An excellent marketing firm changing minds + moving markets for brands it believes in: Ideabar

Ideabar is an integrated marketing + media agency that tells powerful brand stories. Ideabar is a data-driven, wildly creative and fluent in all media. Ideabar’s brand strategists, creative professionals, research analysts and media planners measure success by its client’s ROI and smiling faces. The company is based in sunny Palm Beach, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia. Ideabar’s parent company Cox Enterprises, a private, global, values-driven corporation with 55,000 employees and $21 Billion in annual revenue, has been investing in long-term growth since 1898. The garage was a windowless office. The year was 2012. And the first girl was a journalist-turned marketer-turned-intrapreneur who disrupted from the inside out by listening – really listening – to the growth challenges of hundreds of brand and business leaders. What started as the marketing consultancy of a legacy media publication grew into an independent marketing + media agency by fearlessly pursuing the most relevant ways to grow the clients’ businesses. Ideabar’s team’s expertise comes from advertising, media, publishing and tech.

Ideabar+ Taos

Ideabar, an integrated brand + media agency, has joined hands with Taos Bakes, a taste-obsessed, healthy snack company that is redefining the way we snack. “We believe in brands that challenge their category by giving natural-minded consumers choices in the pursuit of personal wellness,” said Amy Royster, Founder and Managing Director of Ideabar. “Taos Bakes products taste great. My family loves them, particularly the toasted coconut and vanilla bean bake. Our agency family loves them. We are dedicated to making sure more people discover the brand.” Ideabar is working alongside Taos to shift the conversation from calorie-counting and arbitrary health claims to the celebration of authentically good taste and intuitive eating. The partnership will include strategic branding and media services, starting with an influencer campaign with celebrity sportscaster Erin Andrews and football legend Troy Aikman. The collaboration was inspired by their affinity for health and wellness and passion for great snacks with wholesome ingredients.

“Being on the road during the football season, I don’t always have time for a full meal and that’s where having a healthy snack nearby is important,” said Andrews. “That is why Taos Bakes, with their wholesome ingredients, is my go to bar.” Aikman said, “I’m thrilled to partner with a brand that aligns with my views on holistic health and whole ingredients. Once I took a bite of the Toasted Coconut bar, I knew I needed to work with Taos Bakes to share their products with as many people as possible.” “Ideabar understands our brand, target audience and category,” said Kyle Hawari, CEO of Taos Bakes. “We are enthusiastic about working with the Ideabar team because they bring expertise in branding and media and a real love of our products.”

The “Press On” project

The “Press On” project is the result of a tightly focused brand strategy expressed by Ideabar in a new visual and verbal brand identity system that recognizes the enterprise’s long history, points to an increasingly digital future and highlights the personal calling and rigorous work of its journalists. “It’s an honor to come alongside a major American journalism organization as it stands up to tell its own story to the community about why the real journalism produced by its journalists is essential in 2021 and worth paying for and supporting in new ways,” said Ideabar Managing Director Amy Royster Bridger. “As a former journalist who formed Ideabar a decade ago to tell powerful brand stories, this work is deeply meaningful. An interdisciplinary team at the agency with diverse backgrounds from advertising, media and tech poured a shared passion for local journalism into this project.”

As of today, all products by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will carry a single, new masthead designed by Ideabar to ensure readers know all news and information by the organization is credible, fact-based local journalism, regardless of where or how it is published. Previously the organization’s short-hand moniker (“the AJC”) had been elevated to brand status across digital platforms. “Whether in print or across a robust offering of digital products, we are one brand — The Atlanta-Journal Constitution,” said publisher Donna B. Hall. In-depth research conducted in part by Ideabar reveals that readers turn to the organization for real, rigorous news and that they see an active free press as essential to a functioning democracy. “Subscribers and general news readers alike really trust our full name and the important role journalists play in the community.”

The move comes after an unprecedented year for the journalism organization’s public service journalism focused on public health, social issues and Georgia elections. “Readers are increasingly turning to our digital formats and are subscribing to them more than ever,” Hall said. “We are continuing to focus on these readership trends to ensure the journalism is funded by the community. Our name and our journalism have real value. It is worth reading and worth paying for, and we will reserve complete access for our subscribers, who help pay for our journalists’ work.” A multimedia campaign created by Ideabar, which will span digital and social channels as well as broadcast, print and outdoor, highlights 11 journalists and focuses on what makes them press on with their hard, behind-the-scenes work. “It’s all about their calling and their persistence to get the facts, the real story,” said vice president of marketing, Amy Chown. The yearlong campaign carries the consistent message of “Press On.”

Meet the leader behind the success of Ideabar

Amy Royster, Founder and Managing Director, founded Ideabar in 2012 for Cox Enterprises. A modern storyteller with 20 years of experience spanning journalism, media and advertising, she is tenaciously curious. She created Ideabar in the fearless pursuit of relevant ways to tell powerful brand stories. She is passionate about new forms of storytelling, branding, media and advertising.

“We empower brand leaders to tell valuable stories with expert marketing + media services. We know an idea powerfully expressed incites action.”