As far as visions are concerned, Gary Brine has a particularly ambitious one. As founder, group CEO and president of US operations of Gyro International, his goal for the next ten years is to establish the company as the leading B2B agency in the world. And so far, he’s right on track.
Gyro recently came top of B2B Marketing’s annual UK agency survey (www.b2bm.biz/articles) and it already has offices in ten locations worldwide including France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Scandinavia, Italy and the Middle East, as well as the US. This year, it acquired 50-strong Manchester agency Cicero as well as Stockholm-based brand communications agency Dowell Stubbs. The agency is also looking to expand in existing locations such as Germany and will be opening an office in Munich in January next year, and after that, Stuttgard. Its sights are also set on Asia and Asia Pacific with a potential opening in Melbourne Brine has his eye on two agencies there and Singapore is also on the cards.
We are investing heavily and building true competency in all these locations I want to be the biggest B2B network in the world. I want to build the organisation and provide our customers with the best integrated advice and support, says Brine, talking from Gyro’s headquarters in London’s Chelsea. His determination is only matched by his measured approach, as he adds, However, I’m not just gobbling up agencies for the sake of it I want to make sure I build a robust, sustainable, one-brand network that the biggest brands in the world will turn to for marketing advice. We’re about spending targeted amounts of money that generates a response and we want to build long-lasting profitable relationships between people and brands.
In his mission to grow the company, Brine is adamant that the same brand essence applies to all new acquisitions and offices that they all have that Gyro-feel referring to the organisation as a one-brand network with a single mission, vision and customer promise. I will not let any company come into this organisation that doesn’t share the same brand attributes or has the same vision as us if a customer comes to us in London they will get the same support and service they will get in Scandinavia. I don’t want to create a network that is a hotchpotch of acquisitions, he says passionately. As an example, he cites recent acquisition Cicero, saying that as far as business similarities go, the two companies fit together well.
First and foremost, that’s most important, but it’s also the culture of the company I’m interested in it is a hard working, collaborative, responsible, honest organisation and these are the traits we look for in individuals and also in companies, he adds.
As well as growing outwards, Brine is also keen to cement Gyro as a specialist in a number of vertical marketplaces, making sure that the companies it acquires are a good fit in this sense also. So, Dowell Stubbs is a good match because it has expertise in life sciences and healthcare an area Gyro would like to develop as well as IT and telecommunications, which the parent company is already a specialist in.
Gyro’s expertise in IT was acquired from the start. With only £57 and working from an attic in Putney, he and his partner won a pitch to sell space in the World Trade Centre to European businesses. Investing the profit into Apple technology led to interest from Apple’s UK marketing director who hired the young company, and so began a specialism in marketing IT, which led to clients such as Compaq, Sun Microsystems and IBM.
When you spend eight years talking about bits, bytes and bobs, you find that customers will call on you, not because you’re a great marketing services organisation, but because you understand technology, he says. I imagine there’s nothing more frustrating for a client than sitting with an agency in a briefing for an Internet server and they don’t actually know what ‘Internet’ or ‘server’ is. When I am approached by a technology company, I make sure I take someone that speaks technology. And I also make sure that the people who work on those accounts speak technology too.
In recent years, Gyro has diversified into other specialist areas too, including what he calls FMTG (fast moving technology goods) such as mobile phones, with clients including Nokia and T-mobile. This offers a slightly different challenge as they have great churn not only are we building equity in the product in order to sell more kit, but we also have to build sustainable equity in the brand, says Brine.
Financial services, as well as banking, is another area of specialism for Gyro. We specifically work with private banks, where the agency manages the databases of small high-net worth individuals, building one-to-one relationships with these customers through our communications, adds Brine. A growing marketplace for Gyro is healthcare and it has recently spent some money acquiring two agencies that specialise in this area one of which is Woolley Pau, acquired in November for an undisclosed sum. Lastly, an emerging market place for Gyro is energy with a big win from a client, which remains nameless for the time being.
Being a specialist in vertical markets is key to Brine’s success however, the urge to expand upwards and outwards wasn’t the plan from the start. It was only in 1991 when the recession hit that Brine says he took stock and realised he needed to think of a way to protect the company from the next downturn. His answer was to build the business by developing multiple verticals within the international market place in order to future-proof the business against recession.
The continuing meteoric rise of Gyro seems inevitable and Brine’s determination is a key force. He is keen to add he is very much personally involved in Gyro, and has a sleeves rolled-up approach. The knowledge that he is an ex-professional ice hockey player, who represented his country over 20 times, helps to explain his drive. Hockey is a game where you sink or swim if you don’t push yourself, you’re going to get hurt I am always driving myself through sport, he says.
This has also had an effect on his management style. I talk to my staff about running up and down your wings about doing their job as a team. If we all do our job well, we’ll succeed. Some don’t have as good a game as others, but the team wins or loses because of its collective effort, not just due to one person that’s the mentality we have here.
When it comes to his employees, of which there are 300 overall with 183 based in London, Brine says he looks for hard-working, committed, loyal, passionate and energetic staff. I hope we have developed our brand to such an extent that I can spot a Gyro person a mile off, he says.
As well as recruiting via the usual graduate avenues, Gyro also has an initiative where it gives students from inner-city schools the opportunity to undertake a one-year internship. I leave my staff to get on with it we offer strong guidance, but I like to give them responsibility from day one. Everyone has opportunities too one staff member started as an account executive eight years ago, and now she’s about to open an office in Dubai for us.
Brine has built a brand around determination and drive, but if he doesn’t know something, he is not afraid to admit it. At the moment, I am working on a tourism campaign I didn’t know anything about it before, but I do now, he says. I’m reading a lot, and I’m listening and I’m learning. If I don’t know something, I just need to ask the question.
A logical way of thinking also contributes to his success he applies basic marketing principles to whatever campaign he’s running. Whether you’re marketing a banana or a country, you need to work out what makes that banana different from your competitors’, he says. You just need to look at the other bananas in the bunch and make sure yours stands out. It’s this can-do attitude at Gyro instilled by Brine that helps it stand out from the bunch.
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