Gemma Manning Founder and Group CEO of Manning & Co Profile

Gemma Manning
Founder and Group CEO of Manning & Co


Gemma Manning Founder and Group CEO of Manning & Co

“Creating Brands that Resonate”

Manning & Co celebrates its 13th anniversary this year, a remarkable achievement in a world of ongoing disruption and constant change. This alone is an example of how Gemma Manning’s visionary leadership has kept Manning & Co constantly ahead of the curve and sister company Gemstar. Her agility and ability to navigate changing market circumstances have helped ensure that the brands she has created are always relevant to its clients.

Further, Gemma's ability to execute her vision with precision and ethics at the core form part of the business's sustainable success. Manning & Co continues its strong growth trajectory because of an above and beyond ethos. Gemma, as a founder, maintains a high standard and expectation from not only herself but also the brands she keeps. Her reputation has received attention from leaders at the highest levels.

Gemma has created not just one but two businesses with international reach in traditionally male-dominated industries. Manning & Co operates in B2B marketing and Gemstar in innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship. She challenges the status quo in both of her ventures, paving the way for female leaders' next generation. For example, one of Manning & Co’s main specialist industries is IT and technology, which historically has been male-dominated. Manning & Co is highly respected and recognized in this sector, recently getting the nod by industry analyst Forester as one of the world’s top 85 channel marketing and PR companies.

In contrast, most of the other companies recognized in that same list are male-led. Gemma is a believer in opening doors for others by not being afraid to break the glass. She also is committed to leading by example and showing future generations of women who want to start their businesses that anything is possible and that you can dream big.

Manning & Co was born out of adversity. When Gemma had her first child, her male boss told her that she couldn’t be a new mother and hold down a demanding corporate job. This led her to essentially starting her own business. At the same time when Gemma started Manning & Co, she also identified several significant pain points in the marketing consulting industry that she wanted Manning & Co to address. As a Head of Marketing in her previous corporate role, Gemma had first-hand experience working with marketing and communication consultancies and was often unimpressed. She also recognized that the market was quite limited at the time, and marketing agencies only focused on briefs provided to them rather than coming up with ideas from scratch and working collaboratively with clients.

Manning & Co is a hybrid of McKinsey & Co. and Ogilvy. They are a professional services firm where Gemma has bridged the marketing consulting industry gap and injects a high level of business strategy into the mix, extending the current typical industry offering. She filled the void in her first domestic market of Australia and Asia, the US, and the UK, which explains why Manning & Co is such a respected and well-established business even after 13 years. Gemma and her team come up with the ideas for their clients and provide them with best practice recommendations and strategic thinking, and complete execution capability ensuring that there is always a high level of transparency of results for our clients.

Although Manning & Co celebrates its 13th anniversary this month, it is just the beginning in many ways. They recognize that amid the global pandemic, companies need Manning & Co. more than ever. “So, we plan to continue to grow our team across the key international markets, including the US, where we have already begun to support several global projects. We think there are significant potential and opportunity in the US market, especially in thought leadership development and content marketing and, more broadly- integrated marketing as a service,” adds Gemma. “We are equally excited about our inclusive entrepreneurship education program, YoungGems and digitally scaling this business empowering communities across the globe.” IE


Company

Manning & Co

Management

Gemma Manning
Founder and Group CEO

Description

Manning & Co. is a global integrated marketing, branding and PR company that helps businesses grow. We provide integrated end-to-end marketing solutions that support your business goals.


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