ToolStudios Celebrates 15 Years in Niwot

ToolStudios Celebrates 15 Years in Niwot

NIWOT—August 10—Local advertising agency, ToolStudios, announced it will celebrate 15 years of doing business in Boulder County next month. The company opened on the fateful morning of Sept. 11, 2001, but in weathering those first rocky months, company owner and principal Charles (Charlie) Bell said, “We really had no where to go but up.” ToolStudios moved its offices to downtown Niwot by the end of that first year.

Bell focuses company efforts on “start ups and anyone looking to reinvent themselves,” he said.

Operating with a core of in-house full-time staff (referred to as the company’s “ToolBelt”), the agency also dips into a pool of freelance talent (the “ToolBox”) who are some of the best in the field. With this go-to group of designers and word smiths, “I can take on any job of any size or magnitude,” Bell said.

Some agencies in the area went belly up during the economic turn in 2009, but it’s thanks to Bell’s diverse client list, which covers a spectrum of industries, that helped keep ToolStudios afloat during tough economic times. The company is one of the five oldest advertising agencies in Boulder County, expanding to the company’s current location in 2009.

Diversity among Bell’s clientele includes everything from big drop-ship wholesalers, online retailers and manufacturers to smaller Cannabis growers and dispensaries and realtors. “Last week we were naming a $400 million dollar aluminum mini-mill and writing an ad campaign for an Australian-based condom company—then I was working on location, directing a video shoot for the Random Acts of Kindness organization,” he said.

Keeping it close to home, Bell and his wife, Alyson Varvel Bell (who handles the company finances and organization), are likewise partners in their efforts to enhance Niwot’s economic vitality. ToolStudios recently reworked the town’s website to increase traffic and improve visibility on the web, with traffic up 85% since its launch.

Local pro bono work includes the support collateral and t-shirt design for Niwot Elementary School’s annual fundraiser (the Niwot Trot), along with the school’s directory, and continues with ongoing work on a “Uniquely Niwot” advertising campaign, which is a series of print and web ads that can be found in local newspapers and on Niwot.com.

“We’re trying to capture the flavor of our town,” Bell said about the campaign. “Where else can someone buy a $100,000 car and then walk next door to pick up a 50-lb. bag of goat feed?”

Bell has also been active in shaping Niwot’s image. Company designers developed the marketing materials and logo for the town’s Rock & Rails signature event, as well as “Little Willie,” the baby mastodon that’s become the mascot (and logo) for the soon-to-be Niwot Children’s Park.

About ToolStudios

For fifteen years, ToolStudios® has developed design applications that interpret and graphically convey each client venture’s personality in unique and memorable ways both in the US and abroad. The company’s results-driven design solutions and technical expertise guarantee a cohesive relationship between branding elements, from logo and support icons to strategies and websites, in order to communicate, provoke, inform and impress—resulting in a seamless brand interpreted across multiple platforms and devices.

For more information:

Toolstudios®, llc
http://www.toolstudios.com
Charles Bell, 303-652-8353; cbell@toolstudios.com