Making a dinner reservation or throwing a party may lead to a happy anniversary celebration with your significant other, but those tactics won’t work for your company anniversary. A corporate anniversary should be an opportunity to drive significant business objectives and gain measurable value for the organization.

Follow these six steps and you can ensure that your organization has a happy anniversary celebration.

Pictured: the Brooks Brothers corporate anniversary logo commemorating their 175th anniversary. The logo honored their corporate logo and brand look while paying homage to their 175 years of business.
Our work with Brooks Brothers helped the legendary clothing brand reconnect with and preserve its innovative, customer-centric heritage while paying homage to their 175 years of business.

Step 1: Prepare the Campaign

Preparation — starting one to two years in advance — gives your company the time to gather stakeholder perspectives, historical points of view and research that grounds your anniversary in authenticity. Approaching your anniversary with the correct foundation and aligning it with both short- and long-term objectives will lead to a successful celebration.

Step 2: Set Objectives

Investing in your company’s anniversary should serve a purpose. As you prepare for this milestone, it is important to take into consideration the investment you are making in the campaign. What business objectives can the anniversary reasonably influence? How will you measure success?

Step 3: Define Audience Priorities

Your corporate anniversary needs to target specific audiences in order to achieve your business objectives. Casting too wide of a net can drive up costs and be less effective than a campaign focused on smaller, well-defined audiences both internal and external. An anniversary connected to audience segmentation will help increase your return on investment.

Step 4: Find your voice.

Without a strong voice, a company can seem inauthentic and lost. It is important that your company is faithful to who it is and what it stands for while celebrating its anniversary. Reflecting your company’s values, leadership, strategy and culture in anniversary storytelling and communications leads to a more authentic message that will resonate with audiences.

Pictured: This is a graphic Little League Baseball developed to celebrate their 75th company anniversary. The image is a collage of photos through the decades, showing children playing baseball.
As the organization’s 75th anniversary approached, executives at Little League Baseball knew they had a great story and an excellent opportunity to differentiate the Little League brand.

 

Step 5: Create Memorable Messages that Resonate

Anniversaries present a unique opportunity to draw from your organization’s past to reinforce your goals for the future. Does your company have a history of innovation? Has it consistently been recognized for having a great workplace culture? Find examples and personal stories from the company’s history that substantiate today’s messaging. The more behavioral examples that can be demonstrated, the more authentic and believable the line of messaging becomes.

Bonus: These stories will remain relevant when the anniversary year is over, too.

Step 6: Get Your Messages Heard

In order for your anniversary campaign to have impact, audiences need to be moved by your messages. Understand who your messengers will be and determine which communication channels are likely to be the most effective in reaching your targeted audiences. There are many potential tactics when it comes to getting your messages heard, but not every tactic will lead to the optimal result.

If your company’s anniversary is looming, don’t panic and don’t start calling local party planners. Remember, the key to a happy company anniversary is thoughtful preparation, careful execution and authentic communication to key audiences.

For more than 35 years, we have been the trusted advisor and strategic partner in corporate anniversary planning. Contact us today to get started.

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