Today we’d like to introduce you to Britton Briley.
Hi Britton, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story really starts with a willingness to bet on myself.
Before Ghost Brands, I spent years working in marketing, branding, sales, and business development, learning firsthand what makes people connect with a company and, just as importantly, what makes them walk away from one. I had the opportunity to work with brands and organizations of different sizes, but eventually I reached a point where I knew I wanted to build something of my own.
In 2018, I started Ghost Brands in Greenville with a pretty simple idea: build an agency that could become a true extension of the businesses we represented. I didn’t want to create an agency that simply made logos, posted on social media, or built websites. I wanted us to understand the business, its people, its customers, and where it was trying to go—and then use branding, marketing, content, advertising, public relations, and strategy to help get it there.
Like most entrepreneurial stories, it wasn’t an overnight success. Ghost started small, and there were plenty of long nights, risks, mistakes, lessons, and moments where I had to figure things out as we went. But we continued to grow because our clients trusted us with more. One project became another, one relationship opened another door, and eventually we began seeing our work throughout the Upstate.
That is probably the part of the story I am most proud of today. Greenville is home for Ghost Brands, and since 2018, we have had the opportunity to play a small part in shaping the community around us through the businesses, developments, sports organizations, restaurants, municipalities, and destinations we represent. Whether it is GE Vernova Park, Hub City Spartanburgers, Spinx, HipBurger, RealtyLink, Swamp Rabbit Moving, the City of Simpsonville, or countless other projects, there is something incredibly rewarding about driving around the Upstate and seeing brands and places our team has helped bring to life.
At the same time, what started in Greenville has grown well beyond Greenville. Today, Ghost Brands works across the Southeast with organizations like the Athens Rock Lobsters, University of Georgia Ice Dawgs, Spire Motorsports, Pecan Jacks, the City of Jefferson, and many others.
I think that evolution best describes how I got to where I am today. I never set out just to build a marketing agency. I wanted to build a company that could have an impact on the communities and organizations around it. Eight years later, we have an incredible team, relationships that mean far more to me than any individual project, and the opportunity to work with brands I never imagined we would be trusted with when I started Ghost in 2018.
There is still a lot I want to accomplish, but being able to look around the Upstate and see the fingerprints of our team’s work is pretty special. Ghost Brands was built here, Greenville is still our home, and I’m incredibly proud that as the Upstate has grown, we have been fortunate enough to grow alongside it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not and I think anyone who has built a business from the ground up would probably tell you the same thing.
Entrepreneurship has a funny way of showing you the highest highs and lowest lows, sometimes within the same week. Building Ghost Brands has meant navigating financial uncertainty, losing clients, making bad hires, learning how to become a better leader, managing growth, taking risks that did not always work, and figuring out how to keep moving forward when quitting would have been the easier option.
One of the biggest lessons has been realizing that growing a company is very different from simply being good at what you do. As Ghost grew, my job changed. I had to learn how to lead people, build processes, manage finances, protect our culture, delegate responsibility, and trust other people with something that was once entirely mine. Some of those lessons came naturally. A lot of them did not.
There have also been moments where we have taken on too much, stretched ourselves too thin, or said yes because we were hungry for the opportunity. Learning when to say no has probably been just as important as learning when to say yes.
The agency world itself is constantly changing. Social media changes, technology changes, advertising changes, consumer behavior changes, and now AI is reshaping our industry again. You either adapt or become irrelevant. That has forced me and our team to remain uncomfortable, curious, and willing to evolve.
But I wouldn’t trade the difficult parts of the journey because they have shaped both me and Ghost Brands. Every mistake has made us smarter. Every difficult client or lost opportunity has helped us understand who we want to work with. Every challenging season has forced us to become a better company.
Eight years later, I don’t measure success by whether the road has been smooth. I measure it by the fact that we’re still here, still growing, still creating, still employing talented people, and still being trusted by organizations throughout the Upstate and Southeast.
There have definitely been scars along the way, but I think that’s part of building something that’s actually yours.
