How Cox Enterprises’ communications team collaborates and delivers clarity at scale with Axios HQ

Cox Enterprises’ communications team transformed how 45,000 employees stay informed by pairing strong collaboration with Smart Brevity — proving that great all-staff communications start with a great team.

👉 The challenge: Before Axios HQ, Cox’s all-staff newsletter was sent out every three weeks and required an intensive production and sign-off process. While multiple teams collaborated on the content, building and reviewing each edition was less efficient and more time-consuming than it is today.

The corporate communications team was navigating an evolving enterprise with very different audiences, priorities, and changes. Leaders needed a way to keep their employees informed about what was happening across the entire business, without contributing to noisy inboxes.

The team saw an opportunity to evolve its all-staff communications to:

• Support a collaborative team model: Enable teams to work together in real time without slowing down production.
• Respect employees’ time: Deliver essential Cox updates quickly, concisely, and clearly. 
• Create org-wide situational awareness: Help employees across different teams and divisions understand how their work supports Cox's business as a whole.

🏆  The solution: Cox partnered with Axios HQ to redesign Inside Cox, its now biweekly all-staff newsletter, and to support the way its communications team collaborates on it.

• A new production model: Ideas are submitted through a shared editorial calendar, reviewed by the content team and built directly in Axios HQ. The in-product editing allows the team to work in one place seamlessly — reducing manual steps and streamlining production.
• Smart Brevity as a team standard: The team uses Smart Brevity not just as a format, but as a guiding principle. Inside Cox was designed to deliver the right amount of information to not only inform employees, but spark interest, engagement, and alignment in a concise way. 
  
• Flexibility without losing structure: Axios HQ gives the team flexibility to adjust content when last-minute changes arise, while still maintaining a consistent look, feel, and format readers expect to see in their inboxes. 

🛠️ How it works: Inside Cox reflects the way the corporate communications team operates — collaboratively, intentionally, and with the audience in mind. 

• Different roles, shared ownership: Cox has more than 1,000 Axios HQ users, so defined roles are critical. The content, executive communications and employee communications teams, as well as internal stakeholders, all play a part. Ideas are submitted on a set deadline, reviewed together, and selected based on relevance, timing, and past edition performance data. 
• Reviewed as a team: Inside Cox is built in Axios HQ to reflect content that is posted to their intranet. Drafts are shared with the broader communications team and stakeholders to ensure accuracy.
• Data-driven decisions: Segment analytics within Axios HQ helps the team understand what resonates across different audiences. Time now saved in production allows the team to focus more on analyzing engagement and refining strategy.
• Flexibility and trust: The team's collaborative workflow allows them to adapt content as needed, while maintaining clarity and consistency in their communications.

📊 Key comms and business results: 

• High engagement: Inside Cox sees a 69% average open rate among its primary audience segment, with strong engagement in secondary audiences. 

• Time saved: The team saves 1.5 to 2 hours a month in production time, thanks to the team’s collaboration and fewer manual steps. 
• Clear employee appreciation: Readers consistently praise Inside Cox for being easy to read, informative, and respectful of their time:
  •  “I really enjoy these quick reads — thank you for sharing! I especially appreciate learning about benefits I may have missed and love seeing the impact our company is making. It’s also great to be looped into business updates – this is fantastic – keep them coming.”
  •  “I appreciated this newsletter — it had just enough info that it wasn't overwhelming and enough to pique interest.”
  • “Love this new format! Much easier to read.”
    
  • “I love the simple, fast and easy-to-read format. Thanks for doing this!”

💭 Closing thoughts from Cox Enterprises on Axios HQ and Inside Cox’s impact:

• " Axios HQ and Smart Brevity have transformed how we communicate by helping make every message clear, concise, and easy to digest. The tool and style help us respect employees’ most valuable resource — their time — while ensuring they stay informed and engaged. It’s a win for efficiency and impact across the organization."

Cox Enterprises earned Axios HQ's 2026 Best-in-Class Award for Employee Comms Team of the Year. See our other award winners: