In the evolving world of MarTech, the bits and pieces need to be effectively integrated to yield results.
In the fast-evolving landscape of marketing and media agencies, GALE India has emerged as a powerhouse in India. At the helm of this groundbreaking organization is Sanjay Krishnamurthy, the President of GALE India and a founding member whose journey over the last 25 years has been marked by innovation, strategic thinking, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.
In this exclusive interview with Sanjay Krishnamurthy, MartechAsia uncovers the driving force behind GALE’s success and shed light on Sanjay’s pivotal role in shaping the agency’s strategic ventures into MarTech, cultivating a dynamic and engaging workplace culture, data privacy challenges, strategizing GALE’s AI evolution, and a ‘soup to nuts’ approach to integrating all these into impactful marketing solutions.
How does GALE India integrate brand strategy, graphic design, and content marketing to create impactful brand experiences for global clients?
Sanjay Krishnamurthy (SK): At GALE, we recognize that consumers don’t think in media silos and nor should we. Our integrated approach is driven by our audience-first mindset and commitment to consumer-centricity while sustaining three key levers, including:
Our people: True integration starts with the people we hire. Often, talent turns to GALE as an alternative to the traditional agencies after becoming frustrated by silo setbacks. Our people undergo rigorous training at GALE to ensure they think integrated. This is particularly true when it comes to our integrated strategy team which we see as the linchpin for coupling creative and media. These specialists are channel-agnostic, focused on solving complex business problems and tasked with creating business strategies versus communications strategies.
Our structure: Unique to GALE is our Pod structure in which our people are organized by client versus organized by capabilities. When clients engage with GALE, we create a bespoke team of specialists dedicated to your business overseen by a Managing Director who is ultimately responsible for delivering business growth.
Our values: One of our core values is “No Silos.” Our belief is that no expertise or idea should get trapped within a department. We share perspectives, approaches, and information across disciplines. We ensure that collaboration happens by making it part of everyone’s annual review. Integration is how we deliver value for clients and create a culture that attracts and retains great talent.
Could you provide insights into GALE’s collaborative approach with clients in crafting and executing brand transformation strategies?
At GALE, we know the power of collaboration driving integration across our account, creative, production, media, strategy and data teams. Being an integrated agency isn’t easy and means we have to have collaboration at the core of everything we do. It’s why one of our core values that we’ve had since we started nine years ago is ‘friends collaborating’ – we believe great people working together can create amazing outcomes.
Collaboration drives better work because it drives accountability for creativity outside of the creative department. At GALE, we’ve seen the best work come from cross-department collaboration with ideas emerging from not only our creative department but our media, data or PR teams. All it takes is one data insight or PR push to take an idea to the next level. It’s when these teams combine that true innovation is born.
Being just nine years old, GALE was conceptualized to embrace the new way of working and embrace the ethos of ‘no silos’; another one of our core values. We’ve seen, and worked for, big traditional networks where strategy is separated from creative, from production – but GALE operates as one team. Our belief is that no expertise or idea should get trapped within a department. We share perspectives, approaches, and information across disciplines. To ensure that collaboration happens by making it part of everyone’s annual review. Integration is how we deliver value for clients and create a culture that attracts and retains great talent.
How do you see the recent advancements in data-driven technologies reshaping the landscape of MarTech?
SK: In today’s marketing landscape, advancements in data-driven technologies have led to a departure from traditional “spray and pray” strategies. Instead, marketers now focus their energies on reaching the right users at the right time at the right place.
Precision in targeting users through data has become a crucial aspect, and brands are leveraging many innovative tools to achieve precise objectives. The intersection of technology and data is not just changing how marketers approach their campaigns; it’s also fostering a more dynamic and strategic engagement with target audiences.
In your view, how are AI and machine learning transforming marketing strategies, and what impact do you anticipate in the near future?
SK: The evolving nature of marketing necessitates a strategic shift, and technologies like AI and ML are playing a defining role in this transformation. Today, as brands generate large amounts of data from different sources through various touch points, AI and ML technologies emerge as trusted partners in organizing, collecting, and analyzing data and drawing tangible and actionable insights from it. AI and ML technologies have the potential to help marketers streamline their marketing strategies with their ability to process vast amounts of data; they help to better understand customer behaviors, needs, and preferences, and build compelling campaigns that resonate with them.
With the launch of OpenAI’s generative AI tool ChatGPT, the view of AI as the next (really) big thing has since become widespread. Many, if not all, major tech players and the open source community are now placing a heavy focus on this area. So, as 2024 plays out, I expect to see at least a few disruptive uses of AI/ ML changing the marketing landscape.