We’ve been impressed with Ghost Brands, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Ghost Brands is a Greenville-based full-service branding and marketing agency, but I think what we do goes much deeper than the traditional definition of an agency.
We specialize in becoming an extension of the organizations we represent. That can mean building a brand from the ground up, repositioning an existing company, developing a website, producing photo and video content, managing social media, buying media, running digital advertising, handling public relations, or developing the strategy behind how an organization goes to market. We intentionally built Ghost to bring those capabilities together because great brands are not created through one logo, one campaign, or one platform. Everything has to work together.
What I believe sets us apart is that we approach marketing from a business perspective first. We want to understand how you make money, who your customers are, what challenges you are facing, and where you want to go before we ever start creating. Our goal isn’t to make something that simply looks good. It needs to work.
We have also developed a strong reputation for working in industries where branding and experience have to come together; sports, entertainment, hospitality, restaurants, real estate and development, municipalities, retail, and consumer-facing businesses. Those are environments where you aren’t just marketing a product; you’re creating an experience, building community, and giving people a reason to care.
Being based in Greenville makes the work we’ve done throughout the Upstate especially meaningful to me. Our team has had the opportunity to work with brands and projects including GE Vernova Park, Hub City Spartanburgers, Spinx, HipBurger, RealtyLink, Swamp Rabbit Moving, the City of Simpsonville, and many others. Our reach has continued to expand across the Southeast through relationships with organizations such as the Athens Rock Lobsters, University of Georgia Ice Dawgs, Spire Motorsports, Pecan Jacks, and the City of Jefferson.
What I’m most proud of brand-wise isn’t necessarily one logo, campaign, website, or client. It’s being able to drive through communities and physically see our team’s work. You can see a stadium we’ve helped launch, walk into a restaurant we’ve helped build a brand around, attend a sporting event we’re helping market, see one of our campaigns on a billboard, or interact with a business whose story we’ve helped tell.
That’s what Ghost Brands has become to me.
We are the team behind the team. In many cases, people will experience our work without ever knowing Ghost Brands was involved and I’m perfectly okay with that. Our name has always represented that philosophy. We don’t need to be the center of attention. Our job is to make the brands we represent impossible to ignore.
After eight years, I’m proud that a company built in Greenville has been able to grow alongside the Upstate while expanding its footprint throughout the Southeast. But I’m even more proud of the relationships behind that growth. Our clients trust us with their businesses, their brands, and sometimes ideas that haven’t even become businesses yet. That’s a responsibility we take seriously.
At the end of the day, Ghost Brands exists to build brands people recognize, businesses people support, and experiences people remember.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something that surprises most people is that I’m actually an introvert. If you know me through Ghost Brands, attend an event with me, or see me working a room, you would probably assume the complete opposite.
Business brings out the extrovert in me. I love meeting people, building relationships, pitching ideas, talking about brands, and connecting people who can help one another. When I’m representing Ghost, our team, or one of our clients, I can walk into a room of strangers and feel completely comfortable.
Outside of business, though, I’m much more reserved. I value quiet time, being at home, spending time with my family, and having the opportunity to recharge away from everything.
I’ve learned over the years that you don’t have to be an extrovert to be a great networker or leader. For me, it comes down to purpose. When I believe in what I’m talking about or know there’s an opportunity to build a meaningful relationship, that switch flips pretty quickly.
So I always joke that I’m an introvert personally and an extrovert professionally. Ghost Brands just happens to bring that side of me out.
Pricing:
- Ghost Brands builds customized scopes and pricing based on each organization’s individual goals, needs, timeline, and project requirements.
- Services are available through project-based engagements, ongoing agency partnerships and retainers, or customized consulting relationships.
- We work with organizations ranging from emerging local businesses to established regional and national brands, sports organizations, municipalities, and large-scale developments.
- Every relationship begins with a conversation to understand the business, identify where Ghost Brands can provide the most value, and build a scope that makes sense for both sides.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ghostbrands.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghostbrands/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theghostbrands
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ghostbrands/
- Twitter: https://x.com/TheGhostBrands
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGhostBrands
- Other: https://www.brittonbriley.com
