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Paul Woolmington
CEO at Canvas Worldwide
Paul Woolmington is a seasoned 'Renaissance' entrepreneur with a vast experience in the media, advertising, digital, marketing, and communications industry.
Having held leadership positions globally and domestically in renowned companies like IPG, Y&R Inc, WPP, and MDC Partners, Paul's expertise spans management, media, integrated business, brand strategy, digital, and communications.
Paul co-founded Naked Communications Americas, founded The Media Kitchen, and was honored as one of the most creative and innovative individuals in marketing and advertising by Fast Company.
Currently serving as the CEO of Canvas Worldwide, a leading media and communications agency focusing on creativity and marketplace reinvention.
Under Paul's guidance, Canvas has evolved to become the world's second-largest independent media services company, earning notable recognitions such as Adweek's Breakthrough Agency of the Year and Campaign US's Most Innovative Agency.
In 2024, Canvas secured the top spot as the #1 Advertising and Media Services Company and ranked 4th overall in AdAge's Best Places to Work list.
Apart from his corporate roles, Paul has contributed as a senior fellow at Columbia University, advising on cross-discipline initiatives like the 'Committee for Global Thought' and being associated with 'The Digital Storytelling Lab.'
He actively participates as an advocate, advisor, and angel investor across various business domains and serves on boards including the 4A's and the AAF.
Originally from Africa, raised in the UK, and currently a US citizen, Paul has a rich background of global travel both for professional and personal purposes.
Highlights
Ode to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity: A Great, Good Industry Full of Great, Good People! (Never to be replaced by machines...)
I first came to #Cannes as an eager puppy in the business back in the mid-90s and have witnessed the festival, and our industry, grow in countless, wonderful ways.
Using the festival as a timeline, I have seen at least five waves of fundamental change, and The #CannesLions has always been at the heart of these transformations.
From a sleepy, largely European, ad agency creatives' spot... to the dawn of the media age (I was the first jury chair of a non-traditional creative competition, the Media Lions, in 1999)!
To the digital and social age (remember in the early 2000s when only a few Googlers came to find out what the festival was all about)!
To the tech and data age (and the boom of the tech yachts in the port, and in 2015, the Innovation Festival to embrace them)!
And now, to the AI age, which is upon us.
Along this journey, we have seen the awards categories grow, blossom, and change, recognizing creativity in all its most diverse forms. As a student of the business and craft, there is no other source of inspiration that challenges the comfortable.
Change is all around... but one thing has never changed: the universal power of being bonded together as connected humans—always was, always will be. Friendships started or nurtured, old and new, many to last a lifetime. I am so proud to be in this wonderful, complex, inspiring, challenging, global, creative profession. We all should be.
Here’s to a great, good industry filled with great, good people—no machine will ever replace us!
2024 is another vintage year. Sorry for so many I will miss, LinkedIn only lets me post a handful of the hundreds of super-selfies I snapped! BUT I send gratitude, appreciation, and thanks to:
Philip Thomas, Beverly Jackson, Jennifer Berger, Laura Correnti, Tariq H.assan, Marc Sternberg, Colleen DeCourcy, Rob Reilly, Meredith Kopit Levien, Jolie Hunt, Bonin Bough, Harry Kargman, Nick Law, Marla Kaplowitz, Barry Frey, Kristen O'Hara, Carolyn Everson, Jonathan Mildenhall, Claudine Cheever, Linda Yaccarino, Bob Pittman, Frederique Covington Corbett, Ph.D., Michael Kassan... and MORE included in the comments below!
Wow. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity never ceases to amaze! This event is truly the epicenter of discussion, deliberation, and deal-making that propels our industry forward. With AI accelerating progress and the next wave of change and deal-making reaching new heights, we are at an all-new inflection point. This year, the hot topics at #CannesLions extend beyond AI. The dynamic field of sports marketing is also making significant waves. With the upcoming Paris Olympics, the European Championship happening now, FIFA World Cup to come to our shores, Cricket T20 World Series in Long Island, the global rise of the NFL, the NBA's popularity, and the increasing rise and unique fandom of women’s sports... the impact on us marketers is profound, offering limitless possibilities. This week, I've had the privilege of discussing several key topics on stage, with some seriously smart marketers including Kelly Andresen, Vlad Strelsov, Alexis Wrightson, Laura Correnti, Henry Arlander, Kate Jalkut, Sarah Larsen, Janina Lundy and Todd Joyce. Our discussions revolved around:
- The Future of Media and Comms – Old and New Models
- Demystifying AI - Hero, Hubs and Hygiene applications.
- Redefining Creativity in the Age of Technology
- The Americanization of Sports (& Cannes)
- Why Marketers Should Strike at Women’s Sports Opportunities
- Messages, Messengers, Mediums, Machines and Moments
- Outcomes Roadmap and the new discipline technique and science of Data Storytelling And thank you to those of you who have told me you’ve been enjoying reading about these topics in latest State of Sports Marketing Report – The Cannes Lions Edition from Canvas Worldwide. If you’d like to take a peek…easy reads in 10 bite size chapters, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eSUGHkGW
