Brands too often fall short of getting the most out of major milestones and anniversaries. Most organizations settle for a celebratory news post on their site and social media channels. Perhaps there’s a party for employees and families.
There is so much more that integrated strategic communications can accomplish, however. One idea is to go the extra mile with a comprehensive campaign centered around the celebration that combines PR, social and creative thinking.
Thinking creatively about brand milestones can open a wealth of opportunities to increase organizational awareness and raise employee morale. One key is to mobilize every level of an organization. In addition, consider how PR opportunities can be leveraged for every activity celebrating a milestone.
Below are examples of tactics that brands can explore as potential building blocks for a successful strategic campaign celebrating an organizational milestone or anniversary.
Show Your Colors
Most areas have landmarks and structures that are lit up with specific colors at night in honor of special occasions. Organizations celebrating an anniversary can generate media by lighting landmarks in their brand colors or other images.
For example, last month Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and the Department of the Interior projected a picture of the Saturn V rocket onto the 363-foot-tall Washington Monument to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11’s lunar landing.
Another example comes from Easterseals, the nation’s largest healthcare nonprofit. It lit landmarks in the brand’s signature orange to celebrate the organization’s 100th anniversary. Nearly 50 iconic landmarks participated in the celebration, including the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls and Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Both the Easterseals and Apollo examples benefitted from outreach to local and national media, which ran stories alerting readers and viewers to the purpose behind the special lighting.
In the case of Easterseals the comprehensive campaign also provided the group’s local affiliates with opportunities to participate. Several affiliates leveraged their relationships to secure more local landmark lightings, which in turn spurred greater media coverage.
Put People Front and Center
Organizations would not be able to celebrate major milestones without the hard work and dedication of employees. As such, any celebration would do well to share the spotlight with the entire team.
For example, a publicly traded national firm that plans to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange could have a C-suite executive do the honors. It also could invite top-performing employees to ring the bell as a team.
The former approach may generate a national headline and a tweet or two. The latter complements that national exposure with local media eager to cover how a resident had the opportunity to ring the opening bell. Sharing a photo and a well-written caption with the editor at the local news outlet is simple and will extend the PR value of the event.
Mobilize Your Markets
National organizations can significantly amplify the success of brand milestone PR campaigns by tapping into local markets. Publishers Clearing House employed this strategy years ago when the decision was made to divide its trademark $1million SuperPrize into multiple $10,000 prizes. Those prizes were awarded in 100 different markets.
Instead of one or two national news stories within a single local market featuring a resident receiving the million-dollar prize, Publishers multiplied the story 100 times in local affiliates.
Make It Interactive
Augmented reality and interactive technology offer ways for organizations to celebrate major milestones. Some brands have taken a proactive approach, installing interactive technology in their buildings that can be updated to align with product launches.
At a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, the brand’s visitor center offers the public an opportunity to look into milestones of the historic company while learning what the future may hold. In the center there’s a room that surrounds visitors with LED screens along the walls that they can touch to view content about new concept cars. As the brand moves toward new technologies for mobility, this room will be at the heart of how it shows milestones to visitors and media.
These tactics are the tip of the iceberg in how the power of creative thinking can maximize the value of a campaign. My hope is that communicators and marketers will keep this in mind as they start planning how to celebrate their brand’s upcoming milestones.
Michael Munz is president of The Dalton Agency
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