Former WPP, Accenture Executive To Lead Global Digital Media Practice
Austin, Texas – April 8, 2010 – Paul Walker, widely recognized as one of the leading global digital media experts, is joining PulsePoint Group, a communications management consulting firm, as a third partner to lead the firm’s digital media practice.
Walker, a social media advisor to leading global brands like Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, ExxonMobil, Novartis and MasterCard, will team up with Bob Feldman and Jeff Hunt. PulsePoint was founded just one year ago and has quickly become a trusted, strategic advisor to such companies as Dell, Chevron, Amgen, CA, USAA, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Delta Airlines among others. The firm specializes in digital and social media, issues and crisis management and organizational design and change.
Walker will support PulsePoint’s primary mission of working with major brands to develop strategies and innovative solutions that engage prospects, customers and employees in more relevant and effective ways. This includes digital, social and mobile media – blended with more traditional CRM, marketing and communications — to build brands, develop markets and sell more products and services.
Accenture Experience Key to PulsePoint Mission
“We are thrilled to welcome Paul as a partner in the firm,” said Jeff Hunt. “Paul, Bob and I have known each other for more than 25 years and our professional respect and mutual admiration has deepened through every chapter in our careers. Paul is without a doubt one of the most enlightened and strategic practitioners in digital and social media. He has pioneered some of the most impactful applications of social media for clients like Dell and more recently The University of Texas,” Hunt said.
Bob Feldman added, “Many corporate executives tell us their frustration with digital media advisors is that they’re usually platform-oriented practitioners, not business strategists. In Paul’s case, whether he’s consulting with the CMO, CCO, CIO or the CEO, he brings a unique ability to bridge gaps to create innovative and impactful solutions that solve business challenges.”
Walker was one of the principal architects of Dell’s early social media strategies, working closely with the internal client team. He led a project to develop and implement a comprehensive, new digital media capability for the company which included digital media strategy development; monitoring on-line channels; rapid response and resolution of customer service issues; digital influencer relations; Direct2Dell, the company’s first blog; One Dell Way, an internal blogging program; Studio Dell, educational videos; IdeaStorm, an idea engine; Social Media for Small Business Powered by Dell on Facebook and more. Today, Dell is considered a leader in the use of social media.
“It is as an honor and privilege to join Bob and Jeff as a partner in PulsePoint Group,” said Walker. “I have watched them build a highly-focused communications management consulting firm that is truly serving a largely unmet need in the global marketplace. The client roster they have built during the first year of the business and the quality of strategic work they have performed is impressive and it is a testament to their outstanding reputations and the value they are delivering to clients,” he added.
Prior to joining PulsePoint, Paul worked on a special assignment for the President of The University of Texas to develop a comprehensive social media strategy and to better engage UT’s vast alumni group using digital, social and mobile media. For instance, he helped develop and launch the University’s iPhone application, as well as an internal and external idea engine called The Ideas of Texas, a first for a major academic institution. He will continue to advise the university on these initiatives.
Prior to joining UT, Paul was the founder and global leader of digital media practices for GCI and Cohn & Wolfe. The two companies merged in 2008. During this time, he advised major brands including Dell, ExxonMobil, Mastercard, BI, Genentech, Nokia, Walmart, Allstate, Hampton Inn, Corner Bakery and others.
Formerly, he was a principal at GameChange, a Silicon Valley seed fund created by Accenture and Mobius Venture Capital, where he both invested in companies and worked with them on strategy, sales and marketing. Prior to his stint in venture capital, Paul spent 10 years at Accenture in leadership brand development, market development, business development, consulting and venture capital roles, across a wide range of industries and service lines. In 1993, the company (then known as Andersen Consulting) hired Paul from Y&R/Burson-Marsteller to run its Pan-Asian market development efforts, including Japan, China and Australia.
Prior to joining Andersen Consulting, Paul spent 10 years at Y&R/B-M. He was the managing director of Y&R/Burson-Marsteller in Singapore. He also founded the company’s Indonesian office. Formerly, he was a vice president in the firm’s New York office, where he helped start its technology practice in 1983.
Paul is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. Paul resides with his wife and two children in Austin, Texas.
You can find Paul on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other social networks.
