Continually building with world class talent, the production company signals confidence in what’s coming next by betting on where it started
ST. LOUIS, MO, UNITED STATES, July 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Continuing its commitment to downtown St. Louis, Coolfire has moved back to 415 N. 10th Street where the company was founded in February 2002, almost exactly 25 years ago.
While the 415 building is the same, the industry is completely different. Coolfire has weathered the challenges and thrived with regular transformation.
“We’ve made it 25 years in a business where most companies don’t make it 10,” said Jeff Keane, founder of Coolfire. “That’s because we’ve never waited for an industry trend to become normal before we started preparing for it.”
Coolfire’s evolution (and move) is celebrated with the company’s usual amazing creative visual storytelling, as seen in this hype video that flies through the new space. View the great video to showcase the 415 space here: https://vimeo.com/1200199859/563c639782?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
Over those 2.5 decades, every time the media business reorganized itself, Coolfire reorganized with it. Coolfire shut down business lines that weren’t working, spun off companies when needed, and survived five major industry shifts when most production shops don’t survive the first one.
Behind every shift was a team of artists and producers who weren’t afraid to learn new skills. Many of Coolfire’s key team members have been with the company for 15+ years, a rarity in an industry known for high turnover. That institutional knowledge and deep bench of talent is a big part of why Coolfire could keep reinventing itself.
The first shift came around 2004. Coolfire started doing mostly corporate work, but relationships with ad agencies opened up a different path. The company began producing television spots for regional and national brands. That became its core business for years.
When the internet changed how people engage with and consume media, Coolfire moved into interactive creative. It built websites, then mobile apps. Eventually that work spun off into Coolfire Solutions, a separate company that built custom software for the U.S. military and Enterprise. The app business proved that the company could identify where things were headed.
The popularity of reality television provided a similar opportunity. Coolfire started developing shows, and that became Coolfire Originals. The company sold over 20 series to major cable networks including Discovery, History, Lifetime, Esquire, and HGTV. Two of them became major hits: “Fast and Loud” on Discovery and “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” on OWN. At their peak, both were the top-rated programs on their respective networks. “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” won two NAACP Image Awards for best reality series.
“When we started Coolfire Originals, nobody thought a St. Louis production company could sell shows to Discovery and OWN,” said Steve Luebbert, EVP, Unscripted Programming and Branded Entertainment. “But we did it. That’s the kind of mentality that’s been here from the beginning. Don’t accept limitations, just figure out how to do it.”
When the industry shifted toward branded content and digital distribution, Coolfire adapted again. It started offering paid media services so it could control where the content ended up, not just create it.
This led to Coolfire’s Digital Engagement division developing digital series and audience engagement strategies for brands like Build-A-Bear, Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s “The Science of St. Louis Blues Hockey,” Climate Company’s FieldView, and the launch of Brown and Crouppen’s BCTV channel featuring shows like “Ed Versus” and “3 Lawyers Eating Sandwiches”.
Now Coolfire works with major national clients on everything from TV spots to branded documentaries, including recent work such as:
• United Van Lines & Mayflower spots use family bonds and emotion for these national moving companies
• CarShield “Legends Lane” stars Jake Neighbours and Brayden Schenn sharing their ultimate STL summer adventures.
• Kings of the Beach is an independently financed documentary around 80s/90s beach volleyball
“Like we have for more than two decades, Kings of the Beach again proves we could develop and execute original content, not just service clients,” said David Johnson, President. “We believe in the story and have made it happen independently. That same approach of finding something worth telling and telling it right drives everything we do.”
The most recent creative advertising shift was toward exploring new tools like Higgsfield and Seedance which incorporate advanced AI processing to bring incredible visuals from concept to screen at the speed of content consumption. Last summer, the founders saw what was coming with generative AI tools for content creation. They moved fast and started Screenburn, a separate company focused on hybrid concepts that keep the human performance element. The Coolfire LawStars business is primarily aimed at personal injury law firms right now.
“We’re excited to keep exploring new technologies and how it can help fire up clients about using video in general,” said Jeremy Corray, Co-founder, Creative Director, Screenburn. “Applications like Seedance and Higgsfield are part of the toolbox that will never replace human storytelling. It’s an exciting time for brands, agencies and creators and we want to stay on top of these trends.”
Screenburn recently earned two Golden Gavel Awards for innovative legal advertising campaigns that broke the mold of traditional lawyer marketing. The wins for Miley Legal Group’s AI-forward “AI of the Tiger” and The Morgan Law Group’s cinematic “OMG Call MLG” demonstrate the power of bold creative paired with measurable results.
No matter the industry trends, Coolfire is positioned to capitalize. The company knows how to tell stories in any format: 30-second spots to branded digital series to documentaries to AI-hybrid content. The founders see themselves as storytellers who help clients figure out the right solution, not just producers who execute orders.
“With AI, we have a whole new set of tools and techniques to offer our clients,” Keane said. “But fundamentally, we’re still storytellers. That’s what’s kept us relevant through every shift in this industry.”
Looking back on the 25 years, Keane emphasizes a commitment to St. Louis. When Coolfire outgrew the 10th Street space in 2013, they moved to 1101 Lucas, still downtown.
“Returning to 415 is exciting,” Keane said. “The space allows for closer team collaboration while still being an awesome client experience. Bigger picture, we could have gone to LA or New York for all of this at any point. We stayed because the cost of doing business here is reasonable, and because the people who work here are world class.”
The move back to 415 N. 10th Street is a signal. After 12 years away, Coolfire is betting that the next chapter of their business is written from the very place where it started.
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ABOUT COOLFIRE
Coolfire is a St. Louis-based creative production company founded in 2002. The company produces television commercials, branded content, documentaries, and digital media for national and regional clients. Coolfire has launched two successful spinoff companies: Coolfire Solutions (custom software for military and enterprise clients) and Screenburn (AI-enhanced content production). For more, visit coolfire.com.
Sean Hixson
BTLPR
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