Greater Than One: 2021

Greater Than One Inc.

395 Hudson Street, Floor 4

New York, NY 10014

Telephone 

212-252-1999

E-mail 

[email protected]

Website 

greaterthanone.com

 

QUICK FACTS

Accounts

Account wins 4

Active business clients 14

Brands by 2020 sales

Brand-product accounts held 31

$25 million or less 1

$25 million-$50 million 3

$50 million-$100 million 5

$100 million-$500 million 5

$500 million-$1 billion 2

$1 billion or more 1

Products not yet approved/launched 4

 

SERVICES MIX

Digital 38%

Media (HCP, consumer) 20%

Enterprise technology 16%

Strategy and analytics 14%

Professional advertising 12%

 

What makes communication better? That question, which is at the heart of every marketing endeavor, doubled as the challenge and mantra for independent agency Greater Than One (GTO) during 2020.

“We saw every system we built get tested, not just by COVID-19 but also by the explosion of digital content and continued hyper-segmentation of audiences,” says Chief Marketing Officer Amanda Powers-Han, adding that true to form, GTO decided to meet these industry-wide challenges by trusting themselves, digging into the data, and taking a calculated risk.

According to the leadership team, the result was a renewed understanding of who GTO is, and what the agency brings to the world. Although it came with an updated byline (“Better. Believe it.”), co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Apelles elucidates how it is not a rebrand. “Technology, creativity, and actionable insights are who we are. They’re who we’ve always been,” Apelles says. “The only thing that changed is how we communicate the value we deliver to clients, and the guiding principles that drive internal decision making. We realize that we have the freedom to make and improve upon anything which is good for our clients, good for our people, and a judicious use of capital.”

Even in this qualified sense, GTO’s plan is ambitious, especially considering the socially distanced world it was born into. But GTO executives say it is well-founded, and it has already started to pay dividends.

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

According to agency leaders, perhaps the most significant success for GTO in 2020 was the launch of Oxlumo (lumasiran), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ product for treating oxalate overproduction. As the digital agency of record, management says GTO showcased a thoughtful action plan from the start, elevating the importance of the digital launch due to the pandemic. The agency donated employee hours to Alnylam and across every client. Apelles considers the move “strategically inspired,” since it met the challenges of a national crisis by ensuring the sustainable growth of valuable partners who may have been otherwise affected. The decision enabled the agency to work through MLR virtually, while delivering a creative product that Alnylam loved.

For the people doing that work, clarity of purpose proved just as important, agency executives maintain. Apelles says she took care to source GTO’s understanding from the ground up. This sourcing took the form of open dialogue during all-agency weeklies and one-on-one lunches with every single employee. The latter in particular helped Apelles and her team distill the people-centric values that the agency had been operating with, including empathy, curiosity, diversity, and esprit de corps. 

“We obsessed over getting it right,” says Chief Creative Officer Mike Hartman. “Actually, all of us are a little obsessive. Everyone appreciates that because they understand the value of what we’re aiming for, and they see us working towards it.”

By empowering the right people in the right roles, agency leaders say Greater Than One extended its track record of premier healthcare services. In another digital win, the agency launched an e-commerce website for Obagi, realizing significant revenue in the first month since the launch. The agency also expanded its services to welcome the future of the pharma industry, securing partnerships with innovators such as bluebird bio, WiseCare, and VITAS. The accomplishments of 2020 enabled GTO to invest in growth, enterprise software, and employee benefits, while generating revenue on par with 2019, management says.

STRUCTURE AND SERVICES

The majority of clients retain GTO as an AOR, and according to the leadership team, all find tremendous value in how the agency disrupts with core services of content and media. “Media follows the P.E.S.O. model of paid, earned, shared, and owned bolstered by industry-leading data insights,” GTO executives say. “Content focuses on omnichannel solutions that cut through the noise of ‘always on, everywhere’ to deliver intimate, timely experiences that audience members find meaningful. Both content and media are approached holistically and, as one, they work better.” 

As Hartman explains it, “We have streamlined our creative approach and, just like our brand, the whole product ends up being greater than the sum of its parts.”

FUTURE PLANS

Agency leaders say the future of GTO is people, adding that internally, one of the most forward-looking steps the agency took this past year was bringing in new hires. “Chief Client Officer Hoon Chang brings a deep understanding of HCP-partner needs and a wealth of leadership experience,” GTO executives say. “Chief People Officer Carol Fraser and Director of Project Management and Operations Belinda Costa have already begun to enrich the work that GTO does by implementing processes, systems, and visions designed for the better.”

Externally it is, again, people, and Apelles says she expects to add three or four clients a year for the next three years, sustainably increasing revenue and creating ever-growing opportunities for all employees. According to agency executives, throughout these changes, GTO will remain a privately held, internationally positioned agency that builds towards holistic success. 

There will be challenges and smart competition, but Apelles says that is where the joy lies.“I’m a big believer in just acting with integrity and delivering work that makes our clients the most successful,” she says. “There’s this book, Blue Ocean Strategy – I’ve had everyone in the executive committee read it. The basic idea is that the world is an ocean. You’re a ship in it. You will drive your ship to where it’s best for you. There are plenty of ports for us out there because we have a unique combination of data, content, and IQ in our DNA. Nowadays companies need all those elements together to succeed.”

PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP

Management says it is important to note that success for GTO does not simply mean profit, adding that the agency’s people choose healthcare marketing because they want to impact the lives of patients and caregivers in fundamentally transformational ways.

To that end, GTO contributes time and money, agency executives say, and every year it organizes voting and volunteer efforts and supports diversity and inclusion initiatives. What is just as important, according to the leadership team, is that GTO is committed to remaining a woman-owned and LGBTQ-certified agency. 

Remarkably, for an agency of its size, GTO also wholly funds a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, GTO Greater Good (GG). GG leads projects that create a better well-being for the environment and people around the world. To cite one example of its work, Greater Good has created a technology platform for individuals with rare diseases, called Honeycomb Health (HH). The HH platform will implement a blockchain solution that enables patients, relatives, and caregivers to securely store, share, and perhaps even sell information relating to their health. The platform will also offer hundreds of rare disease advocacy groups the ability to create dedicated, freely hosted storefronts. For a better understanding of this joint initiative, please visit the website for Honeycomb Health at https://honeycombhealth.com and an example of a live storefront at https://scadalliance.store.