Celebrating 100 Years with 100 Stories
Blanchard & Calhoun had 100 years to make memories. We had a year to make them memorable.
A Synergistic Relationship
When you work for 100 years in the same community, you shape it almost as much as it shapes you. Blanchard & Calhoun asked us how they should celebrate this company milestone. While most would simply throw up a tent and have a party, we wanted to creatie something evergreen that not only celebrated where they are, but where they’ve been.
Agency Services
Campaign Development
Content Creation
Illustration
Interactive Design
Media Planning & Buying
The Context of our Content
With 100 years of rich content, the possibilities were endless. We started by focusing on creating a program to deliver the stories — using photos, videos, and illustrations when appropriate. Our intent was to delight feeds and inboxes on a weekly basis with content that was educational, intentional and sometimes inspirational.
Shared History
In showcasing what Blanchard & Calhoun has accomplished over the last 100 years, we (inadvertently) created a historical library of some of Augusta’s biggest moments. Anyone who knows us, knows we love our hometown, so this project was right up our alley.
100 Years, 100 Stories
100 years is a long time to be in business. It’s generations working toward the same goals, watching the growth of people, places, technology and thought. What we realized as we reflected on Blanchard & Calhoun's 100 years of service (through thick and thin) is how much their success and the success of our community are intertwined. For their centennial celebration, we collaborated on a collection of stories dating from their founding in 1919 and dedicated to our shared history.
Setting the Tone
Our goal with this campaign is to elevate awareness of, and interest in, doing business with Blanchard and Calhoun as the most established real estate, mortgage and insurance partner in the CSRA. Equally important, we want to create a sense of pride by association for current and future employees.
Investing In The Community
In 1919, the year he started the business, George Blanchard served on a fundraising team for the local YWCA’s $25,000 capital campaign. Since then, they’ve supported hundreds, probably thousands, of charities, schools and organizations, donating their time, talents and money to the arts, healthcare, the homeless, education, the environment, and our military, to name a few. Blanchard & Calhoun urges everyone to give back. It’s always been the best way to move our community forward.
Sharing Their Secrets
It’s not all business for the 100 Years, 100 Stories campaign. We took the opportunity to create some evergreen content that would surprise and delight our followers. In this case, we revealed an old family recipe just in time for Independence Day.
Decades of Development
Blanchard & Calhoun has, quite literally, built the community. Their “Decades of Development” piece highlighted just how many neighborhoods have been established by the company.
Making History at the Miller
What better place to launch a celebration around history than in downtown's Miller Theater? With this as our backdrop, we held the internal launch of the campaign for the entire Blanchard & Calhoun Family of Business. We familiarized everyone with the concept, shared some of our first pieces of content and gave everyone a pair of red socks, which included tips on sharing 100 years, 100 stories across social. We heard from B&C leadership and finished with a balloon drop. Quite the day.
The Takeaway
If you’re about instant gratification, this ain’t the project for you. What a year.
And now, a word from our sponsors.
“Teaming up with W/S to tell the story of Blanchard and Calhoun's first 100 years in business has been a dream project, a perfect example of the power of narrative to extend a company's brand. If you tell an authentic story, people will engage. Sometimes it's just that simple..”
— Deb Barshafski / Writer, Strategist, Cocktail Enthusiast
“This is truly an exciting time for Blanchard and Calhoun and we are grateful to be celebrating such a momentous period in our family. Our entire company has really enjoyed having W/S's unique touch on this project and the feedback we've already received has been tremendous! We hope our communities will join in and celebrate with us, because it's a celebration for them as well.”
— Tom Blanchard III / President, Blanchard & Calhoun
“Not many get to see their 100th birthday, but when they do a celebration is a must! They have so many stories to tell about what Blanchard & Calhoun has done for the community. It's going to be a rewarding, year-long commemoration.”