Just like those BIG birthdays, you know the ones—celebrating a company milestone is very important. It comes with expectations—surprise, out of the ordinary, and heart-felt appreciation. Cheers to a job well done, here’s to the next 10 years! Huzzah!
Celebrating a company milestone gives you a chance to connect more profoundly with your team and their families, and with your clients, partners and vendors— a chance to reflect and reminisce, give thanks, and celebrate the friendships made and good work done along the way. It also gives you a chance to inspire and set goals for the way forward—Look what we did, what’s next?
This year Owl’s Head Solutions celebrates its 10th anniversary. We’ve given a lot of thought about how to honor the occasion and we’d like to bring you along for the ride. We’ll share with you our story and plans, and we’ll share the mechanics of how it all comes together— sort of like a living case study. The aim being to help you ready yourselves for your next company milestone, as you share in our joy as we celebrate our bonds, accomplishments, and prospects.
Every good party starts with two lists—the short one outlining the overarching plans, and the long one sporting the details. Here are our own lists for the celebration:
Checklist (Short)
☐ Add a 10th Anniversary twist to OHS logo, update all logo instances (online, mail, forms/reports/decks)
☐ Chronicle Company History, Capture Meaningful Stats, Identify Darling Work Samples
☐ Generate MVP Lists (Team, Clients, Partners, Vendors)
☐ Create Tribute Video: Establish Goals + Content Outline
☐ Devise Editorial Calendar: Web, Newsletter, Social + Blog
☐ Create Web Landing Page: Establish Goals + Content Outline
☐ Identify Gifts/Tchotchkes + Special Promotions
☐ Plan a PARTY
☐What’s Next: Looking Ahead to The Next 10 Years
Checklist (Detailed)
☐LOGO
- Design something eye catching and that best conveys the brand departure without having to go into detail. Making it obvious that this is a celebrational, limited edition logo.
- Make a complete list of all the places the logo appears, pull an example of each use case, determine required image formats and dimensions. Appearances may include: website, collateral, forms, surveys, pitch decks, proposal templates, mastheads for news + social
- Meet with team re: logistics and implementation timeline
☐ CHRONICLE COMPANY HISTORY
- Chronicle Memories—personal reflections, major milestones, work product
- Hold blast from the past luncheon or team game night—discuss company history, favorite projects, challenges, what were we like then, what are we like now?
- Stats—look for #s that help tell our story + demonstrate experience. Tip: accounting software is a great place to start when looking up long-range stats and team, client, partner + vendor rosters. Consider:
- # of clients + brands developed
- # of projects worked on
- Collective team experience in years
- Darling Portfolio Pieces + Projects—review portfolio, identify + pull ones that:
- Really resonate + demonstrate problem solving
- Represent scope of talent/ability/offerings
- Represent reach (markets/industry/geographical)
- Represent personal growth/change over time
☐GENERATE MVP LISTS
- Make a list of our nearest and dearest, people we want to recognize, and relationships we want to rekindle. Get people’s physical and email addresses. Headcounts will come in handy for budgeting purposes.
- Team (past + present)
- Clients
- Partners
- Vendors
☐CREATE TRIBUTE VIDEO
- Create a video with legs—one that can be diced into individual sound bites.
- Use comprehensive video to reminisce with Fs+F, as well as a vehicle to tell our agency story (attract, educate, convert). Leverage sound bites on social and throughout site to add character to salient material.
- Outline what’s to be covered and in what order
- Consider style + tone
- Serious, upbeat, personal, clinical, quirky, funny
- Some home grown/organic material
- Professional, talking heads
- Graphic, animated, geo-influence
- Music
- Identify what segments will need to stand alone
- Schedule interview sessions
- Prepare participants for talking head interviews
- Pre-provide questions, style of dress
- Prepare a list of people’s names and titles
- Identify video format needs
- Give assets (portfolio samples, statistics, etc.) to videographer for filler
☐DEVISE EDITORIAL CALENDAR
Celebration will be year-long. Plan touch points for web, blog, newsletter + social. Calendar touch points in concert for maximum impact.
- Website
- Q1: Logo refresh, Kate’s letter (blog), Celebration Checklist (blog), Celebrating A Company Milestone (case study, part 1)
- Q2: Launch landing page, Celebrating A Company Milestone (case study, part 2), How Do YOU Celebrate? survey (blog/form)
- …
- Newsletter
- Q1: Teasers to Kate’s letter, checklist, case study
- Q2: Teasers to survey, and case study, …
- …
- Social
- Q1 (LI, IG, Tw): Kate’s letter, Checklist illo. to blog post
- Q2 (LI, IG, Tw): Tribute video + segments, survey illo. to blog post, animated stats, exploration of our brand
- Q2 (IG only): Collage of work samples
- Q3 (LI, IG, Tw): International reach animation, video segments, …
- …
☐WEBSITE LANDING PAGE
Create a special web page to commemorate anniversary. Add new visit-worthy content over time.
- Consider Theme/Tone/Style
- Prepare Content Outline
- Video Tribute
- Timeline of Top 10 Company Highlights (achievements, growth spurts), possibly include what was happening in the world at those times
- Animated stats
- Animated map w/ flags indicating where our work has appeared
- Unexpected quotes or sound bites
- Logo over time/website over time
- Easter eggs (e.g. tangram ani)
- Develop Timeline
- Assign Tasks
☐IDENTIFY GIFTS/TSOTCHKES + SPECIAL PROMOTIONS
Gifting is a great way to show your team how important they are to the company, or to your customers, partners + vendors—how much you appreciate their doing business with you, etc. We all have choices and that your team is with you and your clients remain on your roster is an honor. Fête them with tokens of appreciation.
- Gift Ideas + Thank Yous
- Take a look at team, client, partner and vendor lists to get a sense of how many people we wish to reach out to. This will be helpful for budgeting
- Check out online resources for useful/fun, company-branded tokens of appreciation
- When it comes to the team, consider area vendors near office(s) where people might be treated to lunch, a massage, or a gift basket of local treats
- Consider hand-written notes of appreciation and memories
- Consider how/when/where to distribute the gifts
- Special Promotions
- Provide anniversary-related service discounts
- Broadcast promotion on social media, website and in newsletters and eBlasts
- Consider implementation concerns/action items such as whether or not service language needs to be developed
- Provide anniversary-related service discounts
☐PLAN A PARTY
- Decide if the party is on company time, or outside of it
- Pick a special/unique place to celebrate
- Send out invites
- Set a dress code, if necessary
- Discuss company history, favorite projects, challenges, what were we like then, what are we like now
- Take pictures
☐ WHAT’S NEXT: LOOKING AHEAD
At any given anniversary social occasion, be prepared to talk about the future. Let people in on what the next 10 years could look like. Ask team leaders to opine about the industries you support. Consider such topics as:
- Future thoughts re: niche markets
- What new services we will provide
- Team / department growth plans
Let’s Talk About Your Celebration Checklist
Owl’s Head Solutions provides professional strategic, creative and development services that make a big impact and lasting impression. Let’s talk about your plans and see how we can help you make the most out of your milestone celebration.