Recapping a Stellar 2019 for Identity
By: Andrea Trapani
As we mark the end of a decade, and 21 years of Identity, it’s pretty incredible to see the growth and transformation of our agency. In short, our 2019 has been something special. We’ve watched our people achieve, our clients experience incredible growth and we’ve been the engine behind some of the largest news moments this year. What. A. Year.
2019 at a Glance
We kicked off 2019 at Hopcat Royal Oak, where a strong biannual meeting concluded with the entire team refreshed, fired up, refocused on our core values and focused on our big goals for the year.
As the year kicked into full swing, our team was in event mode—executing media relations and digital support during RAPID + TCT 2019 in Detroit and working the show floor in a big way with dozens of commercial real estate clients at ICSC RECon 2019 in Las Vegas.
During our July biannual meeting, we solidified our annual direction as an agency and addressed important topics regarding the ever evolving nature of our work, continuing to refine our expertise in today’s communications environment and killer ability to make brand moments happen that make an impact. We were self-reflective about what we do best, how we do it and what is required—a formula that allows us to attract, retain and grow top industry talent. Our agency philosophy about loving this work and the opportunity it creates for us as professionals and people (#gamelover) was born.
Our summer 2019 was fierce. Identity had a busy summer planning and executing large-scale, experiential brand activations across the Midwest for several clients. This included a successful press event for The Blight Authority which featured two high-net-worth public figures—Pulte Capital Partners CEO Bill Pulte and billionaire Twitter and Square co-founder Jack Dorsey.
In September we executed Motown Museum’s Motown 60 Weekend. We’ve been the engine behind plenty of exciting moments making national and international news in 21 years, but this was one of our proudest and most visible moments to date. This 4-day extravaganza—which celebrated the 60th anniversary of Motown and consisted of several monumental events—included razor sharp media management expertise, large-scale event planning, world-class social media strategic vision and execution and the coordination of big announcements, entertainment legends and credentialed press corps from across the globe. The groundbreaking of Motown Museum’s expansion, coordinated from beginning to end by our team, was a special moment with more than 50 media outlets in attendance and a vision for this key milestone brought to life (complete with gold shovels and glitter!).
As 2019 wound down, we simply kept rolling hard. In Q4 we launched our new Identity brand, complete with a new website and refreshed social strategy that proudly highlights our greatest asset: our talented team. Our new brand better reflects our positioning as an agency and expertise all fueled by our approach with the Modern PR Mix.
We concluded the year with our biggest agency growth announcement to date: the next chapter of our agency—the opening of a new Identity Chicago office that will help us cultivate top talent from across the Midwest and serve clients that continue to grow their roots through Chicago and beyond. Our expansion has long been in the works and we couldn’t be prouder to truly have a footprint across the Midwest as we approach our next chapter.
Identity 2020
In January 2016, we laid out our vision for Identity 2020—a forward-looking strategy that detailed where the agency would be from a growth and service by the end of 2020. While it’s hard to imagine we’re coming into the last year of that five-year strategy, we are proud that thanks to our incredible team, clients and approach to always think big, we have achieved our vision.
As we close out this year, I have to pause in gratitude for our team. We truly have the best team in our business. Our fierce and inspiring #gamelovers who embrace the journey and think big and act bold. We’ve had many who have been with us for decades and some that jumped at the opportunity this year to join us in our big vision for our agency and for this industry. Whether taking on a new opportunity with confidence or navigating complex crisis situations, our people continue to elevate their work and the expertise they bring to the table.
We saw some incredible work happen in 2019. Together, I have absolutely no doubt we’re ready for what’s next and our best is ahead. I’m proud to lead this team every single day.
To ring in #identity2020 in a big way, we will kick off our year in downtown Chicago, where we will engage in a two day collaborative, team-building biannual meeting, check in on the status of Identity 2020 and talk about big goals for the year ahead. Here’s to a new decade, always thinking bold and to what’s next.
