BRANDilly

Interview by Angela Anderson

BRANDilly… A Small Fish in a Big Pond

“We are the best because our clients deserve the best.” ~ BRANDilly Creative Group

BRANDilly is made up of a team of marketing and creative professionals with a simple focus-the success of their clients. They have a successful track record of helping brands not only compete and win against their competitors but to engage new customers and grow the bottom lines.

BRANDilly is a significant player in the industry that offers a fresh, innovative edge from branding and creating logos to websites and digital and printed materials. They pride themselves in building relationships and partnering with their clients to understand their individual needs, evaluating their brand’s value, and creating a well-thought-out designed experience.

Small fish in a BIG pond, you say. At BRANDilly, they consistently provide high-performance marketing and creative services that offer the same comprehensive approach larger agencies provide while abandoning the huge budget mentality. They take pride in their client relationships, service, talent, and ability to “keep up with the Joneses.” In fact, the Joneses are trying to keep up with them.

Kemah E. P. Washington, Founder and President of BRAN- Dilly, shares with The Heat Seekers Magazine the value, uniqueness, and top-level service they bring.

Angela Anderson: What inspired the birth of your business?

Kemah E. P. Washington: I started Six Degreez Entertainment as a sophomore in college (Millersville University). When we first got started, we were doing street team promotion for events on campus and in the Central PA area. Six Degrees of Separation came out a few years earlier, and we thought it was a great way to brand ourselves. Get your event in our hands, and we’d get the word out to the masses. Around 2001 we expanded from promoting events to planning parties and concerts. Naturally, once we started down the road of planning a show, we needed to create graphics and marketing collateral to promote the shows. That’s how I started designing and printing.

AA: What is the mission of BRANDilly?

KW: We help brands compete and win against their competitors -- engaging new customers and growing bottom lines. Sometimes that means creating logos, websites, digital and printed collateral -- you know, stuff creative agencies do..

AA: What’s the story behind the name, BRANDilly?

KW: My wife’s name is Brandi. When we were first dating, I used to call her Brandily (bran-da-lee). In 2009, we combined our businesses and were trying to come up with a new name. On vacation and sitting at the beach, it hit me that my nickname for her had the word “brand” in it. That’s how BRANDilly (brandil-lee) Marketing and Creative was birthed. In 2019, we rebranded to the BRANDilly Creative Group.

AA: What aspect of the business do you enjoy?

KW: I love creating things. In my spare time, I garden and do a lot of woodworking. There’s something about planting a seed and watching it grow or sketching out a plan for a new shed and building it from the ground up. Professionally, the work I do with BRANDilly is no different. Logos, print collateral, brand identities, websites… the process of taking a concept floating around in a client’s head and crafting that into something relatable, eye-catching, and the ability to move folks to the point of action is what I love the most about what I do.

AA: What can customers expect from the BRANDilly Brand?

KW: At BRANDilly, we provide high-performance marketing and creative services–offering the same comprehensive approach mega agencies provide while abandoning the huge budget mentality. We pride ourselves on our client relationships, dependable service, rich talent, and our ability to keep up with the Joneses. Whether your needs are professional, sexy, or offthe-wall, we can provide an insightful edge to your branding campaign.

AA: June is the month we celebrate Father’s Day. What does being a father mean to you?

KW: Being a father means showing up for my daughters. Sometimes it’s as simple as making space to color with my 6-year-old. Other times it’s running dad jokes with my 12-year-old. At the end of the day, it all comes back to being present for them.

AA: What do you enjoy about fatherhood?

KW: I love the little things like how my baby girl greets me in the morning with a kiss and then proceeds to tell me that she’s hungry. I love how my oldest tries so hard to be cool, but every now and then, she’ll come and hold my hand or sit in my lap. It feels good to be loved and needed.

AA: What is one piece of advice you would share with new small business owners who are just getting started?

KW: Seek out a mentor. Talk to someone who’s done what you are trying to do… and then some. Read! The library is full of free life and business hacks that can literally save you hundreds of hours… and dollars.

AA: What’s next for BRANDilly?

KW: We’re expanding rapidly as one of the startups we’re involved with was recently acquired by a publicly traded crypto-investment firm. Within the next 3-6 months, we’ll be doubling the size of our creative department and working on a variety of professional and collegiate sports marketing projects.

AA: How can people connect with you?

KW: They can email me at kemah@bcgnc.com or reach out via Instagram and Facebook @brandillycg.