Brandon Chesnutt

Brandon Chesnutt is a partner at Identity, a public relations, marketing and creative agency based in Birmingham, Michigan with offices in Chicago and Tampa. Identity’s modern approach to communications–blending proven PR strategies with supercharged campaign-style thinking–has helped the firm build a portfolio of more than 100 clients throughout the United States, including Verizon, Hudsonville Ice Cream, Motown Museum, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Absopure Water, and LA-Z-BOY.

In his role, Chesnutt spearheads all business development and growth initiatives, in addition to serving as senior strategic counsel to Identity’s full client portfolio. He has been a frequent speaker and panelist at dozens of communications conferences around the country and has shared the stage with representatives from the world’s biggest brands, including VISA, Lockheed Martin, Nestle Purina, IBM, Taco Bell, IMAX, Western Union, GoDaddy, and BuzzFeed. Most recently, Chesnutt led a panel at the inaugural PRWeek Crisis Comms Conference in Washington D.C. and was a featured speaker at the first full-day crisis communications boot camp hosted at the 2023 Public Relations Society of America ICON Conference.

A member of the Crain’s Detroit Business “20 in their 20s,” Chesnutt’s business accomplishments, community involvement and viral content have also been featured in PRWeek, Inc. Magazine, Huffington Post, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, FOX 2 News Detroit, Ragan’s PR Daily, REBusinessOnline.com, Mashable, Rolling Stone and Detroit News.

Chesnutt was hired at Identity two weeks after graduating from Oakland University in 2006. He was a Communication major and thought he was going to be a lawyer. Instead, he has been with Identity for nearly 20 years. In that time, he built and launched Identity’s social media practice, hit record revenue targets, and helped the firm earn numerous local, regional and national accolades, including the 2022 winner of Best Crisis Management Response at the PRNews Platinum Awards and Ragan’s PR Daily Media Relations Awards. The firm also was a national finalist for Agency of the Year at the 2023 Ragan’s PR Daily Awards and 2024 PR News Platinum Awards. Identity was recently named to the PRNews Agency Elite Top 100, which recognizes the leading agencies in the United States.