Celebrating another year of existence; the ever-returning phenomenon of ‘anniversary celebration’ is a concept on which we’d like to share some thoughts here. Surely anniversaries are fun, and always a good occasion for a live event, yet they do have their own challenges and issues.
D&B Eventmarketing, owned in part by fCN-member Pieter Bas Boertje, was founded in 1983 and today organises about 80 to 100 events per year. Since many of those are anniversary celebrations, the agency decided to share these eight useful tips for an anniversary that is sure to have a lasting impact.
- Seize the opportunity
“When an anniversary approaches, first decide what the real issue is that should be addressed. Is the main question ‘how should we approach this celebration?’ or is it more about ‘how can this anniversary event serve to help fulfil our ambitions’? An anniversary could for instance inspire a shift in (or reinforcement of) culture, a moment to focus on customers or even for repositioning the company.”
- Proud heritage, bright future
“More and more companies realise an anniversary is meant to both celebrate the past and look ahead towards the future. You can’t have a future without knowing your history, nor define yesterday without a plan for tomorrow.”
- Start on time
“Starting preparations at least three months before the anniversary year is recommended, leaving you ample time to plan a thread of activities.”
- The right people (involvement requires involving)
“Creating support for the planned anniversary celebrations, is much easier when employees – from all company layers and departments – are invited to join the concept.”
- Target audiences
“Define who your stakeholders are. There’s often a much larger group of people in touch with your company beyond the ones you’d immediately think of. You could invite some students to one of the events, for instance, to let these potentially new employees work on customer cases. Or maybe you can link any running sponsorships to the years’ celebrations?”
- Connect all existing initiatives
“Instead of inventing ten new events to fulfil your anniversary plans throughout the year, check which events are already on the calendar and see how they can be tuned to fit into the anniversary campaign.”
- Communication is key
“It’s always a good idea to plan not just the events within the anniversary schedule, but carefully arrange all communications on the celebrations as well. This fits the 360-approach, where all available means of communications are incorporated in one plan and regarded as a whole.”
- Measure to manage
“What are your plans for after the anniversary year and what will be the gains of your investment? We often see that conducting before-and-after measurements clearly enhances the insights and long-term effects of your celebration efforts.”
Pieter Bas Boertje – partner – Wow2do – Dechesne & Boertje
Article by Barbara van Baarsel
Translated into English by Mark Dyson
fCN Visions 