Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesse Randall.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Randall Branding Agency was founded in Richmond, Virginia, in 2011 with a simple philosophy: work hard, stay focused, and over-deliver at every turn. More than a decade later, that philosophy still guides everything we do—even though where and how we work has changed dramatically.
Over the years, Randall Branding Agency has grown and evolved alongside our clients. Our work spans Brand Strategy, Creative, Web Development, and Media, and we’ve partnered with organizations across nearly every type of industry—from education, financial services, food and beverage, and healthcare to manufacturing, nonprofits, technology, and more.
Before COVID, the agency looked much like a traditional creative firm. We had as many as 10 full-time employees working together from our office in downtown Richmond. Then the world changed—and so did we.
When COVID forced everyone to work remotely, we discovered something unexpected: we didn’t need to be in the same building to do great work together. Eventually, we gave up the office altogether. Over time, our full-time team evolved into a nationwide network of talented contractors located across Oregon, California, Arizona, Michigan, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, and Virginia.
Our clients became increasingly distributed, too. Today, our largest client is Ferguson Enterprises, where we support business groups and teams across the organization. Many of the people we work with are scattered throughout the country. In fact, some of our strongest professional relationships are with clients and team members we’ve never met face-to-face.
And our office? That’s changed, too.
Richmond is still home, but after COVID, agency founder Randall purchased a fifth-wheel RV and began combining a love of travel and camping with running the business. On any given day, the agency might be led from a home office in Richmond—or from an RV somewhere across the country.
It may be an unconventional way to run a branding agency, but it works.
Today, Randall Branding Agency is less defined by where we work and more by how we work. We’re a close-knit, highly collaborative team that happens to be spread across the country. We communicate every day, bring together the right talent for each challenge, and stay focused on delivering exceptional work for our clients.
The agency has changed considerably since 2011. The office has changed. The team has changed. The way we collaborate has changed.
But the philosophy hasn’t:
Work hard. Stay focused. Over-deliver.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like any business that has been around for more than a decade, we’ve had our share of challenges. COVID fundamentally changed the way we operated almost overnight. We’ve navigated difficult client relationships, employee challenges, financial ups and downs, and plenty of moments when we had to make tough decisions about the future of the agency.
But every one of those experiences taught us something. We learned how to adapt, how to become more efficient, and—perhaps most importantly—how to focus on the people, clients, and work that are the right fit for us.
The interesting thing is that some of our biggest challenges ultimately led to some of our most important changes. Moving away from a traditional office, building a nationwide network of talented people, and embracing a more flexible way of working have made us a stronger agency.
Today, we’re doing the best we’ve ever done. We’re leaner, more flexible, more focused, and doing some of the best work in our history.
The road hasn’t always been easy, but we wouldn’t be where we are today without the struggles along the way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Randall Branding Agency?
At Randall Branding Agency, our goal is to deliver razor-sharp strategy and memorable creative through thoughtful design and development. We specialize in Brand Strategy, Creative, Web Development, and Media, but what we really do is help organizations better understand, build, and communicate their brands.
I started the agency in 2011 because I wanted something more from the traditional designer-client relationship. With my background in graphic design, I had worked with all types of businesses, but often felt like I only knew part of their story. I didn’t want to simply design something that looked great, hand over a “cool” logo, and move on. I wanted to understand the organization, its people, its customers, and its goals—and use that understanding to create work that could actually help move the business forward.
That philosophy still drives the agency today.
We want to earn a place on our clients’ teams. We take the time to understand their organizations and become a trusted partner rather than simply another vendor. When a client succeeds, we feel like we’ve succeeded right alongside them.
I think that’s one of the things that sets us apart. Our philosophy is to work hard, stay focused, and over-deliver at every turn. We care about the details, consistency, responsiveness, and ultimately producing work that accomplishes something for the client.
We’re also intentionally structured differently from many traditional agencies. Today, we operate with a hand-selected network of talented professionals located across the country. That gives us tremendous flexibility to bring the right people and expertise to a project without the overhead and limitations of a traditional agency structure. We may be spread across multiple states—and many of us have never even met face-to-face—but we work closely together every day.
Over the years, we’ve worked with organizations across education, financial services, food and beverage, health and wellness, industrial, living and leisure, manufacturing, nonprofit, and technology. Our capabilities can range from brand research, strategy, identity, and creative to websites, digital marketing, SEO, media, and sales and marketing support.
What I’m most proud of, though, isn’t any one logo, website, campaign, or award. It’s the relationships and reputation we’ve built since 2011.
Some of our clients have trusted us with far more than a single project. We’ve become an extension of their teams, helping them solve problems, maintain consistency, develop new ideas, and protect and grow their brands over time. Today, that includes our work with Ferguson Enterprises, our largest client, where we support teams across multiple areas of the organization.
Randall Branding Agency has changed tremendously since I started it. We’ve gone from a traditional agency with a downtown Richmond office and full-time staff to a flexible, nationwide team working with clients across the country. But the reason I started the agency hasn’t changed.
We want to know our clients’ stories, understand where they’re trying to go, and do great work that helps them get there.
We’re not trying to be the biggest agency. We want to be the agency our clients consider part of their team—the people they trust to answer the phone, tackle the challenge, and over-deliver when it matters.
Contact Info:
- Website: Randall Branding Agency
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RandallBranding
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-randall-branding-agency
