Rebuilding Brands with Purpose and Passion – Exclusive Interview with Rachael Chestnut

Rachael Chestnut is the Founder and CEO of The Play Nice Agency, a branding firm with a reputation for helping leaders turn their vision into market power and claim meaningful cultural relevance. Her work sits at the intersection of strategy, creativity, and human-centered business, earning recognition for brands that don’t just compete, but scale without losing clarity. One year after relocating her agency’s headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Asheville, Rachael was named Asheville’s Best in Businessand recognized as the city’s leading entrepreneur in the wake of Hurricane Helene rebuilding efforts.

Rachael Chestnut, Builder of Iconic Brands

Who is Rachael Chestnut?

Rachael Chestnut doesn’t just build brands – she rebuilds the way they show up in the world.

Coined a “marketing disruptor” and an “industry maverick,” Rachael has earned her reputation by doing what many won’t: refusing to play it safe. Where others chase trends, she challenges assumptions. Where others try to fit in, she helps brands stand out – boldly, intentionally, and with a deeply human point of view.

Rachael specializes in creating human-centric brand strategies that outperform the competition not by being louder, but by being different. Her unconventional approach to marketing has taken her around the world, leading brand transformation strategy for some of the most highly respected global brands. But no matter how big the stage, Rachael’s focus remains the same: put people first, deliver excellence without ego, and drive results without sacrificing values.

What is The Play Nice Agency, and what inspired you to start it?

The Play Nice Agency (TPNA) is a team of fearless creatives committed to building iconic, human-centric brands that resonate deeply, ignite meaningful conversations, and spark cultural movements. From breathing fresh life into legacy brands to crafting new ones from scratch, TPNA specialize in connecting businesses with the human experience in ways that differentiate and inspire. TPNA serves a diverse portfolio of clients from Startups to Fortune 500 companies, to lifestyle brands, and Tech companies – partnering with clients at every stage of their business growth.

I started The Play Nice Agency after over a decade serving as a Civil Servant working on "super-secret squirrel stuff" in Government, then as a Corporate Communications leader for one of the world’s most prestigious consulting firms. By all accounts, I was thriving professionally, yet something essential was missing. I began asking myself a critical question: “Am I truly making a difference?”

I couldn’t confidently answer “yes.” Despite the valuable work I did, I found it hard to see how I was improving people’s lives or transforming the way business is conducted. Business often felt transactional, impersonal, detached from the very people it aimed to serve – and that didn’t sit well with me.

I wanted more. I wanted to create tangible change and foster a better way of doing business – one where people, relationships, and honesty are at the core. I wanted to show that organizations can build trust, communicate transparently, and deeply value the individuals they serve.

This realization motivated me to take the leap and start The Play Nice Agency – determined to build something that not only makes businesses better but also use this platform as an opportunity to build brands that are centered around purpose and making a positive impact on their communities and people every day.

How would you describe your unique approach to branding and marketing?

My approach to branding and marketing is built on one simple belief: the best creative work doesn’t come from the outside looking in – it comes from being truly embedded.

That’s why my team doesn’t operate like a traditional agency with a “project manager” layer and a handoff-style workflow. Instead, our team functions as an extension of our client’s team. We embed ourselves into our client’s organizations to gain a deep, firsthand understanding of their specific business goals, challenges, customers, and what differentiates their brand.

From that level of proximity comes what most agencies can’t deliver: highly customized creative strategies that aren’t templated, surface-level, or built for short-term wins. Everything we create is designed to generate long-term brand love and sustainable growth – not quick hits.

I believe the strongest ideas are built collaboratively, every creative has a seat at the table. Not just to execute – but to contribute, challenge, and elevate the work so what we deliver is high-impact, strategically sound, and impossible to ignore.

What kinds of clients do you serve, and what challenges do they typically face?

We proudly serve a highly diverse portfolio of clients from Startups to Fortune 500 companies, to lifestyle brands, and Tech companies – partnering with clients at every stage of their business growth.

From a brand and marketing perspective, our clients typically come to us when they’re experiencing a few common – and very real – challenges that start to limit growth.

One of the biggest is a lack of clarity and consistency. Many brands have strong products and great teams, but their messaging, visuals, and overall presence don’t fully reflect who they are – or they’re inconsistent across channels, which creates confusion and weakens trust.

Another common challenge is blending brand and performance marketing effectively. A lot of companies either lean too heavily into short-term conversion tactics (and the brand starts to feel generic), or they focus on aesthetics and storytelling without a clear path to measurable growth. Our clients often need a strategy that connects both – building long-term brand love and driving results.

Lastly, and perhaps most commonly, brands come to us when they’re struggling with differentiation in crowded markets. Especially in consumer categories, it’s easy to look and sound like everyone else. Clients come to us because they know they’re good – but they need help becoming unmistakable.

How do you help brands connect authentically with their audiences?

We help brands connect authentically by doing something surprisingly rare in marketing: we tell the truth – strategically.

Authentic connection doesn’t come from chasing trends, forcing slang, or trying to “sound like the internet.” It comes from clarity. We dig deep to understand what makes a brand actually different, then translate that into messaging and creative that feels human, intentional, and consistent across every touchpoint.

We also don’t believe in “marketing at people.” We build brands that speak with their audience, not at them, through storytelling that resonates and experiences that make customers feel seen. Because the truth is: People don’t fall in love with products. They fall in love with brands that get them.

