Expansion plans centred on delivering great marketing expertise

Marketing strategy and professional services consultancy, the One Picture Group, has announced the acquistion of Auckland-based social and marketing research agency Gravitas as part of its Australasian expansion plans.

Chair of the One Picture Group, Richard Bourke, says newly named GravitasOPG will continue to be led by co-founder and managing director, David Glover, while working closely with the One Picture Group leadership team.

“We’re very excited to welcome David and his team into the One Picture Group fold after having watched them deliver expert social research and influential strategic work from afar for some time. Kiwis will be familiar with the outputs of a lot of Gravitas’s work but in keeping with the nature of their clients, many of whom are in the Government sector, much of it occurs behind the scenes. None-the-less, Gravitas has helped shape many of the services we experience today from transportation and urban planning to new products and we’re excited to have them with our group.”

Glover says selling Gravitas wasn’t an immediate consideration until he was approached by the One Picture Group.

“Once we started our discussions, and I better understood the complementary skills the One Picture Group could bring our clients and people, such as marketing, design thinking and a larger qualitative research resource, I could immediately see strong potential. Our business is at an exciting inflection point and being able to provide our clients and people with access to greater resources, a wider range of experience, skills and support only strengthens our ability to do what we most enjoy,” says Glover.

“We’re fortunate to have been involved in some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most vital national and local research projects over the past 20 years, whilst servicing key organisations.  These have informed service delivery,  policy development and supported evidence based decision making. I’m proud of what our team of consultants, analysts and fieldwork researchers have delivered and excited about the  next chapter for our people, our clients and the One Picture Group family.”

Bourke says the acquisition of Gravitas is part of the One Picture Group’s scaling up strategy focused on taking greater customer and community-led marketing strategy expertise to the world.

“Our intent is to further expand locally and in Australia this year and generate greater horsepower. We’ve actively looking at additional opportunities while retaining our personalisation reputation as a boutique discovery company. We’ve already expanded offshore with growing offices in Sydney and London supporting our ambition, but we’re excited about the possibility of other like-minded companies joining our family to demonstrate the incredible marketing expertise we have in New Zealand and the contribution we can collectively make for clients and communities around the globe.”