Emily Lyman of Branch & Bramble on Why Great Marketing Starts With the Why Behind a Purchase
Emily Lyman is the CEO and founder of Branch & Bramble, a women-owned digital marketing agency that uses behavioral psychology to uncover the emotions behind why someone chooses a brand, and was named a Q3 2026 FBW Awards Winner in the Marketing & Communications Impact category.
Emily returns to Founded by Women after her first feature with us. In this Q&A, she shares what stands behind the work she was recognized for, including A Stake in Stardom, the creator program for America's Best Racing that gave creators real ownership stakes in racehorses, what she wishes she had known at the start, and what is next as the agency focuses on DTC lifestyle brands.
Her perspective is a reminder that the strongest marketing begins with why people buy, and that a fully booked calendar is not the same thing as success.
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Q: What stands behind the work you were recognized for, and what inspires you most about it?
Branch & Bramble is built on the idea that great marketing starts with the why behind a purchase, not instinct or whatever's trending. We use behavioral psychology to uncover the emotions that lead someone to decide a brand is for them, and then build the strategy around that.
A Stake in Stardom, our creator program for America's Best Racing, challenged the assumption that influencer partnerships have to be transactional. Transactional deals tend to produce content that feels paid, so we gave creators real ownership stakes in racehorses instead. The stories they told came from genuine investment, and audiences could feel it.
What inspires me most is the moment a campaign stops feeling like marketing, when people respond because something truly resonated with them.
Q: What is one thing you learned while building Branch & Bramble that you wish you'd known at the start?
I fell into entrepreneurship rather than planning for it, so I learned a lot of things the hard way. One of the biggest lessons being that running at 100% isn't the goal.
A fully booked calendar looks like success, but it leaves no room for anything else. There's no time to think creatively, try new ideas, or give a client extra care when they need it. Now we intentionally keep 20% of our time at Branch & Bramble unbooked, and some of our best ideas come from that breathing room.
Q: What's next for you and Branch & Bramble?
We're focusing on DTC lifestyle brands, the ones selling an identity as much as a product. The challenge we hear again and again is, "We know we have a lifestyle brand. We just don't know how to say it." At its core, that's a psychology problem, which makes it exactly the kind of problem we love solving.
So the next chapter is about going even deeper on behavioral science and partnering with more brands that are ready to figure out what their customers are really buying into.
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