20 Years of Amplifying Good… and We’re Just Getting Warmed Up

By Andrés Zapata, D.Sc. \ June 2, 2025

This year, idfive turns 20. Two decades of scrappy strategy, bold ideas, and relentless optimism. Twenty years of standing with brands who care deeply about their purpose. Two decades of staying curious, embracing the weird, and believing in one beautifully simple truth:

Marketing can—and should—make the world better.

From day one, our mission to amplify good has shaped everything we do. And guess what? It always will.

The Breakfast Years (2005–2012)

Our story began in an office perched above Warner’s Restaurant in downtown Baltimore. It was historic, charming—and permanently scented with bacon grease. That was the upside.

The downside? The best food was upstairs, not downstairs. As one fiver famously joked, “We knew Warner’s was in trouble when the owner walked in with a $5 footlong.”

In that cozy third-floor studio, seven optimistic rebels committed themselves to an unconventional idea. In a marketing landscape fixated on vanity metrics and flashy budgets, we championed informed design (“id,” thank you very much), empowering mission-driven brands to break through the clutter and connect authentically with real people.

We weren’t just building an agency—we were engineering a cohort of doers and powering it with purpose.

Meadow Mill & millennial mayhem (2012–2018)

By 2012, we had outgrown the bacon-scented walls and moved to Meadow Mill—a historic Baltimore landmark known for lamp wicks, canvas sails, and trench coats. It had character, quirks, and just enough unpredictability to keep us on our toes.

Like the unforgettable day the Jones Falls River nearly joined us for lunch. Or the Medow Mill ghost joining us for lunch every day. Or the ceiling tiles that occasionally decided to express themselves by crashing down mid-meeting. Nothing bonds a team faster than a bucket brigade during a thunderstorm.  

From grit turned into greatness

We expanded our services—media planning, branding, digital strategy, and powerful creative campaigns. We proudly partnered with higher education, healthcare, nonprofits, and advocacy leaders, helping them navigate complexity with clarity, creativity, and strategic chaos.

The MICA years (2018–2023)

In 2018, we moved onto MICA’s campus, instantly becoming the hippest crew on Mosher Street (no offense, students). Our giant logo boldly faced the Jones Falls Expressway, a playful rebellion against bland, cookie-cutter marketing.

We leaned deeper into our mission, launching initiatives that nurtured our people and uplifted causes close to our hearts—The Rob Beale Memorial Retreat, idfive Goodies, Giving Days, fundraisers, and more.

Then March 2020 happened

We seamlessly transitioned to remote work before it became trendy. Our productivity stayed strong, our culture stayed vibrant, and the coffee stayed potent. Our hybrid model was born, and we adapted—even if the Mosher HVAC never quite adapted to human temperatures.

New ownership, same heart (2022)

In 2022, long-time fivers Andrés and Caitlin stepped up to lead, officially making idfive a Women- and Minority-Owned agency—deepening our commitment to purpose-driven work.

Ownership shifted, but our heart stayed constant. We’ve always been fivers first—bold, kind, thoughtful, grounded, and fiercely committed to marketing that serves a higher purpose.

Mt. Vernon & the future of awesome (2023–and beyond)

Our new HQ in Mount Vernon is exactly what we needed: walkable, dog-friendly, comfortable—and buzzing with creative energy.

Still amplifying good after all these years

Through recessions, social upheaval, pandemics, AI scares, and the bizarre era of froyo shops turning into CBD dispensaries and crypto ATMs—our mission hasn’t wavered. Not fluff. Not noise. Not clickbait. Just honest-to-goodness good.

We’ve built campaigns that inspire action, designed websites that truly serve visitors, delivered strategies that clarify complexity, and supported organizations in achieving real-world impact. Every step has been taken with heart, hustle, and a healthy disregard for conventional marketing’s “rules.” 

What’s next?

More of what’s gotten us here—and then some. 

We’ll keep experimenting, coming up with bold ideas, and engaging in intentional creativity. We’ll also keep adapting to the twists and turns of technology, culture, and industry, learning, growing, and reinventing ourselves.

We’re experts are making ourselves uncomfortable. We do this because comfort makes people lazy, and discomfort and need sparks innovation.  We’ll keep advancing how to enact the principles of Neurodesign to maximize clarity, joy, and action — oh, yeah, and performance. We’re in the process of writing a book on Neurodesign so that any creator can benefit from and deploy our research-proven methodologies.

Most importantly, we’ll stay impossibly dedicated to championing brands with purpose.

So here’s to 20 incredible years. And to the amazing adventures still to come.