HRNDN Brand Agency
Brand strategy focused + Your marketing hub.
A Full Service Virtual Agency
We offer complete brand marketing solutions without the useless headshots and beer kegs.
We're a strategic agency focused on making solutions make sense. We do that by bringing you big-picture strategy and building a virtual team of hand-selected experts to fit your needs – without charging a premium for overhead.
We work with some of the greatest creatives in the world, and we serve as the hub for everything you need, but only when you need it.
It’s How You Use It
After 20 years in the agency business, we have done it all. Now, we’re doing it better by thinking small. We focus on what’s important, and ‘billable hours’ ain’t it.
Here's what you get when you work with us.
- A laser focus on the score and not the status meetings.
- A deck stacked with experts to give you an advantage.
- The most fuel without the overhead to burn it off.
Work With HRNDN
Explore our Fractional CMO program or connect with us to discuss your next brand project.
Plans and PricingAbout The Founder
HRNDN Brand Agency was Founded by Daniel Herndon.
His background includes cafes and consulting firms, rock bands and national brands, equipping him to deliver what you need – perspective.
Daniel is a prolific writer, brand strategist, and dynamic leader.
He's also CEO of Breaking the Silence with a Joke. Although he may not take himself too seriously, he definitely takes brand communications very seriously. We've never seen anyone obsess over a headline or positioning statement more than he does, and it pays off for our clients.
His desire to understand each client partner and his tendency to question assumptions bring an insightful angle to brand strategy work. His work includes economic development, home services, higher education, and restaurant brands. He's been at or near the helm of an ad agency for two decades, or before anyone had ever determined if Shakira's hips would lie.
One Million Years of Experience.
Well, not quite, but for the last couple of decades, Daniel’s work with clients has reached across the USA. He first launched his marketing career in the music business in 2006 and pursued brand endorsement partnerships. Eventually, he would shift the focus of the business to building corporate brands. He merged, bought and sold agencies over the years before launching HRNDN in 2025.
Writer. Ad Man. Food Eater.
Daniel was recognized in the Indianapolis Business Journal's Forty Under 40 in 2011, back when he was fortunate enough to still be under 40. His first swing at publishing was co-authoring Facebook All In One for Dummies on Wiley Publishing in 2012. He now writes (and illustrates) a political satire newsletter at danielkherndon.com where he publishes at least once a week.
You'll also see his writing on marketing and brand strategy right here. Sign up to get insightful articles in your inbox most weeks.
On the occasion he feels the need to work with his hands, you might find him building and selling custom poker tables, among other woodworking projects. Other times, he'll be playing on those very tables, with mixed financial results but a net positive on friendships. To keep sharp, he also serves on the board of the NO MORE Foundation, an international agency focused on creating awareness of domestic violence issues, and John Boner Neighborhood Centers, a vital organization supporting quality of life for the Near Eastside of Indianapolis.
Daniel with his wife and business partner, Carrie, live in Indianapolis and are young empty-nesters with two adult daughters. In his spare time, he studies philosophy, charcuterie, and other cured meats. He’s a devout bourbon enthusiast but religiously abstains from soda.