Twenty-five years in business is a significant accomplishment. Not all companies get to mark a quarter of a century—and what better way to celebrate than by connecting a company’s origins to its present-day impact?
It’s been our experience that by the time most companies, especially larger organizations, hit their 25th business anniversaries, there’s a sense that some of the entrepreneurial and disruptive energy that guided their formative years may have dissipated. At 25, many companies are focused on driving greater efficiency and profitability, reducing risks and encouraging scalability. In some cases, management-driven leadership may have replaced entrepreneurial founders. A 25th anniversary celebration can bridge what some might think of as the “good old days” with a modernized culture focused on the future.
How do you properly honor a 25th anniversary? Just like any other milestone: by identifying your organization’s objectives and selecting tactics that match them. For example, although it may be easier to deliver a company history book for a 25-year-old organization than for one that’s turning 100, if a book makes sense for your company, that’ll be true whether it’s turning 25, 100 or 250.
The strategy for a 25th anniversary often comes down to three unique core principles
- Founder’s mentality: The likelihood that your company’s founder is still alive is something that you should leverage fully to capture your organization’s origin story and essence.
- Long-tenured employees: Acknowledging those who have been around since the founding days is a key way to underscore your milestone’s impact.
- Future focus: Marking 25 years provides an organic and powerful way to pivot to where you’d like to be 25 years from now.
What Makes Up Salesforce’s DNA
In 2024, Salesforce celebrated its 25th by reflecting on the moments and milestones that got the company where it is today. Salesforce celebrated its evolution from a startup to a high-tech giant with firsthand accounts from several of its important leaders, including current President and COO Brian Millham and founders Parker Harris and Marc Benioff.
A narrative traces Salesforce’s growth through the one-bedroom apartment where it was born, the risks Harris and Millham took to get the company off the ground, and pivotal decisions in the company’s history such as the decision to use AI on its platform. Humanizing these key moments in Salesforce’s history helps readers connect to the celebration. Whether they work for Salesforce, use the platform or are just curious about its milestone, these personal anecdotes shine a light on the people behind the company.
A video commemorating what Salesforce has accomplished in the past 25 years with an eye toward the future further emphasizes the value of using the anniversary as a stepping stone. Salesforce’s use of storytelling, leadership anecdotes and innovation milestones helped make the company’s 25th a moment to remember.
How To Start Planning for Your Anniversary
If you want to celebrate 25 years in business in an impactful way, you have many options. To help establish your footing and avoid being overwhelmed by the multitude of tactics available to you, a great place to begin is by developing a solid plan. By clearly articulating goals for your anniversary, specific objectives and metrics of success for each target audience, and other considerations, you can lay the foundation for a 25th anniversary that successfully celebrates the past and looks to the future.
Any anniversary can be a standout with the right preparation and participation. For more ideas to mark your corporate milestone, check out our comprehensive Guide to Celebrating Your Company Anniversary.