Business Resilience in the New Creative Agency Age

Gather, analyse, and report on vital information about the company, including:

• What is the company’s mission?
• What type of structure does this business employ? What role do partnering agencies play in the business?
• Where is the company headquartered, and what geographic area do they serve?
• How would you summarize the company’s history?
• What types of services and/or products do they offer?
• Who are their customers or perceived target customers? What problems/needs do they have that are solved by GCC?  What are the primary benefits to the services/products for their customers?
• What are they objectives this company aims to accomplish in the immediate future? Long term goals?
• Where and how does GCC envision itself in the future?

• How would you describe this class/segment of the industry? How is it differentiated?
• What other products and services satisfy the particular needs that GCC fulfills?
• Tighten the frame of your analysis; for instance, is there a particular segment of the market on which you want to focus your attention?
  • Who else is providing these services/products? Who are the top competitors in the market?
  • Who are their clients/customers?
  • Which segment of this market or companies will be the focus of the competitor analysis for the next stage of the project, and why?

Topic-focused team assignments (in addition to the above questions):

• Organization/Operations: Describing GCC’s competition
  • What are their mission, values and goals?
  • Where do they operate? How long have the been in business?
  • How would you describe the organizational structure?
  • What is the background of their founders and executives?
  • What is the composition and size of the staff?
  • What are the key functions of internal units and relationships?
  • Who are their partnering companies, and how involved are they in the operations of the company?
• Marketing: Map GCC’s competition
  • How are competitors marketing their services/products?
  • Using an agreed upon set of pricing parameters, what are the prices associated with the key services/products offered by competitors?
  • Are they competing in the same geographic area?
  • What channels do they use to reach their target audience?
  • How do customers of GCC’s competitors perceive them and the comparable services/products they offer?
  • How would you map the relationship between perceived benefits and pricing for their services/benefits?
• Branding/Differentiation: Describe GCC’s competition
  • Ho would you describe their brand image?
  • What are their values and goals?
  • Do they appeal to a particular segment of the customer base?
  • What do customers say about the quality of their service or product? What makes them differentiated/unique? Credible?
  • How might these influence competition between the companies and GCC?

For each of the following, Organization, Marketing, and Branding/Differentiation:

• How does GCC compare the to the competitive landscape?
• What makes GCC unique, and how can those qualities/attributes be leveraged?
• What gaps are currently not filled or needs unmet in the market that GCC could fill?
• What marketing content and channels would capture/appeal to the target audience? Are there opportunities for niche marketing?
• What strategy/ies do you recommend GCC take to differentiate itself from the competition?