Huntsville ad agency makes a ‘Bold’ move

HUNTSVILLE – Bold Agency, an ad agency based in Huntsville, now owns two words: Bold Brands.

The award-winning business that bills itself as “A Strategic Creative Agency For Bold Brands” trademarked what founder and CEO Lauren Gowins considers the DNA of the agency.

“Trademarking establishes ourselves as owners of that phrase to really hone into the DNA of our agency that we are ‘Bold’,” she said. “We felt that it was necessary to go about trademarking it because it allows us to really separate ourselves as leaders of that statement.”

Bold Agency, the business name, has been trademarked since 2019, but Gowins said other agencies’ use of bold brands has caused confusion.

“National-sized agencies use that term in their copyrighting and their pitch decks,” she said. “Their name could be something completely different, their company name could be completely detached from that statement, but for us, that’s who we are. 

“And now we own it.”

Gowins said because of the trademark, other agencies now have to remove it from their messaging.  

“It reflects both our external and internal type of culture that we have, the type of clients that we work with, the type of work that we do,” she said. “We work with and build bold brands. We can build from the ground up or work with you if you’re already established.”

Bold Agency’s clients include Clearview Cancer Institute, Kent Companies, the City of Huntsville and MartinFed.

Despite only seven full-time employees, Gowins rejects the descriptor small.  

“I wouldn’t say we’re small,” she said. “We’re agile. We’re able to provide very strategic services to clients that are both large and small.”

It seems to be working. The agency has racked up numerous advertising awards: two 2023
Gold ADDY Awards for Integrated Brand Campaigns, a 2022 Gold ADDY Award for National
Integrated Marketing Campaign, a 2022 Judge’s Choice Award for Integrated Brand Campaign and in 2021 the company was awarded Emerging Business Of The Year.

The American Advertising Awards is one of the industry’s largest creative competitions, attracting nearly 35,000 professional and student entries each year.  

Most recently, Gowins was awarded 2024’s Business Leader of the Year by the American Advertising Federation. The award recognizes a business leader or entrepreneur who has the greatest impact on the North Alabama advertising community and the field as a whole.

Also, Account Coordinator Sarah Newberry was honored as this year’s Junior of the Year, an award given to emerging talent.  

“Over the past five years, our agency has received over 35 awards in recognition for our work on both a local and national scale. But what we are most proud of is the impact that the projects we work on make in our community,” said Gowins. “Our team gets to be a part of promoting and developing our city through projects with organizations such as the Huntsville Sports Commission, Huntsville Music Office, Downtown Huntsville Inc., and the Chamber of Commerce.

“As the area’s leading creative agency, we will continue to support North Alabama’s music, arts, and entertainment initiatives.”