Waggener Edstrom® Worldwide has created what it calls Innovation Communications(SM). As I went about reading their web site to better understand this new approach to communications, I was struck by the nonsense of their statements. For example, in the first paragraph they state, "Even as we talk a lot about Innovation Communications, we intend to deliver the same world-class strategy and results that have been winning over clients, employees and award judges for more than two decades." Or to be reworded by me, "Even though we are renaming what we are doing as Innovation Communications, we really are doing the same thing we've always done." In other words, the process they use is nothing new, and therefore, not innovative.

As the page continues to inform the reader about innovation, it provides an answer to the self posed question, "What do we mean by innovation?" Their answer: "While some may consider "innovation" to be synonymous only with technology or science, we believe that innovation can be found across an incredibly diverse range of products, services and geographic regions." The answer does not tell you what innovation is, rather what innovation is not and some examples of where it can be applied.

Without knowing anything about the company or their ability to innovate, I feel compelled to draw the following conclusions about Waggener Edstrom:

• They know how to use the word innovation in a sentence
• They understand how important it is to be seen as innovative
• They don't have a clue about how to communicate innovation to the public

These points are important for a couple of reasons. They are clearly a successful firm, so the fact that they don't communicate well to those of us with the curse of knowledge may not really matter. And, building a marketing strategy around innovation is, in and of itself, innovative, even if the approach or the output is not. This all starts to make sense when you read their innovation study, you will learn that they believe that it is more important to be perceived as innovative than it is to actually be innovative.

While Waggener Edstrom makes a great point, success may be achieved without innovation, the lack of innovation is not innovation. The rest of us will continue to bring new value-creating products, services, processes, business models and techniques into the world. What drives those of us with a passion for innovation is the creating, not the contentment to talk about it.