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Market Analysis Assignment

Olivia C. Sens MKTG 333 Evolve Media #361

Company Description: Evolve Media

Evolve Media is a privately traded company that does integrated digital media with a focus on content, context and creative with scale. (Evolve Media) This company does advertising sales, marketing and publishing for clients of large scale. (Evolve Media) Their three primary divisions are Atomic Online (publishing), Gorilla Nation Media (vertical sales and marketing services) and Spring Board Video. (Evolve Media) Their key divisions include Sheknows.com, Double Helix, Springboard, Crave Online, Gorilla Nation, Totally Her, Youthology and Globe Trotting Digital Media. (Evolve Media) Each of these divisions focuses on a different industry and because the company is part of so many industries, I have chosen one of their divisions to focus on: Gorilla Nation, which is an Evolve Media company. This company was founded in 2001 by Brian Fitzgerald and Aaron Broder. (Hoovers) Gorilla Nation does advertising for the entertainment community and uses valuable relationships and creativity talent that they have in place as a hook for their clients. (Gorilla Nation) 2010 was a big year for Evolve Media as it won #2321 in the Inc. 5000, was #361 in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, won the Omma Award and was #72 of 100 on the Fastest Growing Private Companies List. (Evolve Media) It was Gorilla Nation that launched the division of Totally Her under the Evolve Media Company on January 31, 2011 of this year to focus more on the female demographic through online marketing platforms. (Gorilla Nation)

Core Competency and Competitive Advantage

After a thorough analysis I have concluded that the core competency for Gorilla Nation is the business network in which it is has contributed to and within which it is included and the resources, creative and otherwise, that this network provides. Gorilla Nation is just one division of Evolve Media which has a division for most large scale advertising and marketing needs. (Evolve Media) If a client is a customer of one of the other divisions of the company, how much more likely that client is going to shop under the same companys umbrella as its needs diversify. The customer would already have developed a good relationship with Gorilla Nations sister divisions and Evolve Media as a whole. Another great gem that I gathered from my research was that this company has to extensive experience to offer. The long list of strongly branded clientele is a great portfolio for potential clients. (Gorilla Nation) From McDonalds and Wal-Mart to Ford and Sony, these successfully branded companies are living proof of great marketing and advertising work. (Gorilla Nation) The reputation, experience, client list and growing network are all sustainable advantages that can help this company to continue its exponential growth.

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Competitive
Competitor Analysis
The top three current competitors that I was able to locate are Burst Media, Interevco and James G. Elliott. (Hoovers: Gorilla Nation) Burst Media was the largest company and had the most information available during my research. From what I can tell this company focuses on fewer but different segmentation. They have the following divisions: Ella (woman 18-34), Giant Realm (men 18-34), MomIQ (moms) and Stadium (sports enthusiasts). (Burst Media) Burst also focuses on their relationships that they currently have but indicate no evidence on their website and therefore loose the wow factor of seeing large scale clientele with successful media and advertising evidence. (Burst Media) It was also noticeable that on their web site Burst Media had a section devoted to market research that visitors can subscribe to in order to keep up with the research that they post. I did not find this on any of the other websites. (Burst Media) Burst media also promised to bring passionate communities to advertisers instead of just promising traffic. (Burst Media) Burst Media was once considered an industry leader but got overtaken by new competition due to their lack of convenience and innovation; this company is still respected however. (Publisher Spot) Interevco has only two divisions, its integrated programs and mobile marketing. (Interevco) Interevco does name large named clientele but focuses more on consulting services rather than a we do anything and everything kind of company even though they had those abilities. (Interevco) This to me was an interesting technique as Interevco pushed one of its main assets, its ability to take care of a spectrum of advertising and marketing needs, out of the spot light. My only rationalization of this technique is that some companies may feel like they lose control of their projects when a company handles a project in its entirety. Consulting would be less intrusive. Gorilla Nation, Burst Media and Interevco are all companies that also have offices internationally. (Gorilla Nation, Burst Media, Interevco) James G. Elliott is a domestic company. (James G. Elliott) This company caters to the needs of companies of all sizes. (James G. Elliott) While not advertising any big name clients or having any major divisions, James G. Elliott offers marketing and advertising services as well as billing and collections. (James G. Elliott) What I really thought was a great tactic for James G. Elliott was their guidance through their many services on their website. Their website was not flashy or even that attractive, but as a consumer the company neatly laid out what it does and how it does it without embellishing for wow factor. This was refreshingly clear and concise in comparison to the three other companies that I researched. When I searched the names I found that none of these parent companies have strong Facebook presences, however, some specific parts of divisions did. For example, Burst Media had almost no presence except a name, but their Ella division did have a presence.

