Today we’d like to introduce you to Emery Fuller.
Emery, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have taken the long, windy path to get to the Charleston Area.
I graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BA in Advertising, knowing I wanted to be ‘A Creative’. Soon afterward I found myself at Miami Ad School in South Beach charging forward to be an Art Director.
This path would take me to Amsterdam, where I consider I learned the most from Clare McNalley. A South African that would rip, marked through, and shred ideas until you had that one spark.
I stayed in Amsterdam for 6 more months for Clare. And met my Copywriting partner, Adam. (MAS always instilled saying ‘we’ because you have a copywriting partner)
We landed in Chicago with an internship at DDB on the McDonald’s account. Terrifying, until we had our first creative meeting and sold our first commercial as interns, could not go, however, got hired.
I had my first job at DDB. My most memorable productions were the global spots for McDonald’s where we beat other agencies with the simple idea that McDonald’s fries are the most shareable food in the world (pre-Covid) and bring cultures together like the Olympics.
We jumped ship to FCB to work on KFC, SC Johnson, and Taco Bell. Taco Bell led us to California because the agencies got tired of flying us back every weekend to Chicago.
Now in California, after spending 6 years, changing writing partners, and shooting 15 commercials, a couple of which still have the highest sales for TB to this day. I decided to start freelancing in 2011 to experience different types of clients and that started my journey of design and branding building.
The journey continued as I led a small agency in New Brunswick, Canada (AST) yes that exists. Missing that California sun, I headed back to California where I had my first experience on the client side; Avetta.
Dipping my toe on the client side was magical because this oil and gas supply chain company called PICS Auditing acted as if they had never seen anything creative, ever. As this charismatic VP of Marketing began to hatch a plan to build a consistent sales deck.
Then we began talking about ideas for changing the name of the company to better reflect its offerings. Starting down the path of changing the name was touchy, however, the owners agreed and wanted to move forward. I had worked on a new name for a few months and then my boss was let go and the CEO called me in. I was done with it.
John said that you will take on this rebrand, positioning, and launch. Fill me in once a week. I learned that I could run meeting, and people listened. I could talk to major clients every day from APAC to AMEA. I learned in almost every role at the company that when I had to review a quarter of my progress with the Board of Directors, I was ready.
After 18 months of making sure every aspect was exact, we turned on the new website, new social media, the new brand ad ran in national publications, a PR blitz, and an event to launch the brand with clients and all employees at once. Two years later, Avetta sold for over 500m. Changing a brand to better reflect its brand DNA, a SaaS-based company that builds sustainability between clients and their supply chain.
The former VP of sales from Avetta changed my path again. I began to build brand DNA and Marketing functions for clients of RightMind Inc. from California and then working remotely, allowed my growing family to move to Charleston. (Yes, transplants).
Now with almost 20 years of experience, I felt it was time to start working for myself, to see if this could be sustainable. In comes Fuller Branding and along with Fuller House Productions, we land our first client. Wiles Law wants a couple of videos, a rebrand, a style guide, social media, PPC, SEO, and a new website.
It was a dream come true. There’s no way to explain the feeling when you are able to communicate, persuade and gain the client’s trust so that they just let you run. Especially when they see instant results. When you look forward to speaking with or meeting in person a client like a team at Wiles Law, taking that leap feels sweet.
Now I feel I can take on anything. Looking back, I can speak about the most memorable jobs that have affected me. My first agency job, my first client-side job, and my first entrepreneurial leap.
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?
If anyone says they have had a smooth road in this industry: 1 They are lying 2 They are lying 3 They are lying.
I have struggled with neglecting everyone but work struggled with the fear of self-doubt, and struggled to pull myself up and start something new. One thing I have learned is that the “new” keeps me going.
I will shoot some photography, and paint with my kids, and yes most of the time they are better.
From my struggles along the advertising path, I know to always look forward to the new.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Fuller Branding has 2 decades of experience in strategic rebranding. My experience stems from working with small businesses all the way to blue chip companies.
I have a proven record of delivering brand engagement results and driving sales. I’ve led teams, prepped for IPOs, and revolutionized brands. Whether you’re looking to refresh or reboot your brand, I can lead your teams through digital marketing, advertising, CRM, and content development––delivering fuller branding.
We specialize in brand positioning, creating websites, logo design, content creation, social media posting, SEO, and PPC all the services you would come to expect, right?
I think what sets Fuller Branding apart is that my ultimate goal, is to create the new brand and website and hand it over to the client to be able to run themselves. Teach them to be self-sufficient. I think that is unexpected these days when agencies want to nickel & dime a client in any way.
I have been creating for so long, that I tell potential clients, that Fuller Branding doesn’t execute. We create a Brand DNA together.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
We have all gone down the TikTok wormhole, but I can live without Adobe Creative Suite and Elegant Themes for WordPress.
My favorite podcast is Creative Studies. Inspirational magazine/digital is Luerzer’s Archive.
Book’s – ‘How To Do The Work’, Dr. Nicole LePera | ‘UnFu*k Yourself, Gary John Bishop | ‘Clarity and Connection’ as well as ‘Inward’, Yung Pueblo
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fullerbranding.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fullerbranding/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FullerBranding
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrandingFuller
