GKV

Last Modified: 06-23-2022

http://www.gkv.com
Ownership: Privately Held
Size: 51-100

Overview

Company Summary

GKV is a full-service integrated communications agency headquartered in Baltimore, MD. We are celebrating 40 years of creating integrated campaigns that have succeeded in the marketplace and drawn acclaim from our industry. Our success is rooted in our ability to create and execute breakthrough, thought-leader strategies for brands that are out-spent in their categories, yet succeed by challenging the category status quo. We are Maryland’s largest marketing communications firm, serving local, regional, national and international clients drawn from healthcare, insurance,CPG, financial services, B2B, entertainment, hospitality, state government, education, multi-outlet retailers, the food industry and biotech. We have grown organically with clients and through acquisitions. From digital marketing and social media to content creation and video production,our capabilities include all disciplines necessary to build a client’s business and brand.

Contact

1500 Whetstone Way
Baltimore, MD 21230
P: 410-539-5400
F: 410-234-2441

Garry Raim
Executive Vice President
[email protected]
410-234-2474

Offices

GKV
1500 Whetsone Way
Baltimore, MD 21230
410-539-5400

Global Service Capabilities

Caribbean;South America;Central America;Mexico;Western Europe;Canada

Staff

Total Number of Employees

Office Employees: 51-100
Total US: 51-100
Total Worldwide: 51-100

Roger Gray
Chairman/CEO
Roger is the founder and architect of GKV. He has over 40 years of client and agency experience. He has built GKV into one of the premier agencies in the mid-Atlantic region.
When not being the steward of GKV’s growth, he has served as the Partner-in-Charge, providing strategic consultation, on such brands as Choice Hotels, Independence Air, Lance Snack Foods, MJHS and Shentel Telecommunication and BGE Home.
Giving back to the community is a core value of GKV. Roger does his part by having served as a member of Loyola University of Maryland’s Board of Trustees, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Pride of Baltimore (Maryland’s clipper ship that is a goodwill ambassador for the state) and President of the American Flag Foundation. He has also served as a member of the Greater Baltimore Committee, Good Samaritan Foundation Board, the board of The Mid-Atlantic American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), and the board of The Living Classrooms.
Roger has been awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist and the Bridging the Gap winner for support in helping minority firms in the greater Baltimore area grow, and he has been recognized as one of Maryland’s Most Admired CEOs and was recently named one of Maryland’s Most Influential leaders.

Shannon Gardiner
SVP, Director of Account Management
Shannon began her agency career at LevLane Advertising in Philadelphia where she worked her way up the ranks of Account Management from assistant to supervisor. Throughout her 10-year term there, she gained experience in many industries from tourism, banking and QSR to non-profit and health care marketing. When the City of Philadelphia introduced single-stream recycling, Shannon managed the Streets Department account and led the campaign charge, neighborhood by neighborhood.

It was during this time in Philadelphia that she attended and graduated from the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ (4A’s) Institute of Advanced Advertising Studies.

Shannon moved to Baltimore in 2008 and spent two years at TBC as a supervisor, heading up health care and casino business before joining GKV in 2010. She has led such health care accounts as MedStar Hospitals, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, St. Agnes Hospital, MJHS, Network Health and Blue Shield of California. Outside of health care, she has also managed many of GKV’s CPG and retail clients, including St. Joseph Aspirin, McCormick Spices, OLD BAY and Chock full o’Nuts.

In early 2018, Shannon was named SVP and director of account management. Her role includes acting as director on select accounts and projects (including new business), providing strategic counsel as needed, and overseeing the department requirements, processes and workload.

Garry Raim
Partner, EVP
As one of the managing partners at GKV, Garry now leads Business Development efforts at the agency. Prior to that, Garry helped guide the organization as it transitioned from a traditional agency into a fully, integrated agency able to deliver a full suite of digital services.

He has more than 30 years of marketing, direct response, and customer relationship management experience, working closely with clients of all sizes in a variety of categories, with a special expertise in marketing health care, insurance and financial products. He has led the development of strategies for GKV clients like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Coventry Health Care, CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield, Metropolitan Jewish Health System (MJHS), BGE Home, and Molina Healthcare

Kevin Kempske
President & COO
Kevin is a partner at GKV. He currently manages the account management, public relations & social media, traditional and digital paid media, print production, digital strategy and analytics, and experiential disciplines within GKV. In addition, Kevin is responsible for key operational initiatives within the agency.
Kevin has 25+ years of agency, government relations, public relations, crisis management, experiential marketing and high-stakes communications experience and has been with GKV for more than 20 years.
Prior to joining GKV, Kevin served as the public affairs policy manager for the Washington, D.C., office of CF Industries. He was a registered lobbyist and served as one of the company’s chief liaisons with members of Congress, Congressional staff, Executive Branch officials and trade associations.

