GCG Marketing: 2019
GCG Marketing
2421 West 7th Street, Suite 400
Fort Worth, TX 76107
Telephone
817-332-4600
E-mail
[email protected]
Website
gcgmarketing.com
Quick Facts
Accounts
Account wins 4
Active business clients 28
Brands by 2018 sales
Brand-product accounts held 38
Services mix
Digital 30%
Professional advertising 22%
Sales collateral 20%
Consumer advertising 16%
Medical education 8%
Relationship 3%
PR 1%
Client roster
Belluscura
Cipher Pharmaceuticals
Crown Laboratories
Encore
EPI Health
Journey Medical Corporation
Mayne Pharma
MedHab
Merz
Mission Pharmacal
OneWorld Health
Ortho Dermatologics
Sientra
Smith & Nephew
SteadMed
Sun Pharma
Verrica Pharmaceuticals
A lot has changed at GCG Marketing in the 45 years that the agency has been in business, and 2018 was no exception. Three major shakeups last year have set up the agency for exciting growth and a bright future as a strategic and creative partner for healthcare brands.
First, President Neil Foster also assumed the role of CEO following the early February retirement of former Chief Executive Officer Scott Turner. With Turner’s retirement, Foster becomes the agency’s sole owner.
Second, GCG’s Las Vegas-based sister agency, Forward Digital, has been fully integrated into GCG Marketing to increase the day-to-day digital resources available to the agency’s clients.
Additionally, the account service and creative departments were reorganized to operate off a team-based structure, directly aligning client accounts with specific account and creative team members to streamline communication and encourage specialization to better serve new and longtime clients.
Recent accomplishments
Management says GCG has leveraged the agency’s experience in aesthetics and medical devices to continue working with client Merz Pharmaceuticals on its partnership with Christie Brinkley. Agency leaders say this campaign has been an international success, driving sales of the Ultherapy device in practices and boosting the number of treatments performed across the globe.
As for new business, GCG Marketing has taken on miraDry by Sientra and has worked closely with the company’s team to create a new brand and launch a fully redesigned website to target the next generation of aesthetic patients. In 2019, GCG will translate and expand that website’s reach to a global market.
GCG has also continued to grow its presence in skincare and wound care, expanding on campaigns and assignments for Smith & Nephew brands. Concurrently, GCG Marketing has utilized its growing digital capabilities to begin creating proprietary digital programs and tools to help sales reps track, organize and build reports around data from the field, agency management says.
STRUCTURE AND SERVICES
Time and time again, GCG has shown that its strength lies in its ability to adapt,” Foster says. “We are constantly evaluating the opportunities and changes within our industry and our clients’ industries to position GCG for growth and alignment with our overall business environment. We believe that our new structure will help guarantee the future success of the agency.”
In the biologics space, GCG has launched a campaign to help promote Ortho Dermatologics’ plaque psoriasis solution, Siliq. To support the patient side of the new campaign, the agency also worked to create a patient ambassador program so patients could learn more about the success of Siliq from one another.
To meet the growing demand for digital services, Foster and his partner at Forward Digital, Ryan Cormier, decided to roll the digitally focused agency into GCG. Cormier now leads a team of digital experts who provide a vast array of services, from web and app development to paid search/SEO and social media management. Other sister agencies to GCG, which include 7West Communications and Ratio Digital, remain intact as before, management says.
“Clients come to us for many different things, but the one constant is that they are looking for new ideas,” Foster says. “Our formula for success for the past 45 years has been to learn, grow, evolve and provide value. The only way you can achieve all four of those is to consistently and passionately pursue new ideas and new approaches. We believe our new structure achieves that objective and know that the future will continue to bring great things to GCG and our clients.”
FUTURE PLANS
According to agency leaders, GCG is currently planning to leverage experience in the medical aesthetics space to acquire more consumer beauty products. In coming years, the agency hopes to continue expanding into different specialties as well. “With a new focus on digital and media, there is a lot of work to be done providing more services to current clients as well as attracting new clients with rapidly growing digital needs,” GCG Marketing executives say.
Clients aside, GCG management has plans for its own future as an agency, according to executives. Increased staff in all departments has caused the agency to look at other office space. Currently, the plan is to move into a larger, more creatively inspired space in Fort Worth in late 2019. Foster is also evaluating the interest and feasibility of establishing satellite offices in other markets.
PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP
Throughout the years, GCG has remained focused on supporting advertising education. “It is the agency’s belief that giving back to its own industry is the best way to tie its citizenship efforts to the company’s unique talent offerings,” Foster says. To that end, GCG has grown its paid internship program, allowing more members of the creative team to foster the next generation of advertisers and gain valuable leadership skills. The interns themselves work closely with peers from other disciplines to better understand working in a collaborative creative space.
In addition to the internship program, GCG has continued to host AAF events for students in the DFW area, participate in portfolio reviews and speak at universities and high schools to inspire and recruit a new generation of marketers.
Expanding on the agency’s previous philanthropic endeavors, GCG has additionally taken on pro bono client OneWorld Health. The nonprofit organization partners with communities in developing countries to bring permanent, sustainable healthcare to the chronically underserved. To help them spread their message further and encourage more donations to a worthy cause, GCG’s digital team assisted them in creating a new website with an updated visual style and messaging platform.
