Q&A: Gary Kalk of GOcxm

What is one recent company win you can share with us? 
Kalk: We partnered with a global brand to support a national retail execution and compliance program. Despite a strong launch playbook, the brand lacked real-time visibility into whether in-store execution met strategic plans and brand standards. The GOcxm solution combined photo-based validation, AI-driven adjudication, real-time data and operational transparency, giving head office line-of-sight to the consistency and quality of execution at the store, banner and regional level. This end-to-end execution program resulted in the client achieving a 3x sales increase vs expected results.

Through this engagement, our partner recognized a broader opportunity to connect retail execution with their national consumer and shopper marketing initiatives. Therefore, GOcxm extended the relationship to include integrated consumer engagement and shopper marketing programs, deploying a centralized promotional hub supported by program-specific SMS, email remarketing and real-time performance dashboards. This unified approach increased first- and zero-party data capture, significantly improved conversion and gave the brand clear insight into how execution and engagement work together to drive results.

Any new marketing tactic you used (or recommended to clients) in the past year that you plan to keep in your toolbox for the future? 
Kalk: One tactic we are increasingly recommending and plan to continue using is always-on, integrated programming.

Rather than treating campaigns as isolated, start-stop initiatives, we help brands design connected calendars where each activation feeds the next. Consumer data collected from one program informs segmentation, personalization and execution strategies for future initiatives, creating momentum rather than resetting with every campaign.

This approach allows brands to compound learnings over time, improve contextual relevance and maximize the value of first-party data. By integrating engagement, execution and measurement into an always-on framework, brands move from episodic marketing to sustained, insight-driven growth, where every dollar spent improves the effectiveness of the next program.

What is one challenge you (or your clients) are facing right now? 
Kalk: Every few years, most brands conduct deep research studies to inform their innovation pipelines, market positioning and long-term strategies.

These studies often rely on the input of panelists sourced from third-parties who have little to no real connection to the brand. More importantly, the insights quickly become outdated. Consumer behavior, cultural trends, retail environments and competitive dynamics evolve far faster than traditional research cycles can keep up with.

As a result, brands are making critical decisions, often years into the future, based on static, infrequent and increasingly disconnected data, limiting their ability to adapt, innovate and respond to real-world change.

Any solution you are trying or recommend to others facing the same challenge? 
Kalk: Rather than relying on social platforms that own the consumer relationships, brands need their own channels to engage consumers, capture zero- and first-party data, and establish a continuous feedback loop. This enables near real-time insight grounded in actual experience with the brand and products.

GOcxm supports this through online and in-store engagement strategies, such as contests, gift-with-purchase, rebate and loyalty programs, that incentivize participation with prizes, rewards, perks and exclusive access. As consumers engage more deeply, affinity grows and brands gain richer, more timely feedback and shopper intelligence.

Looking to the future, what are you most excited about in terms of the evolution of our industry in the coming year? 
Kalk: We’re excited about how AI is enabling brands to turn data into insight much faster. GOcxm has always captured rich data across consumer engagement, retail execution and performance, but advances in AI now allow us to process that information far more quickly and surface meaningful opportunities in near real time.

By applying AI across our platform, we help brands identify what’s working, where gaps exist and how spend across teams is impacting results while programs are still live. We’re most excited about providing brands a level of visibility they’ve never had before, showing how investments across sales and marketing actively work together to drive results and activate an "intelligence flywheel."

Which P2PI member benefit(s) do you value the most and why? 
Kalk: What we value most about P2PI is the community and mindset of its members. The people who choose to be part of P2PI understand the complexity of the CPG and retail landscape and the importance of improving visibility, execution and data-driven decision-making, areas that align closely with what we’re building at GOcxm.

P2PI also provides valuable exposure to how brands, service providers and industry leaders are thinking about shared challenges and emerging priorities. That perspective helps us learn, stay aligned with the industry and continue refining our solutions.