it defines a point on a curve that changes from concave to convex, for example. It also characterizes a time or an event that changes how we think and act. Paul believes we are now at an inflection point between re-invigorating the old and embracing the new. Successful marketers must not only "loosen their muscle memory," but find equilibrium with what worked in the past to build legacy brands, while integrating new thinking to arrive at contemporary solutions. He is careful to emphasize that either element in this balance should not be at the cost of the other. "I'm not saying that we should refrain from embracing today's 'shiny, new objects,' but we should simply consider which behaviors and actions best affect a business result. The future of creativity will be about creating, architecting and liberating behavioral ideas in such a way that can influence and inform all brand stakeholders across all channels."
"Sometimes," he adds, "we need to insure that the unsexy is the new sexy."
According to Paul Woolmington, "today a brand can be better described as the sum total of its behaviors and its stakeholders' behaviors through all forms of internal and external communications. And that means there cannot be a predetermined media mix or channel mix. One must first be aligned and prioritized, then determine the right brand behavior and actions before executing."
Ever restless at Naked, they have created a new process to help clients better navigate this bold converged world, built around a revolutionary behavior change model. The model turns the old AIDA model (awareness drives desire, interest and then action) on its head - quite literally-- to a model based on modern cognitive behavioral psychology where the proved practice of doing something (taking an action) is more effective at changing your mind than trying to change your mind. Thus actions through all old and new forms of communications are increasingly becoming the key driver of behavior change and more effective marketing activity today. Further helping bridge the integration between new social forms of media which are inherently action-based with traditional channels rethought.
Proving that Confucius was right after all: “Tell me and I forget, show me and I might remember, involve me and I will understand."
Courtesy: The Internationalist Magazine
