Dawn & Co.: Birmingham’s Black-Owned Marketing Agency That Goes Deep Before It Goes Wide

There is no shortage of marketing agencies in Birmingham. There is, however, a shortage of agencies that will sit with you long enough to understand what you actually do — why it matters, who it’s for, and what it means to the community you serve. That’s the gap Kayla Dawn Gladney built Dawn & Co. to fill.

Gladney grew up in Birmingham, studied Film Production at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and minored in African American Studies — a combination that turned out to be a perfect education for the work she would eventually build her life around. Between her degree and a series of digital marketing jobs, she developed the technical skills to bring a brand to life visually. But it was her minor, and her love for her community, that positioned her to do something rarer: tell the stories of Black-owned businesses and historically Black institutions with the depth and care they’ve always deserved.

Dawn & Co. is Birmingham’s premier Black-owned, woman-owned digital marketing agency — specializing in brand development, messaging, website design, graphic design, social media management, and video production for purpose-driven organizations. Their clients aren’t businesses looking for a logo refresh. They’re organizations with a mission, a legacy, a community that depends on them — and a story that hasn’t been told right yet.

The portfolio speaks to the weight of that work. Dawn & Co. has served 16th Street Baptist Church — the Birmingham landmark bombed in 1963 in one of the most defining acts of racial terror in American history — helping bring its digital presence into the modern era without losing a single note of its historical gravity. They’ve worked with the Historic District Development Corporation in Atlanta, founded by Coretta Scott King to preserve Dr. King’s childhood home and the surrounding community. They designed the brand identity for All HAANDS on Deck, a nonprofit rooted in community uplift. And they’ve taken on growth-stage companies and civic organizations alike, helping each one clarify its message and amplify its reach.

“We go deep in our process,” Gladney says. “The better we understand, the more informed our design will be — and the more impactful our strategy will be.”

That process is built on three commitments the team holds above everything else. Self-determination: they create for themselves, build for themselves, and speak for themselves — and they bring that same conviction to every client. Problem-solving: no matter the challenge, they’re savvy enough to figure it out. And access to information: they believe in equipping clients with the tools they need to be self-sufficient, not in keeping secrets to protect their own job security.

The team is small by design and powerful by intention. Kayla leads the creative vision and client strategy. Rachel Reitz, Chief of Creative Strategy, brings research-based communication expertise and a career built on helping nonprofits and mission-driven organizations connect with the audiences that matter most. Grace Brigham, Video Editor, is a self-taught visual storyteller whose background in music composition gives her an uncommon ear for how a story should feel, not just look.

Dawn & Co. has screened film work at Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham and BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta. Gladney was a finalist in the Tribeca Film Institute’s If/Then Pitch Competition at the New Orleans Film Festival in 2019. These are not marketing credentials. They are filmmaker credentials — and that’s the difference between an agency that designs for you and one that tells your story.

If you’ve been looking for a team that will go deep before they go wide — that will learn your organization from the inside out before they build a single page or post a single photo — you just found them.

dawnandco.co · @dawnandco_bham