Marketing Strategy Design

Throughout the Capital Region, men and women under 40 years old are achieving success and influencing decisions. Who are these rising business stars?

They are doctors and lawyers, educators and entrepreneurs, community leaders and government leaders, graphics designers and homebuilders.

And they have one thing in common. In recognition of their many personal and professional achievements, they are 2008 recipients of Business Report’s Forty Under 40 award.

More than 250 people were nominated, and 11 prominent members of the business community were involved in selecting this year’s winners.

‘It was like breathing. It was like coming home,” Andy Gutowski says of his serendipitous reunion with Jon Cato and Branden Lisi of Object 9.

Gutowski first worked with the two as a graphic design graduate from LSU, staying with them for about a year and a half until he joined a series of other agencies. They kept in touch, and in 2000 after years of working too hard and too long for somebody else, Gutowski received a call. It was Cato wanting to know when he was going to start his own firm. Gutowski didn’t venture entirely on his own, and instead joined the two to grow the company.

“When I was a young designer, I wanted to be the world’s greatest designer. Now I understand the benefits of working smarter rather than working harder. Now I want to hire and manage the best designers in the world. I want to be a part of it, but not do it all myself.”

His smart work is picking up considerable steam, drawing local, national and international accolades, particularly in the beverage industry. His projects with Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Milwaukee caught the eye of Red Stripe, which invited Object 9 to pitch against two other agencies 10 times its size.

The challenge was to brand Red Stripe within Jamaica, and that required learning about the country from an insider’s view, getting beyond stereotypes. Naturally, they went to Jamaica. It worked.

At Object 9, Gutowski still has “at least an eyeball or a hand” on projects while overseeing employees, opportunities and new accounts. While he does admit to being “the Mad Hatter with too many hats,” he recognizes the value in giving others ownership.

Above all, Gutowski enjoys going home and reliving his childhood with his wife, Hanh, and their children, Alexa and Josh.

If you could have a job other than your own, what would it be?

“A shoot-for-the-moon-type of thing. I would want to be an NFL quarterback.”