Gravity Global marketing agency sets up U.S. HQ in Houston with acquisition

A unit of Houston-based marketing agency 9thWonder has joined with London-based Gravity Global as part of the business-to-business marketing agency's expansion in the U.S. Gravity Global, whose clients including the Boston industrial conglomerate General Electric and the Dutch multinational AkzoNobel, said Wednesday it acquired both 9thWonder B2B, the Houston agency’s business-to-business unit, and Minneapolis-based creative agency Morsekode. Terms were not disclosed. Gravity Global, which operates in several countries, has partnered with 9thWonder and Morsecode on projects for years.

As part of the transaction, Jose Lozano, who founded 9thWonder by acquiring and integrating six agencies in 2018, becomes the U.S. CEO of Gravity Global, based in Houston. Gravity Global’s top clients include the Texas refiners Phillips 66 and Motiva, the Minnesota conglomerate 3M and the financial services firm Ameriprise Financial. Thirty employees from the business-to-business side of 9thWonder will move to Gravity Global. About 250 employees will remain at 9thWonder on the agency’s consumer side, which promotes clients such as automakers Honda and Ford. Lozano serves as chairman at 9thWonder. 9thWonder split its B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) divisions in 2020, positioning the company to grow by joining with Gravity Global, Lozano said. Prior to forming 9thWonder, Lozano and his partners had previously acquired Fogarty & Klein Inc., a longstanding marketing agency in Houston.