Case Study

Maryland Lottery: OLD BAY Bucks

An appetizing scratch-off campaign that’s fun, magical and just a little bit spicy.

Case Study

Molina

Encouraging the switch to a Medicare Advantage plan.

Case Study

Sprint: Inertia

Most people love their mobile phones, but not their carrier… so, why don’t they switch?

Work Sample

About Faces Day Spa

About Faces, a family-owned chain of salons, fits the niche between small, independent hair studios and the larger-scale franchised salon world.

GKVoice

Key Trends in 2020 for Home Service Companies

Each year our initial HomePulse survey identifies the key trends home service companies should consider while making decisions during the upcoming year.

Work Sample

Columbia Association: Live Life Larger

To entice new memberships, we developed a visually arresting campaign featuring individual portraits of Columbia residents.

Garry Raim

Partner, Executive Vice President

Start the conversation today and find out what GKV can do for your brand.

Category

Retail & Consumer Services

Consumer services companies face the daunting task of building relationships with consumers in categories that often lack trust.

Everyone offers very similar services and says the same things:

  • Lowest price guaranteed!
  • This is our biggest discount ever!
  • Trust me, I am an expert!

So, creating effective communications can be very challenging.

To generate awareness and drive sales, you must do things differently than everyone else. You need to think and act like a challenger brand! Check out some of our case studies to see how we have helped clients break through the sea of sameness, and then call us to discuss your challenges.

BUILD A LIGHTHOUSE IDENTITY

Just as ships navigate the seas by lighthouses, people navigate life by people and organizations of character and conviction. For any company that GKV works with, we start by understanding and clarifying the consumer insights that drive choices. Our goal is to simplify the choice for the consumer.

SIMPLIFY AND SACRIFICE

You can’t afford to be all things to all people. You must focus on a powerful primary message while utilizing the most effective and efficient media vehicles. There are so many stories that a brand could tell about itself, but the strongest brands are usually very single-minded and are willing to sacrifice some secondary messages.

CREATE SYMBOLS OF REEVALUATION

Challenger brands want to disrupt the autopilot relationship they may have with the consumer by making visible changes, creating what we call symbols of reevaluation. Maybe a new service or a new logo or a new pricing strategy. Usually, it’s a visible change to the advertising. Whatever the symbols of reevaluation are, the intent is to announce to the consumer that it’s no longer business as usual.

ESTABLISH AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

Category leaders generally create the expectations of the category with rational benefits…we’re the biggest, we’re the cheapest, we’re the most convenient, etc. So, that territory is taken. Challenger brands need to be thought leaders. They need to create an emotionally-based rather than a rationally-based relationship with the consumer.

COVID-19 MESSAGE

Out of an abundance of caution and care for the health and wellbeing of our employees and their families, GKV has transitioned to a Work From Home (WFH) scenario for the foreseeable future.

A great deal of planning and preparation went into this effort to ensure that, while our office is physically closed, we can continue to provide our clients with the excellent service and work products they rely on.

Should you need to reach someone at GKV, please call 410.539.5400 and use the employee directory to reach your party.

Stay Healthy!