Corporate anniversary

In marketing, a Corporate anniversary is a celebration of a firm's continued existence after a particular number of years. The celebration is a media event which can help a firm achieve diverse marketing goals, such as promoting its corporate identity, boosting employee morale, building greater investor confidence, and encouraging sales. As a public relations opportunity, it is a way for a firm to tout past accomplishments while strengthening relationships with employees and customers and investors. The duration of the celebration itself can vary considerably, from an hour or day to activities happening throughout the year. Many businesses use an anniversary to express gratitude for past success. Generally, larger corporations have the means to stage more elaborate celebrations.

An anniversary can advertise a firm's staying power and longevity. A report in the New York Times explained the marketing logic:

Anniversary campaigns are part of a trend inspired by the economy that could be called comfort marketing, as advertisers invoke misty, water-colored memories of the past to woo consumers into buying products in the present. A major aspect of comfort marketing is what brand managers call authenticity: reminding shoppers who seek value in the provenance of merchandise to suggest a product is worth buying because its quality has been tested for decades.

Marketers choose variables relating to anniversaries to meet specific promotional objectives. While the length of time celebrated by an anniversary is often divisible by five, such as the 10th, 15th, 25th, 50th, or 80th anniversary, there are no hard and fast rules. For example, Google celebrated its 13th anniversary with a special "doodle" for its main search page which showed a colorful image of "cake, presents and balloons." Generally, anniversaries are chosen to coincide with marketing initiatives, such that "any coming of age will do," according to one view. An anniversary can commemorate not only a firm's founding year but the introduction of a successful company brand, a merger, a patent, or some other milestone. There are a wide variety of marketing gimmicks and appeals which can accompany an anniversary celebration: sweepstakes, contests, thank you letters, special product editions, parties, guest speakers, birthday displays on websites, giveaways, new product introductions, publicity stunts, sponsorships, fireworks, live musical performances, commemorative packaging, anniversary rings, promotions, signs in retail stores, donations, scholarships, temporary price reductions or discounts, reflections on past accomplishments, special ad campaigns, new logos, and so on.

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Wikipedia