Chris Stark
Co-Creatve Director
Chris is one GKV’s co-creative directors. He has been creating effective campaigns for local, regional, national and international brands for over 30 years. This includes work he has done for the Maryland Lottery, Kauai Coffee, McCormick, Sprint, Rosedale Federal Bank, Maryland Department of Health, Maryland Transportation Authority, MedStar Health, InterContinental Hotels Group, The Homestead Resort, and Puerto Rico’s Tourism and Convention Bureau.

Prior to joining GKV, he was the lead senior art director at the Campbell Group, an advertising agency that specialized in the tourism industry and governmental marketing assignments. GKV acquired the Campbell Group in 2004. As it turns out, Chris was the most valuable asset GKV gained in the acquisition.

Chris received his bachelor’s degree in advertising design from the University of Maryland. He is an avid baseball fan and has a passion for coaching youth.

Stacey Wynia
SVP, Director of Public Relations, Social Media
Stacey Wynia leads the PR, social media and grassroots event work GKV does for its clients. With her full-time staff, she provides high-level strategic guidance in the development and execution of PR plans, earned media campaigns and strategic messaging, along with a wide variety of social media marketing, including social media planning and strategy, content creation and curation, social media management, publishing, advertising and reporting. She especially enjoys working with other GKV departments to provide integrated and well-executed campaigns and working with challenger brands to help them define their brand voice and drive business in the social landscape.
Before coming to GKV, Stacey worked at Golin as an Account Supervisor for clients such as Amazon and Toyota; at Mattel as Director of Communications, developing PR campaigns for Barbie and other Mattel brand consumer products; and most recently at Taylor Strategies as Senior Vice President, where she helped to build business organically by developing creative campaigns that drove business results, and led their anchor accounts, such as MasterCard and P&G.

Dan Collins
Chief Strategy Officer
Dan, who joined GKV in 2003, leads strategic planning and research for our clients, whether their goals are a more compelling brand promise and brand aligned culture, or creative that builds sales AND an emotional connection. Dan’s a frequent contributor to advertising industry publications, sharing lessons from the agency’s experience driving rapid, cost efficient growth for our challenger brand clients.

He has more than 20 years of consumer marketing, strategic planning and advertising experience across a range of categories, including: travel and tourism; financial services; health and personal care; food; technology; and communications. His career has included experience on three continents: North America, Asia and Europe. From his years at Procter & Gamble, Maybelline, Kellogg’s and Shell International, Dan has built a reputation for quickly learning a new business and bringing strategic insight that fuels rapid growth.

As a partner at the agency, he has led the following GKV client brands: McCormick; PANDORA Jewelry; Bridgestone Golf; Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzels; Cape Cod Potato Chips; Back to Nature Foods; Snackwells.

Dave Broscious
Co-CreatveDirector
Dave has over 25 years creative experience in advertising, first as copywriter, then creative director and currently as a chief creative strategist. In his tenure as a creative partner at GKV, he’s played an integral part in many of the agency’s most successful campaigns… PANDORA Jewelry, Sprint, McCormick, Snyder’s-Lance, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and the Maryland Lottery to name a few.

Prior to joining GKV, Dave served as a lead creative for various Northeast advertising agencies developing highly effective, awarding-winning work in the consumer, business-to-business and direct response categories.

As a creative generalist, Dave writes, records, and performs songs with his band, creates recipes from scratch in the kitchen and on his smoker, and continues to search the world for the very best Buffalo wings.

Clients and Brands

Client & Brands	Start Date
Molina Healthcare	05-01-2017
Shefit	09-01-2021
Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA	10-01-2019
Soli (formerly Shenandoah Growers)	03-01-2018
Clover Health	05-01-2021
MD Lottery	07-01-2010
MD Department of Health - COVID Communication	09-01-2020
TreeHouse Foods	06-01-2020
Miller Value Fund	01-01-2017
Constellation	08-01-2001

Billings & Revenue

Billing / Revenue Ranges Number of Clients

Total Gross Media Placed by this Office
Under $50 Million

Allocation Percent of Media Placed by this Office
Local Broadcast: 15%
National Broadcast: 5%
Digital: 50%
Print: 5%
Out of Home: 5%
Other: 20%

Types of Services

Service Offering Revenue

Industry Experience

Agency Profile

GKV