Andy Jacobs sports a rich, 46-year heritage as a serial entrepreneur and marketing executive, working with2000+ B2B, B2C and non-profit entities from divisions of Fortune 500 companies to funded start-ups inmost every industry possible within a broad range of trade classes
After running fee-for-service businesses for the majority of his career 2025 brings a new model to Gravitas.The company is no longer accepting retainer or fee relationships (with the exception of existing clients andFriends & Family situations. Instead, the company is strictly looking for funded start-ups or SMB companieslooking to pivot with novel, proprietary products and services on an equity or gross sales commission basis.The tumblers should click into place and if they do, Gravitas and Andy will be sharing in the risk and rewardof these entities
In this effort, Andy will leverage his simple system that encapsulates everything marketing called the “FiveFingers of Marketing”. Honed over years, it is as simple as it is deep. The Five Fingers are: Strategy,Brand, Message, Creative and finally Touchpoints. It puts a structure into what many businesspeople feelis a very abstract subject yet allows for the flexibility that is an indelible part of a marketing program. Mostcompanies do not have this kind of structure and instead rush headlong into Touchpoints which typicallycomprises 95% of a marketing budget. The problem is without the first four fingers of Strategy, Brand,Message and Creative spending money on Touchpoints is incredibly inefficient and many times fatal in anincredibly crowded, competitive and difficult marketplace
To execute the Five Fingers, Andy sits at the core, providing strategy, brand development, overarchingcreative and quarterbacking of the program. All other executions are purchased on the client’s behalf andmanaged by Andy with key partners comprising every aspect of marketing: design, copy, digital, publicrelations, media, social, SEO, interactive, etc.–all controlled by technology platforms focusing on projectmanagement, simplified accounting and collaboration. This is the new way of serving the client… and forsmall- and mid-market companies it’s an ideal model, gaining true return on ad spend from great thinking,while eliminating agency bloat as the budget is focused 100% on deliverables, not infrastructure
Other than a 30-month detour to help a friend run a large top-50 independent marketing company by sittingon the executive board, Andy has owned and operated his own firms for over 40 years, with as few as twoand as many as 38 employees. Today Gravitas is Andy and oftentimes his wife Susan who is an expert infood and beverage. After several stints with various food companies Sue landed at Wild Planet Foods.While there as VP-Marketing, Sue grew a $10 million regional player into a $120 million category killerselling a $5 can of tuna against $1.29 competitors with no staff and practically no budget. Wild Planet wasacquired by Bolton Group of Italy
