Fractional brand VP
A fractional brand VP, on subscription
Short answer
A fractional brand VP is a senior brand leader you retain monthly instead of hiring full time. Fiveday provides one for $5,000 a month: brand direction, positioning language and the finished work itself — sites, decks, key art and video — with no recruiting cycle, no equity and no notice period.
Key facts
- Monthly retainer
- $5,000
- Full-time equivalent
- $180k+ / year
- Experience
- 20 years, Vimeo & media
- Start time
- Same week
- Notice period
- None
- Output
- Direction and finished work
What a fractional brand VP does
A brand VP decides how a company is perceived and holds the line on it. That means positioning and message architecture, visual direction, naming and tone, what the site says first, how the deck argues, and which of the twenty things on the list actually move perception.
The fractional version does the same job on a monthly retainer. You get the seniority without the recruiting cycle, the equity grant, the benefits load or the awkward exit when the workload changes.
Why founders hire a brand VP monthly
Most early companies have production capacity — templates, AI tools, a freelancer — and no judgment layer. The result is a company that looks assembled rather than built. Hiring a brand VP monthly buys the judgment first and the pixels second.
- No 3-month hiring process and no equity dilution
- Senior judgment applied from week one, not after onboarding
- The same person sets direction and executes it, so nothing is lost in handoff
- Scales down the month you don't need it
Direction and execution in one person
The usual split — strategist writes a deck, agency executes it, nobody owns the result — is where brands go generic. Here the direction and the delivery are the same hands, so the decision made on Monday is visible in the work on Friday.
Twenty years across Vimeo, Silicon Valley and Hollywood sits behind that judgment. No junior team, no white-label shop, no handoffs.
What you get each month
An unlimited request queue handled one item at a time, brand direction staged across queue days, and delivery on a clock: websites and video in five business days, everything else same day to 24 hours.
Fractional brand VP vs full-time hire
| Fractional (Fiveday) | Full-time VP | Agency retainer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $60,000 | $220,000+ loaded | $180,000+ |
| Time to start | This week | 3–4 months | 4–8 weeks |
| Equity | None | Usually required | None |
| Does the work too | Yes | Rarely | Delegated |
| Exit | One click | Severance | Contract term |
Frequently asked
Let's build the thing.
$5,000 a month. Websites and video in five business days, everything else same day to 72 hours. Pause or cancel anytime.
Or email lisa@fivedaydesign.com
Written by Lisa, founder of Fiveday — twenty years across Vimeo, Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Last updated August 2026.