Local app partners with Jonas Brothers

A Color Story, a popular Springfield-based color-filter app used by millions of people, partnered with the Jonas Brothers on a new promotion.

Trey George, CEO of A Color Story, said the partnership marks the most high-profile celebrity endorsement of the app.

“We’ve had celebrities use the app before, but we’ve never directly collaborated with them at this scale,” he said, noting the company often works with social media influencers on promotions. “That’s been our primary strategy. This is our version of press outreach.”

With the pop band collaboration, A Color Story launched a free pack of filters titled “Happiness Begins,” the same name as the Jonas Brothers’ new album released this month.

George said the partnership amounts to a promotional trade arrangement.

“We feel like we had similar audiences,” he said.

The partnership was announced on Instagram by the Jonas Brothers and A Color Story. The Jonas Brothers post has garnered more than 257,000 likes, with over 17,000 between two posts for A Color Story.

The filter pack is based off the music video for the Jonas Brothers’ song “Cool,” which George said has a 1980s vibe.

A Color Story was started by Springfield lifestyle blog A Beautiful Mess in 2016, when it netted 377,000 downloads in its first three weeks, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

George said the company — incorporated separately from A Beautiful Mess but owned by the same people, Emma Chapman and Elsie Larson — now has a team of nine employees. It’s been downloaded 11.5 million times, he added.