George P. Johnson - Marketing or Advertising Agency of the Year

Company: George P. Johnson, Auburn Hills, MI
Company Description: gpj.com | George P. Johnson is the world’s leading experiential marketing agency. We create innovative live, mobile and online experiences that motivate audiences and activate brands. We’re part of Project Worldwide, an independent, global network of complementary, wholly-owned agencies.
Nomination Category: Marketing Organization / Professional Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing or Advertising Agency of the Year

Nomination Title: George P. Johnson Experience Marketing

George P. Johnson (GPJ) is a global, vertically integrated experiential agency. We offer award-winning, creative ideas that live online, on devices and through physical experiences as a continuum of touchpoints, not just one-off event executions. We’re strategists, experience designers, creative thinkers, production experts, data scientists and logistics specialists – all in one agency dedicated to our clients’ success. It’s why we keep our client relationships, across a variety of industry verticals, for decades, and have done so since 1914.

As individuals, we are inventive, passionate, and committed. As a team, we’re unstoppable. Our clients keep winning because our people keep raising the bar–day in and day out. We have the right blend of creative courage, strategic thinking, and a relentless commitment to tangibly strengthening our clients’ brands at every interaction.

We are part of the Project Worldwide agency network. Project is an independent global network of wholly owned agencies that closely collaborate with one another on behalf of our clients, inspiring people to participate and act.

With the shut down of live events in 2020, GPJ was uniquely positioned for success because of our experience with digital events, which we began producing in 2008.

Since then, we’ve seen a rapid rise in the sophistication of streaming technology, giving us even more opportunities to address our clients’ challenges in very creative ways. Our Live Production team has deep expertise in virtual broadcasts, streaming, set design, production, direction and content creation. And make no mistake – creating content for online engagement is entirely different than in the physical world. The technology is important for delivery, but the experience is what will drive the right business outcomes.

In 2020 we fine-tuned and began to actively market our digital experience technology solution: Ospre.

There was a gap in the market – no solution offered the right user experience or branding options. We filled it. It’s an all-inclusive, business-first, virtual & hybrid experience solution that’s been fully tested during three years of development, and ready to perform.

Ospre is built on the foundation of 100 years of experience from the world’s leading experiential agency paired with the digital product expertise from one of the leading agencies in eCommerce and digital experiences. The result is an intuitively and beautifully designed virtual & hybrid event solution built with market leading and easy-to-integrate tech.

GPJ produced over 700 virtual events with our clients in 2020, leading them to success even when the world of physical events was shut down.

The recent past has required unprecedented innovation in our agency and our industry. Our teams have had to work harder, and smarter, leading our clients through uncertainty and the loss of our ability to create live brand experiences like we had in the past. Many agencies weren’t ready for the sudden shift to digital, but because of our incredibly talented teams, and our digital expansion over the past 12 years, we’ve thrived and helped our clients to do the same.

Not only did we lead in the world of digital experiences, we retooled our fabrication space to work with a major health retailer, building and delivering over 600 temporary COVID-19 testing centers across the country. In addition, we worked with clients to execute hybrid events, and are leading them in 2021 toward the return of in person experiences.

2020 was a tough year for our industry, our agency, and the country as well. We pride ourselves on the well being of our people, and our employee resource groups have been very active in providing forums for important conversations, and in keeping our people and clients connected. One example was Project Pride Festival, which brought GPJers and clients together for some transformational conversations. https://www.projectpridefest.com/

Our resource groups have grown, as well. We began 2019 with two groups, GPJ Women and OPEN (our LGBTQ+ group). Since then, we’ve added EPIC (our multicultural group) and PACT (a caregivers group). We also recently hired a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program Manager.

Our blog provides insights into thought leadership and also our ERGs: https://www.gpj.com/news-insights/
Recent case studies highlight recent digital work, hybrid work, as well as our partnership in providing over 600 COVID-19 testing centers across the US: https://www.gpj.com/what-weve-done/
This sizzle reel shows how we took the one of the largest tech events in the world digital: https://youtu.be/PSeDMrIw9iI
Our agency digital sizzle reel: https://youtu.be/VSNDJqifMAw
Our agency overall sizzle reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1nvfm24SBY