After building the success of The Observatory International in France, Nathalie Descout and Nicolas Gondeau launch Ex4, a marketing management consultancy, augmented by technology. Supported by an ecosystem of global partners and experts, this new player will support the Marketing & Communication directions of international brands.
An “enlarged and enhanced” vision of Marketing Management consulting.
In a highly changing marketing & communication sector, Nicolas Gondeau and Nathalie Descout, until now respectively President and Managing Director of The Observatory International’s Paris office, are launching Ex4, a new marketing management consultancy. With over 20 years of industry expertise, the two partners designed Ex4 around a strong conviction: the value of a marketing management consultancy lies in its ability to make brands more robust. This means being able to cover the entire value chain, from strategy to operations, while incorporating new technologies as an acceleration driver.
Ex4: The “4E” compass
Based in Paris, the independent consultancy will support marketing and communication leaders of global brands, with a range of services structured around four “E”s:
- Explore: providing C-level marketing executives with a clearer picture of global market practices and players through “state of the art“, “peer benchmarks” and “mapping”.
- Express: helping brand leaders to express their strategy, action plan and related narrative.
- Execute: helping brands to build, populate and implement the ecosystem of marketing and communications partners they need to rely on to support their brand strategy.
- Excel: offering proprietary technological solutions made to empower brands’ marketing execution capacities.
Investing in technology
Ex4 is already investing in the development of technological solutions capable of strengthening its methodologies. Nicolas Gondeau, CEO and co-founder of Ex4 said that “AI is already revolutionizing marketing and, if properly framed, it is a great accelerator for certain aspects of our business. Thus, we are working with experts to launch in 2024, a first AI-based agency search solution to instantly identify the best partners in France and internationally.”
A strong ethical approach
Ex4 advocates a responsible approach to marketing management consulting. As the only player in France who opted for a 100% client-oriented business model, Ex4 positions itself as a trusted third party whose remuneration exclusively come from the brands it supports, and not from agencies. For Ex4, this is an essential condition to guarantee its clients the assurance of totally objective, impartial, and transparent recommendations.
Nathalie Descout, co-founder and Managing Director of Ex4 announced “With The Observatory International, we demonstrated the power of a robust and responsible business model. Building on our DNA and strong knowledge of the market, Ex4 will provide a unique consulting offering to global brand leaders thanks to the recognized expertise of our consultants and partners and the strength of our proprietary technology solutions».
Stuart Pocock, co-founder of The Observatory International added «Nicolas and Nathalie have been a talented part of The Observatory family for the last few years, and we know they have an exciting future with this new proposition. We wish them well and look forward to continuing our partnership for moments when we can support clients even better together. »