Sens 3 All of these companies did have some kind of presence on Linkedin. (Linkedin: Burst Media, Gorilla Nation, Interevco, James G. Elliott) My prediction about the next competitor is that the next threat to Gorilla Nation will be a company that comes in with expertise in a new marketing or advertising platform or technology. For example, if a new firm were to focus on all 3D mediums that would give them a competitive edge. Staying ahead of current trends can be tough for large cumbersome companies.

Current Status of Prospective Competitors

These four companies have something really big in common: they all serve the advertising and marketing market and even offer some of the same kinds of products. This does not mean that the companies choose to serve them in the same way. Each company that I have listed are different sizes, Gorilla Nation and Burst media being comparably the larger companies with approximately 200 employees each and James G. Elliott and Interevco being the smallest in the bunch with under 50 employees each. (Linkedin: Burst Media, Gorilla Nation, Interevco, James G. Elliott) I was unable to find any financial information on Gorilla Nations competitors. These privately traded companies keep pricing and client funding undisclosed. The fact that all of these companies have managed to stay competitive for five years does show that each company is stable enough to support itself. The one great thing that Gorilla Nation has that stands out from its competitors would be the size of the network of talent of the parent company Evolve Media. With those kinds of connections, Gorilla Nation is a onestop-shop for advertising and marketing. In sharp contrast however, the competitors seem to focus on less divisions. This could say to the client that even though company x only caters to three segments of the market, company x is a master at those three segments, better than others who do everything. The danger in this industry would be keeping talent loyal to their company. If a particular individual stayed in this kind of industry long enough to build solid relationships and get to know important people, it would be easy for them to break off and start their own competing marketing and ad agency. This is why it would be crucial to keep talent happy both in their career situation and financially to keep your own employees from becoming critical competition. Keeping happy employees would be one way to keep emerging competition from Gorilla Nations clientele. The other key aspect to watch out for would be in the development with any new marketing or advertising platforms. This would give indirect competition a chance to step into the sales scene.

Competitive Barriers
Evolve Media has used its established divisions such as Gorilla Nation to continue to launching more specifically segmented divisions successfully onto the marketing and advertising market. (Gorilla Nation) A barrier that Evolve Media companies face will be not only to grow and develop existing divisions but to continue to strike out on new market segments while keeping the already established ones successful and profitable. Growth can progress quickly at first and slow over time, so parent companies have to plan what kind of attention each division needs in its relative phase.

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Additionally, in economies around the world, financial markets are not doing as well as consumers and companies would like. This eventually affects availability of capital and consumer confidence. As companies look to Evolve Media to invest in advertising and marketing, those companies will be weighing heavily how those funds should be allocated or if there are better places to use the funds. Gorilla Nation listed Ford and GM as key clients. In order to grow their advertising in the automobile industry automobile manufactures have to have the funds. Economically speaking, many automobile manufacturers are currently just trying to survive. This might mean that the car companies would shop around for the most competitive pricing instead of the best creative product. In large companies with a good amount of overhead, it can be hard to compete. Another barrier in marketing is to always be into the next new frontier. The most recent large marketing frontier was social media and smart phone aps. Finding and developing the next frontier will be vital for Evolve Media and all its divisions.

Main Points of Difference

Good/Servic e Comparison Price Perceived Quality Burst Media Evolve Media * Cutting edege, fast paced, ambitious Size of talent and busniess network * Respected but not cutting edge (publisherspo t) Emphesis on market research that is made available to subscribers. Custom Channel (Burst Media) Seeks to Connect Advertisers With Passionate Communites Solid Reputation Interevco * A great resouce but only as a suppliment. Consltants help you do clients what they need to, but not inhouse Advice and Guidence Versitile, Can Work With Clients Large and Small Mobile Marketing Division (Interevco) James G. Elliott * Small, personal, customizable Options outside of marketing and advertising services are also offered. Billing and Collections Employees That Act As Ambassadors For Other Companies Hold Your Hand Kind of Service: This Is What We Are Going To Do, This Is How We Are Goint To Do ItLess

Marketing/ sales Advantages

Feature 1 Feature 2

Inovative technology Ambitious

Feature 3

Creative

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Emphesis On Status More Emphesis On Cusomer Care With Each Diverse Product Line Comes More Oppotunites For Making Customers In Other Company Product Lines An Advocate For The Client Helps Look Out For The Clients Interest While Serving Their Advertising And Marketing NEeds This Is Great For Companies Needing Direction And TLC

Benefit 1

Staying current

Suited To The Needs Of The Client

Clients Can Still Utilize Their Own In-House Staff If They So Chose

Benefit 2

Growth

Conecting To Comsumers That Profitable

Broader Customer Base and Broader Spectrum of Experience to Offer

Benefit 3

Stands Out as Quality Amidst Information Overload

Steady Results

A Very Profitable Fronteire For Companies To Utilize Through Interevco

*As this is a service industry, I was unable to gather pricing information from the companies used in this research paper.

