Fusion: A Modern 'How-To' Guide for Integrated Marketing Strategy (from Creative Spark to Synergistic Explosion)

The brain is a curious thing...If you are “right-brained” you see the world through a creative lens: you appreciate art, you are a lover of music, you are a designer. You are fun to have at a party. If you are “left-brained,” you see the world through a logical lens: you are a thinker, an organizer, an analyst who prefers data and numbers over pretty pictures and bright, shiny objects...you may not be the life of the party, but you sure are good at planning them.

There’s just one problem with this: that’s not how the brain actually works.

In spite of this inaccuracy, the right/left-brained myth survives and continues to shape entire disciplines. In fact, since its inception, marketing has largely been divided between "creatives" and "corporates," agencies and account managers, the sensationally stylish and the stodgy suits. The result? Beautiful advertisements (...that serve no business purpose) or functional marketing campaigns (...that are dry, unoriginal, and uninspired). But what if we lived in a world where marketing was treated as equal parts art and science?

In Fusion, James Mourey, Ph.D., presents a step-by-step framework that integrates business and brilliance to help companies, organizations, and individuals design and execute integrated marketing campaigns from beginning to end. Fusion makes marketing and the creative process accessible to everyone, from small-business entrepreneurs to seasoned corporate marketers, non-profit organizations to individuals refining their personal brand. In each of us is the ability to be "right-brained" and "left-brained," to use our entire brain to dream up marketing campaigns built on a foundation of clearly-defined business objectives without forsaking style or sexiness (...which is also sound dating advice).

Dr. Mourey begins Fusion by pointing out three important ideas: 1) we have never been more connected to each other than we are today, 2) we no longer live in a 'traditional advertising'-centric (i.e., TV commercials, print ads, etc.) world, and 3) we all have the creative tools essential for developing marketing campaigns at our disposal, increasingly for free. The era of corporate suits and hired creative agencies is rapidly being replaced by a world where 'Big Data' can inspire a 'Big Idea,' middlemen are being minimized, and D.I.Y. culture dictates everything from how we build our homes, dress ourselves, and design our lives...then post about it on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. Fusion is the D.I.Y. guide for modern marketing campaigns.

With over fifteen years of corporate and creative career experience, Dr. Mourey relies on his professional skills, his passion for all-things creative, and his relatable sense of humor to get past the jargon of "SWOT analyses" and "picas" to provide practical, useful tools for anyone interested in marketing. Much like the brain needs both halves to work together to function more effectively, so, too, can various components of marketing work together to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Fusion brings those skills together to spark a creative explosion that will forever change the way you think about and practice the art and the science of marketing. So, what are we waiting for? Let's get started...

James A. Mourey, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at DePaul University in Chicago where he teaches Consumer Behavior to undergraduate and MBA students. Dr. Mourey has also served as a Visiting Professor at IÉSEG in Paris and Lille, France, where he has taught Integrated Marketing Strategy. A former marketing and management account executive and research think-tank director-turned-professor, consultant, public speaker, and Dancing with the Stars choreographer, Dr. Mourey has long-specialized in bridging the gap between marketing science and marketing practice. He began his marketing career as a toddler when, hoping to buy a zoo, he and his siblings began a lemonade and brownie stand. However, they ate all their merchandise and were forced to consider other career paths. Jim chose marketing. Dr. Mourey can often be found toiling away in his Modern Marketing research lab, speaking to business executives around the country, or teaching future leaders of tomorrow (with his trademark 'edutainment' teaching style) in a job he believes is the best, most rewarding job in the world.