It has been a heck of a year here at ABC full of Zoom calls, “you’re muted!”, virtual happy hours and some other tech glitches here and there. But, our team amped up our idea-based mantra to go above and beyond for our clients during these crazy times.
Here’s a look at all the happenings and great things that occurred in a year unlike any other. This is ABC’s 2020 … wrapped!
Awards
The year kicked off with a big win for our client Seneca who received the “Partner of the Year Award” for their product line Balto by Seneca, which was branded and launched with the help of the ABC team.
Our agency also received a Communicator Award of Distinction, a national award, in the Cause-Related Integrated Marketing Campaign category for our work with the Good Life Youth Foundation. With over 6,000 entries received from across the U.S. and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring creative excellence for communication professionals.
New Clients
We also gained some awesome new clients this year such as Just the Right Stuff, Trifecta Networks, Over the Top Roofing, PERMA, UAS Central, Exceptional Family Resources and Empire Dermatology.
Shout Out
Our clients kick ass and we would be remiss if we didn’t give props for being patient and positive during a very difficult year. It’s our clients that keep us going and keep the creative rocking. You keep the lights on here, so we’ll keep those little thought lightbulbs shining brightly for you in this and all the years of partnership to come.
New Hire
In August, we were stoked when Project Manager Rachel Kelly joined the team. She came in to keep projects and the team moving efficiently as we continue to grow. Rachel was a breath of fresh air and, as a former marketing executive, helped bring a new perspective from the client side of things.
Destination Marketing Report
ABC partnered with Drive Research and surveyed 1,000 New Yorkers. The survey focused on what travelers intended to do once COVID-related travel restrictions were lifted.
Our report gave those within the tourism industry across the state a glimpse of hope and good news about peoples’ motivation to get back to traveling when the time was right. This was especially important to us as destination marketing enthusiasts for decades now.
It’s one of our great passions and we were proud to produce something useful for the entire industry that includes so many clients and friends!
Molding Content in the Time of COVID
The team worked hard to deliver our clients new ideas and content that was pandemic-friendly. We either changed up creative, developed new campaigns or revamped web pages accordingly.
At first, destination marketers fretted at the prospect of the pandemic’s chilling effect on travel. But our own research showed opportunity, especially in drive-time feeder markets. We wanted to speak to those homebound masses with emotional reminders that things will (eventually) get back to normal. To do this, we told a few stories that inspire a little hope while keeping destinations top of mind …
We needed creative ways to create content, so we embraced our limitations with things like recorded Zoom interviews. These interviews produced both pandemic-specific and evergreen video series. One series served as the basis for a pandemic resource page aimed at the profoundly affected physical therapy industry. Another took a deep dive into a company’s unique selling points. Both were complemented with organic social media promotion that experienced high engagement for our clients.
A lot of nonprofits were hit hard this year. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month which is important to McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center. With some of their biggest events cancelled, postponed or changed, we knew there was something we had to do to help make sure that funds and awareness were still being raised. Through a social media campaign, design, PR and new concepts, we helped to create a successful month of raising community awareness.
Oh, what a year it has been! We simply couldn’t have made it through without our amazing clients who stood with us every step of the bumpy way. We thank everyone for helping make 2020 memorable and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2021!