Customer Description
Customer Analysis
Knowing the client base is necessary and for Gorilla Nation the demographics are quite clear. While the clients advertised are large corporations, there has to be an individual within that large corporation that starts the shopping process for these services. According to Alexa females age 18-34 with college education are the main website visitors and they mainly visit the website from a work site. This says a couple of things to me. First, clients that are researching this company to use its services for the sake of their employer are women in the majority. This does not mean that she is the decision maker; rather she is the person doing the research whether she is making the decision or whether the information is being gathered for someone else or even a team. The ages of 18-34 also indicates a good reason to present online marketing and advertising aptitudes in the companys field to these young professional women. (Alexa) A company would purchase the services of Gorilla Nation if it needed creative strategy and execution of marketing and advertising. The relationships with these clients are close knit as the advertising has to reflect on the culture of the brand its representing. Also, since Gorilla Nation is under the parent company Evolve Media, the clients of Gorilla Nation probably

Sens 6 have already established a professional relationship in one of the other divisions. (Gorilla Nation) Repeat clients and clients with company history are valuable to Gorilla Nation. These are the clients that Gorilla Nation has to sell its services to. The other customer that would concern Gorilla Nation is the communities of people that it is trying to reach for the sake of their client. These communities of people can vary according to which client hires Gorilla Nation so market research would be necessary to be able to reach the desired group of consumers in the most convenient way for them. Any success with the final consumer will only help build reputation and rapport.

Segments
After watching demos of work poking around their website, I determined that Gorilla Nation serves the entertainment and recreation segment of Evolve Medias large marketing and advertising market. This segment includes but is not limited to gaming, movies, automotive, television, liquor, etc. (Gorilla Nation) For each new segment, it seems that Evolve works to create a new division to serve that segment exclusively. (Evolve Media) In my observation, the gaming subset of this segment has a lot of potential due to the growth of this industry over the years. With improvement of technology speeds and graphics the following has grown and there is opportunity to be had in this subset of the entertainment segment.

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Bibliography
Alexa Internet, Inc. (2011). Alexa an amazon.com company. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/gorillanation.com Evolve Media Corp (2011). Evolve Media Corporation. http://www.evolvemediacorp.com/home Evolve Media Corp (2011). Gorilla Nation an Evolve Media Corp Company. http://www.gorillanation.com/home Hoovers (October 18, 2011). Hoovers Company Records: Burst Media. http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxysu.researchport.umd.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&sfi=AC00NBGenSrch&csi =3746 Hoovers (October 18, 2011). Hoovers Company Records: Gorilla Nation. http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxysu.researchport.umd.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&sfi=AC00NBGenSrch&csi =3746 Hoovers (October 18, 2011). Hoovers Company Records: Interevco. http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxysu.researchport.umd.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&sfi=AC00NBGenSrch&csi =3746 Hoovers (October 18, 2011). Hoovers Company Records: James G. Elliott. http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxysu.researchport.umd.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&sfi=AC00NBGenSrch&csi =3746 Interevco Ltd (2010). Interevco. http://www.interevco.com/ James G. Elliott Co., Inc. (2006). James G. Elliott. http://www.jamesgelliott.com/ Linkedin Corporation (2011). Linkedin Company Profile: Burst Media. http://www.linkedin.com/company/16025?goback=%2Efcs_GLHD_Burst+Media _false_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&trk=ncsrch_hits Linkedin Corporation (2011). Linkedin Company Profile: Gorilla Nation. http://www.linkedin.com/company/21031?trk=tyah Linkedin Corporation (2011). Linkedin Company Profile: Interevco. http://www.linkedin.com/company/49287?goback=%2Efcs_GLHD_Interevco_fal se_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&trk=ncsrch_hits

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Linkedin Corporation (2011). Linkedin Company Profile: James G. Elliott. http://www.linkedin.com/company/145130?goback=%2Efcs_GLHD_James+G*3 +Elliott_false_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&trk=ncsrch_hits Merendi Networks Inc (2009). Publisher Spot. http://www.publisherspot.com/reviews/burst-media