An anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on your journey so far, and to look forward to where you’re headed. Brands can use their special days to reassure and excite customers, but in practise this can be trickier than it sounds.

The reason? Lots of brands are celebrating. And lots are doing it badly. Because punters are bombarded by poorly conceived brand anniversary celebrations that lack meaning and relevance to their lives, it’s difficult to stand out in the crowd.

The secret to a successful brand anniversary lies in storytelling. And there’s more than one type of story to tell.

1. Biography

Choose a character from your brand’s history to remind customers of your brand’s personality (and their emotional connection to that personality).

2. Philosophy

Go back to basics and apply your brand’s founding principles to the present day.

3. History

Get watery eyed as you re-launch vintage ads, packaging and even prices to remind customers of the role of your brand’s history in their personal history.

4. Sci-fi

Look to the future and imagine what your brand, and the world it inhabits, will be like when you come to celebrate your next significant anniversary.

As long as brands use their anniversaries to thoughtfully communicate their stories (rather than mindlessly broadcast the fact that they’ve reached a certain age) then they can add value to their businesses as well as celebrate their accomplishments.