And when you get that right? You don’t just build brand awareness – you build loyalty, community, and the kind of trust money can’t buy.

What results or impact can clients expect when working with you?

Clients can expect more than “pretty creative” when they partner with us. They can expect measurable growth (think owned digital marketing channels and earned media placements) and a brand people actually remember.

We help brands sharpen their positioning, elevate their presence, and turn marketing into something that drives real momentum: more attention, stronger loyalty, and better conversion. In short: your brand becomes clearer, bolder, and harder to ignore – with creative that performs, not just looks good. We take the guesswork out of our clients’ most audacious marketing problems to build brand strategies that are built to win in the long term.

What’s one common mistake businesses make with their brand, and how do you fix it?

Here’s the most common branding mistake we see every day: Businesses will invest in a new logo, refined color palette, and a nice website, while never defining what they truly stand for, who they’re speaking to, or why anyone should choose them over the next brand in the scroll.

On paper, they look “fine”, but they’re easily forgettable. And today’s market doesn’t reward “fine” brands. We’ve experienced them our entire lives. And, collectively, we’re no longer impressed by how fancy a website looks. Consumers want to know who you are and what makes you different from every other business.

We go deeper than aesthetics. Sure, we build beautiful websites and logos. But more importantly, we help our clients clarify their brand’s positioning, messaging, and personality – then translate that into creative and marketing that’s consistent across every touchpoint.

What’s a breakthrough moment in your career that shaped how you work today?

One of the defining moments in my career was when my agency secured a contract with The Washington Commanders to create the country’s first rotating art exhibit in an NFL stadium lounge. It was a project that pushed us into uncharted territory, both creatively and professionally. Working with local DC artists, we reimagined the stadium’s largest lounge under the theme “The Vibrancy of Change.” This included crafting immersive art experiences, launching a dedicated eCommerce art website, and designing branded lounge collateral for both The Washington Commanders and Sire Spirit.

The impact of this achievement was profound. This was not only a high-profile client but also an opportunity in an industry we’d never entered before. The project had tight deadlines, complex logistics, and a host of key stakeholders, making it a monumental challenge. Yet we delivered a one-of-a-kind experience that celebrated art, football, and community. It put our agency on the map, earning us recognition as a household name in our field. It also fundamentally reshaped the way we approached new clients – with boldness, confidence, and the belief that no challenge is too great.

The biggest lesson I took away from this? The sky is the limit. Success starts with believing in the possibility of what you can achieve. When you dare to think bigger, you’ll find yourself in the company of champions. This moment taught me there’s no such thing as impossible.

How do you blend creativity with strategy for client success?

Creativity and strategy are a power couple, not two separate departments. So many businesses segment these roles into parts of their larger marketing machine, often without requiring their talent to deliver on the core elements of both roles.

Strategy gives the work direction, asking the critical questions like who we are talking to, what they care about, and what we need them to do. While creativity acts as the impact mechanism of your larger strategic framework. Creativity is what makes people stop scrolling, lean in, and remember you, but without strategic direction, even the most scroll-stopping creative won’t make a measurable impact on your brand’s growth.

We start with the “why” and the “who,” then build bold, human-centered creative that’s designed to perform – not just look good in a presentation. Because at the end of the day, strategy without creativity is forgettable. And creativity without strategy is just expensive art.

What should business leaders know before deciding to invest in professional branding and marketing help?

Before investing in professional branding and marketing support, business leaders should know three things:

First: define what success means to YOU. “Success” is relative, and marketing can’t hit a target you haven’t named. Before you spend a dollar, get crystal clear on the KPIs that matter most – revenue, CAC, LTV, retention, conversion rate, brand awareness, pipeline, whatever it is. If you don’t know what you’re measuring against, you’re not investing in work that’s going to generate a long-term impact.

Second: great marketing doesn’t happen overnight. No, we’re not going to spend three months locked in a room doing a comprehensive business analysis (some firms will – and sometimes that’s needed). But if you’re looking for strategic growth that’s enduring and positioned for the long-term, you need to invest more than money into your marketing plan – you need time. Quick wins may look like they happen overnight (and occasionally they do), but more often than not, what you’re seeing is the result of a strategy that quietly took a brand from good to great.

Third: be your brand’s biggest fan, but don’t be its bottleneck. You know your business better than anyone – and that insight is priceless. But if you hire marketing and branding professionals, you have to loosen the grip on control and be willing to try new things. It’s scary. It’s also necessary. Saying you want to pay for transformation while insisting everything stays the same is a waste of your budget and everyone’s time.

What’s one thing you want potential clients to know before they contact you?

In my 12+ years as a marketing leader, I can assure you the devil is always in the details. And we don’t skip them.

The Play Nice Agency is on a relentless pursuit to build one-of-a-kind brand identities that are bold, authoritative, and still genuinely welcoming – the kind of brands people trust, remember, and want to be part of. But getting there requires more than a few mood boards and “good vibes.”

We’re going to ask questions – the hard ones. And that means you’ll need to show up with intellectual honesty and without ego. We’re not a “yes man” agency. We push back. We dig deep. We challenge assumptions. And we never settle for the first easy solution just because it’s convenient.

If you choose to work with us, know this: you’re an integral part of your own marketing journey. We’ll do the heavy lifting – absolutely – but we need you to arm us with the best information possible so we can do our job at the highest level.

So, if you’re looking to be totally hands-off, we’re not the agency for you.

Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

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