Garrett Gillin — CV

Two national agencies, eight years of graduate teaching at Brandeis, and board service in Philadelphia. The short version of what I do and where I do it.

Garrett Gillin is co-founder and partner of two national award-winning agencies: 215 Marketing, a growth marketing agency founded in Philadelphia in 2013, and Units, a franchise marketing agency. He has been adjunct graduate faculty at Brandeis University since 2018, was an early board member of Sharing Excess — one of the fastest-growing food-insecurity nonprofits in the world — and holds a B.S. in Biotechnology from East Stroudsburg University and an MBA from Drexel University.

Agencies

215 Marketing

Co-Founder & Partner

National growth marketing agency · Philadelphia · 2013 – present

The agency I co-founded in Philadelphia in 2013. 215 Marketing works with multi-location operators, service businesses, and growth-stage brands that need measurable pipeline rather than activity. I grew it from a two-person shop into a national team and built the leadership group that runs it.

Demand generation and lead acquisition
Multi-location and local SEO
Paid media across search and social
Marketing operations, CRM, and attribution
Content and production

Inc. 5000 (2x national, 1x regional) · Philadelphia100® · Philly's Fast 50 · Google Premier Partner · HubSpot Platinum Partner

Visit 215marketing.com →

Units

Co-Founder & Partner

National franchise marketing agency

A national, franchise-only agency built around the full franchise lifecycle — from selling the first unit to supporting the thousandth location. I co-founded Units with Jon Vogel because franchise brands kept hiring generalist agencies for a problem that isn't general. Today it supports 100+ franchise brands and 1,200+ locations.

Franchise development and unit sales marketing
National brand marketing and marketing fund management
Grand opening and new location launch
Local store marketing across the network
Franchisee education and marketing adoption

Adweek Fastest Growing Agencies · Entrepreneur Top Supplier (2x)

Visit units.marketing →

Both agencies are national and both run as one practice. Franchise work goes through Units; everything else goes through 215 Marketing. Same partners, same standards, different market.

Teaching

Brandeis University

Adjunct Faculty, Rabb School of Continuing Studies

Division of Graduate Professional Studies · 2018 – present

I teach graduate courses in conversion rate optimization, search engine marketing, and search engine optimization in the graduate professional studies division, to students who mostly already have jobs and want to know why methods work rather than which button to press. I also sit on the Faculty and Advisory Board for the M.S. in Digital Marketing and Design, which shapes the curriculum. Brandeis is an R1 research university and a member of the Association of American Universities.

Formal bulletin title: Instructor, Rabb School of Continuing Studies, Division of Graduate Professional Studies.

Brandeis faculty and advisory board →

Board service

Sharing Excess, Inc.

Board of Directors (early board member)

Food-rescue nonprofit · Philadelphia

I joined the board early in the organization's life, when it was still proving out the model. Sharing Excess moves surplus food from wholesalers, markets, and farms to communities that need it, and has since grown into one of the fastest-growing food-insecurity nonprofits in the world.

Visit sharingexcess.com →

Writing

Two Castles

Author

Children's book about chess

A simple children's book I wrote as a passion project after teaching my daughter chess when she was a toddler. It's an introduction to the pieces and the board, not a strategy manual.

Visit twocastles.com →

More about the book →

Education

MBA, Marketing and Entrepreneurship — Drexel University, 2014.
B.S., Biotechnology — East Stroudsburg University, 2011.

Recognition

Personal

Titan 100 Philadelphia, 2026
Adjunct Graduate Faculty, Brandeis University
MBA, Drexel University
Author, Two Castles

215 Marketing & Units

Adweek Fastest Growing Agencies, 2025
Inc. 5000 (2x national, 1x regional)
Philadelphia100®, 2025
Philly's Fast 50, 2025
Entrepreneur Top Supplier (2x)
Google Premier Partner
HubSpot Platinum Partner

How I work with operators lives on Focus, and the full recognition record is on the press page.

Questions about Garrett's roles

What companies does Garrett Gillin own?

He is co-founder and partner of 215 Marketing, a national growth marketing agency founded in Philadelphia in 2013, and of Units, a national franchise marketing agency. Both are national; Units is franchise-specific. They run as one practice with two market-facing brands.

Where does Garrett Gillin teach?

At Brandeis University, since 2018. He is adjunct graduate faculty in the Rabb School of Continuing Studies, Division of Graduate Professional Studies, and sits on the Faculty and Advisory Board for the M.S. in Digital Marketing and Design. He teaches graduate courses in conversion rate optimization, search engine marketing, and search engine optimization.

What board does Garrett Gillin serve on?

He was an early board member of Sharing Excess, Inc., a Philadelphia-born food-rescue nonprofit that has grown into one of the fastest-growing food-insecurity nonprofits in the world. Sharing Excess moves surplus food from wholesalers, markets, and farms to communities that need it.

Which of Garrett's agencies should I contact?

If you are a franchisor, franchise developer, or multi-unit franchisee, start with Units. If you are a multi-location or growth-stage operator outside of franchising, start with 215 Marketing. Either way, a note through this site reaches Garrett directly.

Not sure where to start?

Send one note describing the business you're growing. I'll point you at the right team, mine or someone else's.

Get in Touch