How Surat-based Gemius plans to take on international network agencies in India

Creativity can come from anywhere and it doesn't necessarily have to thrive in metro cities only. This story comes true with Gemius, the Surat-based full service creative and social media agency, which is making a big name for itself in the advertising and digital marketing industry.

Asked how they're taking on competition from big network agencies, Saurabh Pacheriwal and Anushree Pacheriwal, founders of Gemius say, "Sometimes, we’ve crossed our paths with the larger agencies and we have also had the privilege of winning the account. If that’s competition, sure, we are competing with them."

Saurabh Pacheriwal and Anushree Pacheriwal

In an interaction with BuzzInContent.com, the agency founders said that in next three years, they want to take to the national stage and touch the Rs 100-crore annual revenue figure. It currently has Badshah Masala, World Economic Forum, XXXX innerwear and local brands as its clients.

Talking about the agency’s strengths, the co-founders said, "Our core lies in brand building and campaign creation. While being a creative agency, we work as a brand consulting agency as well for our clients where we consult with them on the entire brand growth, positioning and marketing strategy levels."

The founders said the agency is not averse to joining large networks and would wait for the right time. "Incidentally, we have received a couple of offers already, but we choose to stay independent for the time being. Joining a network sounds interesting and may add up a lot of growth perspectives to our horizons but maybe, we are waiting for the right time or the right offer as of now."

In terms of the creative work, Gemius has been doing a lot of work in the area of content marketing and has been able to create a lot of buzz for its clients.

Excerpts:

Does storytelling run so deep at Gemius that everybody at the agency, from founders to client servicing managers, is a storyteller?

Absolutely. We bank on the philosophy “those who tell the stories, rule the world” and all of us are great storytellers. Some make stories with their concepts, some with content, some with designs and some with their marketing and outreach plans. Well, some also make stories for not coming to the studio on a particular day, but you know, roses come with thorns!

While most agencies are headquartered in Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore, you come from Surat. How do you see this, an advantage or lacking opportunities? After all, why would a large-sized national marketer choose to work with a Surat-based agency?

Surat has been our hometown and whether you call it inertia or our love for the city, we never chose to shift our base to a different city. A challenge we have been facing is to gather talent here in the city and we can proudly say that we have mastered it well.

Any large-sized national brand looks at a proper servicing. While we have our design and communications team established in Surat, our servicing team constantly travels and ensures the servicing at the client’s end is intact, every month. This helps them believe in us and our potential.

You call Gemius a full service creative and social media agency. So do you compete with companies ranging from Ogilvys of the world to Webchutney and Interactive Avenue?

We are a young agency and yes, we do wish to compete with the companies you’ve mentioned but it would be fair to say that we are making our way towards it. Sometimes, we’ve crossed our paths with the larger agencies and we have also had the privilege of winning the account. If that’s competition, sure, we are competing with them!

Is digital media these days limited to social media? If not, then why don’t you call yourself creative and digital agency instead?

Of course not. Digital media is a large pool which has much more than just social platforms to it. While we are capable of (and we do it already) handling complete digital mandate for our clients, we choose to call ourselves a social agency because of our stronghold in creating effective social media campaigns and communications.

What advantage and edge do you have over established creative agencies and networks?

Every agency has its own niche. Our core lies in brand building and campaign creation. While being a creative agency, we work as a brand consulting agency as well for our clients where we consult with them on entire brand growth, positioning and marketing strategy levels. This helps them save resource allocation and ensures a single point of execution.

Gemius Team

Do you think new agencies like yours are better equipped and positioned when it comes to content marketing?

I am not sure of comparing the two sets of agencies. The legacy and experience they hold is something to learn from, and we are always learning, every day. We, being young, are more agile in approach and can bring in the millennial thought process to create effective content marketing strategies for the brands we work with.

Many marketers we have spoken to have raised their concerns that creative agencies cannot fulfil their content needs and hence they opt for new-age content platforms or content creators. Do you agree or defend it?

If you are running a full-fledged creative agency but are restricted to only graphic design, such challenges and complaints would come in from time to time. A creative agency (for instance, us) has a full-time content management team on board (we have a team of five content managers) which takes care of all the content developed for the brands we work with. This helps us in ensuring effective content creation.

Content marketing is huge on the digital medium when it comes to volume but leaves a little margin for the creators or agencies. However, it is said to be big on revenues when done on traditional mediums like TV, radio and print. Do you intend to continue to chase volume over revenue?

We’ve always believed in choosing the marketing vehicle as per the need of the brand. The digital media is scaling up and is super quick but the importance of traditional media in creating effective brand communication cannot be ignored. We choose between the platforms from time to time depending on the need of the clients. Revenues can be generated either ways.

Video and voice are termed as the growth driver for the content marketing ecosystem. How are you preparing to encash on those opportunities?

We have been churning a lot of quick video ads for our clients in the past one year. The entire ecosystem is moving towards shorter and quicker data, which can be consumed on the go. We are developing in house capacities to create content which can be scaled up.

How has been your journey so far and where do you see Gemius in the next three years?

The journey has been amazing. Raising an agency in Surat has not only been challenging but also very exciting. The market is growing and there are numerous opportunities for all of us. In the next three years, Gemius is surely going to be creating a lot of media buzz in the market through the campaigns and communications we do for our clients. We are aiming at taking our clients on a national scale with over Rs 100-crore turnover and ensuring effective branding and marketing for them.

Big agency networks are acquiring or collaborating with new-age content agencies or creators rather than building capabilities from scratch. When do you think you would become a prospective target for them?

We have our niche in creating effective communications. Incidentally, we have received a couple of offers already, but we choose to stay independent for the time being. Joining a network sounds interesting and may add up a lot of growth perspectives to our horizons but maybe, we are waiting for the right time or the right offer as of now.

What according to you is fuelling and holding the growth of content marketing in India?

The volume of users on digital platforms and a constant growth that we observe on all these platforms is one of the major factors driving the growth. Every day, millions of users engage with marketer’s content on digital platforms and generate billions of impressions. This is a huge incentive for brands to continue pumping in both money and effort to make their content game better.

 Ask anyone involved in the business of content marketing and they will refrain from connecting a content initiative to lead generation or revenue growth in the first place. Isn’t it holding the marketers to make content marketing their primary brand communication?

There can be a tactful integration and association between content marketing and lead generation. Yes, content marketing is more engagement-driven and may not lead to revenue generation directly but think about tools like carousels and canvases where immersive content is in the end selling your product directly. So in a way, we are doing a lot of content generation, marketing it and creating revenue as well.

Brands have always told us how a content creator or agency should pitch or approach them. We want to hear the other side. What challenges do you face from a brand?

Perspectives matter. Brands sometimes do not understand whether they require an agency or not in the first place. And even if they do, many a time, the scope of work they expect is so vague that it becomes challenging to identify what’s right.

We have developed tools to analyse the requirements of the brands before onboarding them. This helps us in creating an effective set of deliverables which is both qualitative and quantitative and ensures a holistic approach.