Celebrating 20 Years of Storytelling

Honoring Great Clients, Amazing Projects, and Awesome Employees

In 2022, Chartwell Agency will be celebrating its 20^th year in business. It didn’t dawn on me until a team member mentioned it to me recently. How could that be? Didn’t I just establish PR Etc. – the precursor to our 2014 rebrand to Chartwell Agency – out of my home (at a time when working from home looked nothing like it does now)?

But alas, I counted the years and sure enough, we’re marching confidently into year 20. I’m proud of our many accomplishments and prouder still that we’ve excelled at offering two decades of impactful marketing to thousands of clients. We’ve made a positive and measurable contribution to their business growth, which is always our primary goal. We’ve worked on – and won international awards for –amazing projects for our clients, and our team continues to grow with brilliant and enthusiastic individuals who deeply care about their clients’ successes.

As I take a moment to reflect, I also look forward to the years ahead. And, like we recommend to any of our clients celebrating a milestone, this provides a perfect opportunity to celebrate the organization’s growth and reinforce the magic ingredients that have contributed to its impressive success.

For us, and for your organization, an anniversary is more than a celebration – though that is certainly an element. It is a chance to tell your story, demonstrate the value you have delivered, and enhance your visibility and credibility in an industry that values stability, quality products and services, and a reputation.

In the months ahead, we’re taking the same advice we share with clients to lean into their anniversaries and make it an opportunity to further differentiate themselves in an ongoing “noisy” market – no matter the industry. Some of the initiatives we counsel clients through during milestones are:

• Invest in an anniversary logo. This graphic icon reiterates your current logo but “pumps it up” with elements to recognize the anniversary year. Over our past 20 years, we’ve had the great pleasure to develop several anniversary logos for our clients and these celebration identities encourage everyone to take a second – and third – look at your organization. As importantly, it provides a pride point for your staff to be at a thriving business.

In Chartwell’s 20^th anniversary logo, we highlight what we do best – “storytelling.” Compelling storytelling is represented in every effort from public relations to websites and graphic design to collateral. Your story is what sets you apart, and it’s what you should share. We still take customers on a journey, but we’re also celebrating our own over 20 years.

Clear, clean, and concise while honoring our established Chartwell brand.

• Identify ways in which to seamlessly utilize the anniversary logo in ongoing communications throughout the year. From email signature lines to social media, and from your website to other electronic mediums (e.g. newsletters, letterhead, proposals), it’s simple to share the anniversary identity without too much work or related production expense. Depending on your investment level, there are plenty of opportunities to display an anniversary logo including exterior and interior signage, branded premiums, and more.

• Create a year-long anniversary communications and marketing plan that focuses on your past accomplishments and the goals yet to be achieved. But – and here’s the trick – don’t make it all about you. How can you share your achievements while also spotlighting your current and past customers and employees? Bring attention to the work you are known for and the culture you’ve created during your years in business. Future employees want to know more about you. Current/past clients love to share the limelight. Future customers want to work with organization with a track record of success.

Communications efforts can include case studies and retrospectives, blogs, videos, social posts, newsletters, website updates, media relations activities and community involvement. Speaking of community involvement, at Chartwell Agency, our team gives back at least 15% in time and treasure to the communities and industries that support us. I believe we’ll track to 20% to match our 20^th year. What can you do to further make an impact in people’s lives?

• Remember your internal audiences. So much of what many think of marketing is externally facing, but don’t forget your most important audience – your staff. We would be remiss if we didn’t recognize the people that helped our company to grow and who make an impact for our clients every day. Find fun events to help your team celebrate with you. After all, they are your strongest ambassadors. Swag such as anniversary-logo’d coffee cups, shirts, celebratory sweets do amazing things for morale and company confidence.

I am humbled to be surrounded by the best and brightest staff in the industry and more honored to have worked with the best clients during the past 20 years. You’ll be seeing a lot of Chartwell “happenings” in the year to come, and we hope you’ll stay tuned. Even better, reach out to Chartwell Agency to see how we can impact your next 20 years.