It was the famous American management consultant, Peter Drucker who said, “Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions; marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. This is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”
This has compelled many creative thinkers to look at the purpose and role of marketing from the perspective of innovation. The focus must always be on customers and market orientation; all other factors must align with the needs of customers and users.
Basically, its influence is key to ensuring new offerings fit with a strategy determined by customers’ needs, so companies are not stuck trying to sell something for which there is no demand. But brands have to balance being insight-driven with being able to launch products that no one would ever think to suggest.
Here is where innovation plays a pivotal role. Innovation is about establishing desirability, feasibility, and viability. Do customers want it? Can we make it? Can we make money from it? Innovation is as much about insights as ideas. One instrument that has driven innovation, insight, and creativity to its peak has been technology.
One agency that has helped brands navigate the highly competitive Nigerian market, to balance various creative ideas and innovations with technology is GDM, one of Nigeria’s foremost 360 marketing consulting firms now evolving into Nigeria’s premier consultancy solutions outfit.
GDM Group, in the last 15 years has redefined how brands connect with people through innovative marketing solutions using data analytics, and proprietary tech solutions.
It could be recalled during the agency’s 10th anniversary three bespoke innovative marketing products were unveiled they include Retailar, a B2B e-commerce platform that enables retailers to effortlessly access products at the price of the manufacturer, order for them, and have them delivered right from the comfort of their phone, cheaper, faster, and more efficiently.
Also unveiled was Retailscope, an audit platform that provides quantitative primary retail data about FMCG products, as well as Alpha Geak, a subscription-based solutions platform that the agency has used for enumeration, validation, and managing point of sales material for salesmen automation.
The agency has been shining brightly with sterling works that have been given varying degrees of recognition in the last few years.
With operations spanning 36 states in Nigeria and extending to Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya, GDM operates a dynamic business model that addresses the peculiarities of each region. Since its inception, the agency has continually driven value for its clients through innovative digital solutions that guarantee maximum Return on Investment (ROI). These values have seen brands under its portfolio survive, thrive, and grow consistently.
Having provided marketing solution services for over 200 brands in about 70 reputable companies in Nigeria, including multinationals across FMCG, Financial Services, Telecoms, Technology, etc, GDM Group is now embarking on a journey to help brands under its portfolio evolve with the new dynamics of today’s marketplace.
Speaking recently to Brand Communicator, The Group CEO of GDM, Gbenga Afolabi shared the story of GDM Group, how they have been successfully distilling complex marketing problems, how they serviced some of the largest homebred and cosmopolitan brands, how they emerged as the leader in the sector, and now they are raising the bar after 15 years.
Afolabi revealed; “After 15 years, our job as a traditional agency is done, and I can boldly tell you that the way we’re structured, and the way we’re going to be positioning and have our people, we’re going to be transitioning from a traditional agency to a project consultancy firm. We will still be doing marketing consultancy projects”.
When GDM started 15 years ago, the focus was on experiential projects. Subsequently, the agency moved into bigger projects in marketing, like campaigns for marketing for B2B, not just consumers facing activations that it started with. Right now, the agency is doing 360-degree campaigns for public and private sectors, institutions, organizations, and developmental partners majorly doing things around advocacy.
Explaining further, Afolabi said, “We are going to do a lot of marketing project consultancy. Also, we are going to do a lot of technology consultancy under the GDM group from our expertise we will begin to do projects like ERP, deploying enterprise solutions, changing work processes, building apps, building technology, field sales automation, building solutions that helps the ability to do better work, especially solutions that help to connect with consumers or customers. Where one is heavy on technology because we can help people redesign their architecture, and build those things, we will do a lot of projects around consultancy services.
“Our new baby on the block is management consultancy because, with our expertise now, we are going to help people with management consultancy, turn around management top-end consultancy, recruitment, and ideation. If you want to set up an organization, or new market entries will find us very relevant. Now we are trying to take briefs from people who want to come in from different parts of the world. People coming in from the UK, US, and other parts of Africa, there’s going to be a lot of consultancy.
“We will consult for companies who want to come into the market with products, help them set up, marketing strategies, help them get to distributors partners, help them register with NAFDAG, and tell them about our tax laws. We are going to be helping organizations set up completely. For those that are struggling, we will help with turnaround management and this is going to require a different set of skills.
“The industry will see us work more around the consultancy space, we’re going to have three areas of consultancy- Management projects, technology projects, and marketing project consultancy, this is what we are going to be doing for the next decade as we start a new journey.
“For us, it’s always changing the game and we are more than willing to welcome a lot of other agencies, especially when we have spent 12-15 years doing the same thing, let’s disrupt and reinvent ourselves. And that is what GDM is going through as a process. We are changing our client base, we were looking for someone that’s selling one thing or the other but now a lot of our clients are changing, because now it’s just someone who is advertising that I’m talking to, but a new and different set of people.
“For example, there’s an oil-servicing firm, they don’t do activations, so we are no longer an activations agency because our clients are doing things around business turnaround, management, employee morale, recruitment, and new department setups. So it will change the kind of client base we’re going to serve because we’re changing the kind of product offering. That’s what we’re looking forward to. It’s more or less like a 360-degree consultancy firm”.
Through sheer hard work and tireless dedication, GDM Group has won diverse awards in the last few years. These award-winning works have not only received accolades in the recognition arenas, but they have also won where it matters most: in the hearts and ultimately the pockets of the consumer. Works by GDM have made a lot of multinationals and local clientele of the company remain with it for many years and counting. This comes as no surprise as GDM has built a reputation of delivering only the best, with the hallmark of distinction.