And the time was right in 2005 shortly after the company that Fred was V.P. of Marketing for was acquired by a very large Canadian conglomerate.
Fred had a theory that small businesses should be able to outsource their marketing activities just like they outsourced their accounting, HR or IT activities. The thought was that these companies needed highly trained and experienced marketing personnel but couldn’t afford the expense or the risk. After giving a marketing seminar to some Oak Ridge technology and manufacturing corporate heads, Fred was approached by four of those decision makers to take the helm of their marketing efforts. With those first four, he opened GrassRoots Marketing in the basement of his house with nothing more than a phone, a laptop computer and his dog as staff (V.P. of sleeping and foot warming).
However GrassRoot's tenure in the basement was short lived, within two months GrassRoots grew to fifteen clients with virtually no self-promotion. GrassRoot's new home was located in Tech2020, an incubator facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. GrassRoots continued to grow over the next year and a half until their small office (2 cubicles) was home to 4 full time and 2 part time employees. Needless to say, it was time to move. GrassRoots' new home turned out to be just down Pellissippi Parkway from their old home in Oak Ridge.
Almost 5 years after starting in the basement of Fred's house the GrassRoots Marketing encompasses veterans from various disciplines, industries and media including marketing, advertising, technology, business practices and communication. With a staff of 10 GrassRoots Marketing is a full service agency that performs strategic marketing and planning, award winning graphic design, advertising, corporate communication, business services and cutting edge interactive and website design.