Global Media Solutions (GMS) is undergoing a rebrand to a new name, Global Marketing Solutions. Founder and CEO George Pesutto established the agency in 2016, which has grown to boast a wide range of clients.
Pesutto spoke to Mediaweek about the rebrand, the agency’s growth, multicultural marketing and strategy, and being part of the IMAA.
GMS and its early days
Pesutto first launched the agency under Global Media Solutions in 2016, following his stint with Roy Morgan research. He said his Roy Morgan stint spurned his interest in the deep analysis of consumer behaviour around media.
The GMS founder said he also spent some time working in international video representation, where he realised he wanted to start an agency that dealt with global marketing, including Chinese marketing.
Pesutto said his approach to agency added “accountability, transparency, and insights behind the actual planning and buying side, which didn’t exist in a convenient way in the industry. It was a space largely serviced by sales representation companies or individual offices around the world.”
The CEO noted that he and his small team spent the first year of the agency’s life demonstrating their philosophy “to offer strategy planning and to buy with the same accountability as mainstream. That was the key thing that resonated with people.”
Pesutto added that additional aspects of their philosophy included building confidence with clients through insights, a sophisticated approach with rationale for choices and a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour in different cultures.
By the end of the first year, the agency was running campaigns for La Trobe University and working closely with agency groups such as OMG on rationale and building case studies.
Pesutto described GMS as an integrated marketing agency that provides services beyond media planning. The agency boasts GMS Creates – their creative adaption department that has accredited translators, creative in production, social media management, and PR – who do sentiment monitoring and conversation management around the world.
Pesutto also noted that he had begun working on Chinese competencies before starting GMS, which he then implemented at the agency’s start. He said the agency continued on that path and became “one of the strongest Chinese marketing agencies.” He added that Tencent, the owner of WeChat, even approached the agency as their first global premium agency in Australia.
Role as CEO and team
As CEO, Pesutto said he deals with the insights and strategy side of the business and currently leads a team of 13, which he hopes to expand. The founder added that he spends three hours doing deep research, analysis and insight work, particularly around multicultural Australia.
“I’ll also spend a lot of time on our business development side and the other projects we have,” he said. Among their projects are Open Doors, GMS’ way of creating pathways for First Nations Australians to enter the mainstream agencies in Australia.
The GMS rebrand and its growing list of clients
Pesutto revealed that GMS is in the soft launch stage of rebranding to its new name, Global Marketing Solutions. He explained that changing ‘media’ for ‘marketing’ more accurately reflected the agency and what they do.
“The reason that we’re doing that is to get away from people thinking that we’re media representation. We’re not a representation capital, and we purposely don’t sell media,” he said.
GMS has gained many clients in its six years, including L’Oreal, the Chinese marketing for Myer, CPA Australia international, and several Australian universities such as La Trobe.
Pesutto noted the agency’s recent client wins over the past seven months include RMIT and luxury fashion retailer Harrolds, as well as campaigns for the New South Wales and Victoria governments.
Impact of the pandemic
Regarding the pandemic’s impact on the business, Pesutto noted that GMS did not grow or shrink in billings; instead, the agency significantly increased its profitability.
The CEO noted that when lockdown was enforced, GMS took a step back to “tidy up” different areas of their business and to look at how they commercialise their IP, their approach, analysis of markets and prepared strategy.
“We restructured how we service production. We got our GMS Creates department organised, put together rate cards, and organised our PR services. What that meant was that our profitability within the company virtually doubled over that time,” he said.
Pesutto also said that the agency does plenty of consulting work for major creative agencies and some of Australia’s most significant accounts on cultural sensitivity.
“The consulting side is becoming important because we spend so much time trying to learn more. I think it’s a natural extension that we would be helping many clients and their agencies around those areas,” he added.
Expansion and the year ahead
Looking to the year ahead, Pesutto said the agency is looking to research by partnering with research companies, particularly in Australia’s multicultural media measurement.
“I get frustrated when I hear multicultural agencies, clients, or government, talk about ABS data to understand multicultural Australia. 28% of Australians speak a language other than English at home, which has nothing to do with whether you should run a multicultural campaign or not. There’s so much research around the behaviour of multicultural Australia,” he said.
The CEO also noted that continuing work through its Open Doors program indigenous representation in the industry is another aspect they hope to grow in the agency.
Pesutto said that GMS would also continue partnering with independent agencies in Australia to win international accounts. “We’ve been very successful with that. I think that’s good for IMAA because it makes independent agencies an option for competitive accounts,” he added.
On the IMAA
Pesutto shared that he did not jump on board with the IMAA when it first started. He explained that GMS deals with blue-chip, and it was important for the agency to “benchmark ourselves against what major agencies are doing, and then find our ways.”
He said that after a year of keeping an eye on the industry body and its work, he was convinced GMS should join. He said: “I thought they were working hard to be an excellent service for independent agencies, and I say that sincerely.”
Pesutto noted that he was impressed with the range of IMAA’s services, such as training programs, and the organisation’s structure meant that it was there to help grow agencies across the country. He added: “We look forward to being more involved in training programmes.”
–
Top image: George Pesutto
