Who We Are

GKV is a full-service integrated communications agency that has been changing and evolving for 40 years. We’re good, smart people who can do and will do whatever it takes for challenger brands to succeed.

We create thousands of pieces of social and digital content every year in-house. Plus, awarding-winning TV and radio and direct mail.

Working with challenger brands means always challenging ourselves to find new and more effective ways to grow our clients’ businesses and brands.

MEET OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Football, Crabcakes and Challenger Branding. It’s what we do.

Maybe it’s our Baltimore roots, but we relish the underdog role. The bigger your competition, the greater our joy in helping you outsmart them. Challenger Branding is the code we live by and the one you can win by.

Be unique. Create symbols of re-evaluation

The biggest barrier of success in the marketplace is not consumer rejection; it’s consumer indifference. Challenger Brands disrupt consumer autopilot behavior with “symbols of reevaluation.” This can be a bold new campaign, a product change, or a surprising influencer partnership or event. Whatever the symbols of reevaluation are, they let consumers know it’s no longer business as usual.

Be measurable. Evaluate and improve on the fly.

Everything is measurable… digital advertising, ecommerce, and brand growth. GKV uses a combination of tracking studies, integrated dashboards, and vendor dashboards to monitor brand, campaign, and sales performance. What sets us apart is that everyone here embraces this feedback to make our efforts more efficient and effective, from strategy to media to creative.

Be focused. Sacrifice what slows you down.

Digital marketing and commerce give us more information about prospects and customers than ever before, but the speed of life and limited budgets give brands only brief chances to present themselves as solutions. Our job is to identify opportunities, prioritize the ones with most promise, and confidently pursue work that compels an audience to act.

Be true. Create and keep emotional connections.

Challenger Brands don’t rely strictly on rational benefits or the badge value of category leaders. Their relevance runs deeper. People have the strongest connections with brands they connect with emotionally, brands who make good on promises and act consistently. A brand’s personality and associated values must continue to guide everything… advertising, sponsorships, social, even internal communications.

Success by every measure. In our campaigns and with our clients.

We’re a Challenger Brand Agency. But not a challenge to work with. This is demonstrated by the lasting relationships we form with our clients and the positive reviews they give us time and time again.

Check out what clients have to say about working with GKV.