The Brand Leader

10/10/2026

We’re hiring a Senior Social Media Manager for our growing team!

We need someone who can speak strategy, platform mix, content pillars, influencer and creator work, how organic and paid fit together, and the reporting that tells a client whether any of it actually moved. You’re the social lead in the room and our clients go-to on strategy. You’d be managing & developing our social media team, while still having your hands in the work.

You get to work on national accounts in w**e, spirits, beverage, lifestyle, and more. Strategy, creative, digital, photography, and video all sit under one roof, which means when a campaign needs a shoot, you can step into our full in-house studios and corral the team to create, instead of losing time!

Link’s below. And if somebody came to mind while you were reading this, send it to them…TIA!

The Opportunity We're hiring a Senior Social Media Manager to lead social strategy and ex*****on across a growing roster of national brands...

09/29/2026

What a night. 🙌

Our team was so excited to support the Set Free Alliance gala last Thursday, and even more excited to share that the evening raised well over $1,000,000 and counting with additional matching gifts available for donations received this week!

We can’t wait to see the miracles that amount does for this incredible cause.

Thank you to the whole Set Free team, and to everyone who showed up and gave. If you missed it, you can still support the work here: setfreealliance.org/get-involved-donate

09/25/2026

We’re honored to be part of this year’s gvlMOD Modern Home Tour as the only commercial building chosen.

Each year, gvlMOD opens the doors to original mid-century, contemporary, and renovated modern spaces around Greenville. Most are private homes. Their owners generously invite the rest of us inside. Presented by gvlMOD and sponsored in part by Wilson Associates Real Estate in association with AIA Greenville, the tour is for anyone who loves architecture, design, history, or just a really good house.

Our stop has a little history of its own. Before it was an agency, our building was a radio station. Much of that original design is still here, and Sunday, we get to share it.

September 27, 1–5pm. Tickets are on sale now. 👇

gvlmod.com/tickets

09/22/2026

Michael Catanzaro and Patty Gallardo on the Carolina Business Podcast. The episode's live. 🎙️

Brand isn't the logo, and it isn't a marketing department. It's whether a customer meets the same company every time they run into you. The website, the sales call, the invoice, the way the phone gets answered, the thing they see on Instagram at 11pm.

Most companies are three or four different companies depending on where you happen to meet them. Nobody inside notices, because from the inside you only ever see one channel at a time. The customer sees all of them.

That's the conversation, plus a few things these two have never said out loud on a podcast before.

Thanks to Cristina Waingart Gerrald and Carolina Business Podcast’s team for having them. Full episode below. 👇

What does it really mean to build a strong brand? In this episode of the Carolina Business Leaders Podcast, Cristina sits down with Michael Catanzaro, President and Chief Brand Officer, and Patty Gallardo, Senior Vice President of Growth and Performance at The Brand Leader in Greenville, South Carol...

09/18/2026

People just get quiet about it, which leadership sometimes mistakes for things being fine.

Culture isn’t something a team has. It’s something leadership is doing, whether they meant to or not.

Michael Catanzaro on where to actually start. 👇

09/18/2026

People just get quiet about it, which leadership sometimes mistakes for things being fine.

Culture isn’t something a team has. It’s something leadership is doing, whether they meant to or not.

Michael Catanzaro on where to start. 👇

09/17/2026

Somebody asks for a viral video about once a month. It’s never a dumb request. Everyone’s seen a small brand blow up overnight and thought, why not us.

The trouble is that “go viral” isn’t really a strategy. It’s a hope with a budget attached. You throw a bunch of stuff at the wall, something sticks or it doesn’t, and either way you learn almost nothing you can use next month.

And the part people skip past: even when it works, it usually works on the wrong people. A hundred thousand strangers watched a thing. Great. Could any of them tell you what company made it? Would you want them as customers?

What actually moves the needle is less exciting to say out loud. Know who you’re talking to well enough that you could pick them out of a crowd. Then show up for them over and over until they recognize you before they’ve read the name.

Because that’s the real competition. Not other brands, the thumb. People are moving fast, and the only thing that stops them is something that already feels familiar.

Patty Gallardo on why consistency beats the swing. 👇

09/15/2026

Every CEO we work with eventually asks some version of the same question: if I’m not measuring brand by sales, what am I supposed to measure?

The honest answer is that you’re probably looking in the wrong place for it. Brand doesn’t really live in a dashboard. It lives in how people talk about you when you’re not in the room, and there’s no column for that.

Michael Catanzaro got into it. Worth the minute. 👇

09/14/2026

Welcome to the family, CreaBoost Creatine! 🙌

We’re thrilled to have them on board and even more excited about what we’re building together.

Our team already spent two days on set with them this summer and it was a great preview of how this partnership is going to run.

Here’s to the growth ahead on all channels. We’re ready! 🎉