As it headed into its 22nd year, Greater Than One appointed a new president, embraced its roots and officially regrouped, adding new strategies and a new outlook. While it wasn’t quite the corporate equivalent of a mid-life crisis, the changes represented a big shift for a venerable agency brand.
“The last year for us has been about doing some tough but thoughtful introspection,” says agency president Matthew Howes, who was promoted last October from chief strategy officer. “It was about understanding who we are and understanding where we want to be. And part of that is retelling the story of Greater Than One.”
Howes’ first move as president was to make the agency fully remote — for good. The second thing was to reclaim the Greater Than One moniker, which had gone by the wayside in favor of the pithier GTO.
“The idea of ‘greater than one’ — that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, that we’re not just two independent pieces — is something you get synergy from,” he explains. “I encouraged everyone to understand the value that comes with that. We’ve redone our whole strategic platform around the things that make us great — and the things that make us greater than one.”
To that end, the agency announced a new operating model for clients outside the United States. Called OUS (Outside United States) On Demand, it is designed to push Greater Than One deeper into the worldwide market and allow it to grow when needed using local market expertise.
It feels like an important course-adjustment after a year that saw revenue fall to $20 million, a 22% drop from $25.8 million in 2020. Head count fell from 120 at the end of 2020 to 105 at the end of 2021. The year wasn’t without its highlights, though, in the form of new engagements from Hologic, Chiesi and Dompe.
“The thing that is intentional in the numbers is an acceptance that we’re independent, so we have the liberty to make some strategic choices that some of our competitors would never be able to make,” Howes says. “We can choose to stay flat from year to year if we want to. We can choose to not have a very large margin if we want to invest in other areas. And that’s what we’ve decided to do.”
As part of that process, agency leaders analyzed the company’s three lines of business — media, creative and technology — and evaluated their standing.
“Are they all state-of-the-art? Have some of them diminished? Have some of them grown faster than we anticipated? Let’s first make sure they’re healthy. And second, let’s figure out how they interact,” Howes explains.
Today, Howes says, Greater Than One works much smarter and more effectively, both internally and with other agencies, non-agency partners and vendors. Through its Capability Convergence model, Greater Than One can bring together capabilities and align them as client demand dictates.
Adds Howes: “We now have a very, very strong core strong to grow from.”
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Work from outside pharma you admire…
Hate it or love it, you’ve most likely tried the Oscar Meyer Bologna face mask. This unexpected, fun, irreverent campaign delivered all the viral elements through paid, earned and shared media. With talk show hosts such as Drew Barrymore slapping on the meatless self-care, it has us wondering: Is it a product line extension? An ironic trend disrupter? Or just a bunch of bologna? — Howes
From the June 01, 2022 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
