Top Company 2021: Advertising, Marketing & Digital Marketing

In its 34th year, ColoradoBiz‘s Top Company honors the Colorado companies that have drive, determination, a vision and a plan and are ultimately making the state a better place to live and work. These three companies – one winner and two finalists –represent the 2021 Top Companies in Advertising, Marketing and Digital Marketing. 

WINNER

Insight Designs Web Solutions 

Boulder

In 22 years as a digital agency, Insight Designs has designed and developed custom websites and web and mobile applications for more than 500 clients on six continents.The firm’s 19 problem solvers and idea people focus on helping clients find the most effective ways to engage their customers. All design, development and strategy is done in-house. Insight Designs’ hallmark is developing sites and apps that are sophisticated yet intuitive and easy to use.

Founded by two print journalism veterans – one a reporter, the other a photographer – Insight Designs has appeared on scores of “Best of” or “Fastest Growing” lists, but more than these distinctions, the company values what it builds. Among those is a patented technology it co-developed to automatically caption and tag photographs based on facial recognition and geolocation metadata. Insight Designs used this technology in creating a custom photo and video sharing platform that has since been purchased by Shutterfly.

“Building custom software solutions and solving complex problems for our clients is our real pride and joy,” says founding partner Beth Krodel.

Along with making substantial financial donations and providing pro bono work for many local causes, Insight Designs encourages work-life balance and strives to create a low-stress office environment. It shows, as one-third of its employees have been with the firm more than a decade. Accommodations include work-from-home flexibility (even before COVID); dogs in the office; a seven-minute workout – all hands on deck – three times a week; mid-day staff hikes and bike rides; happy hours and birthday parties; group breakfasts and volunteer events. The company also keeps a fully stocked kitchen, offers a 5% finder’s fee for any successful new business opportunities that staff alerts the firm to, and annual staff retreats (in 2019, the whole team went to Mexico).

FINALISTS

The Idea Marketing

Denver

As a firm dedicated to social causes, The Idea Marketing and its entire team are committed to the betterment of their communities.  From increasing parent engagement with their children’s education, improving adult-teen relationships to avoid risky behaviors, and stopping the growth of Covid-19 in Colorado, The Idea Marketing has become a catalyst for the growth and wellbeing of Colorado.

Since 2020, The Idea Marketing has worked with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment and the Office of the Governor in developing and implementing both the Covid-19 Prevention Campaign and the Vaccination Campaign.  The 12-employee firm’s expertise in applying non-traditional marketing strategies and connecting with hard-to-reach audiences helped Colorado achieve one of the 16 highest vaccination rates in the country.

All members of The Idea Marketing team are experts at developing inclusive and integrated social marketing campaigns that move people to action and improve personal and public welfare. About 80% of the firm’s portfolio is made up of government agencies and nonprofits.

La Storia Productions

Boulder/Denver

La Storia is a family-run business started by two brothers from Colorado who got their hands on an old camera. Thankfully, their love for storytelling and natural knack for creating films outweighed their fear of starting a company in a completely unknown industry. Fast forward 10 years, and that initial spark of brotherly passion has propelled La Storia to create high-end commercials on an international scale for renowned clients including Lamborghini, Canon, Home Depot, American Airlines, Seagate and Boar’s Head Brand, among others.

La Storia crafts top-shelf, financially accessible, cinematic marketing content for clients looking for fresh ideas, impactful outcomes, and a trusted creative partner that’s committed to collaboration for the long haul.

This year, La Storia Productions designed and implemented a proprietary, secure, digital dashboard developed specifically for La Storia clients to simplify workflows, streamline communication and manage media assets. Elevating the overall project experience for clients, this exclusive portal is changing the process of video production from start to finish and to the best of the firm’s knowledge, it’s the first of its kind.