IMC industry has witnessed significant growth, GDM boss reflects on 15 years journey
By Seun Johnson
The Integrated Marketing Communication industry has undergone a remarkable transformation, with more professional players and dynamic landscape, than it was 15 years ago.
Mr. Victor Afolabi, CEO of GDM Group, a leading Experiential, Advertising, Marketing and Online Service Agency in Nigeria shared these insights while speaking recently with MARKETING EDGE on its 15th Anniversary.
According to him, the field is more structured and the rules of the game are well defined, making it to be more attractive to people and become more competitive.
“The industry is a bit more structured with more players. When the field is structured and the rules of the games are defined, you will attract more people. I like the fact that there are more players. It is extremely more competitive compared to fifteen years ago, when it was an afterthought for brand managers and clients. Today, it is for many clients, BTL, and experiential. It is now in that sector we play from and It is a key strategy for something to engage with,” he stated.
Also speaking on how GDM Group has evolved with the sector over the last 15 years, the CEO explained that the company has transitioned from marketing to innovation, noting that it is boldly leading the conversation at the intersection of marketing and technology.
“We have churned out quite a number of technology platforms for our clients.
We do a bit of things around the technology space, and we have championed conversations around technology, and how it affects what we do.
“Besides that, we still do quite a number of things beyond helping build our ecosystem, exposing marketing people to the future or what marketing should be, which were the things we took up after our ten years,” he added.
In just 15 years, the group has achieved remarkable success, now proudly managing a portfolio of over 207 brands.
According to Afolabi, “Over the last 15 years, we have worked with 207 brands. Today, we actively work with about 15 companies and national firms, and that is working with them regularly. When you look at what is our total client base, we have between thirty five and fifty clients. But we are engaging nothing less than 15 different clients that we are working for per time.
“In the month of January, we executed for 15 different clients. But the total client base we have is between thirty five and fifty. The question is how do we double that? What are the new products I have that can give me new kinds of clients? That is what we are doing in our fifth anniversary where we begin to offer not only marketing projects, but management projects and technology projects.”
He emphasized that over the past 15 years, GDM Group has not only grown but also mentored countless professionals.
Reflecting on its early days, he recalled how success once seemed uncertain. Yet today, the company stands tall as a leading agency, making a national and regional impact while managing an impressive portfolio of brands.
Touching on how he has been able to lead the charge in the last 15 years, the industry expert believes that the only way to move is to recreate a new agenda.
In his words, “I use every five year to set a new agenda of what we intend to do in terms of, how we are changing and what we are doing. What we intend to do this time around is, to a large extent, restructure our client base and restructure our offerings.
“So today, we moved away from just talking. We used to talk about experiential. We moved from experiential to become a 360 degree marketing for over five years, and then media buying and everything around 360 degree up in year five. By year 10, we brought in technology and we asked, how do we drive innovation? At year 15, we are bringing quite a lot of consultants into the house.”
In another five years, the CEO expects to doubled the whole outlook of the business. He said, “What we have done in fifteen years, is what we will do in another five years and that is why it is a dramatic restructuring of our business model and how it works that we are trying to do.”
He identified passion, integrity, discipline, and teamwork as the core value driving the business, noting that they are the things constantly shaping how his team members work.
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