2026
Alan C. Young & Associates
A 40th anniversary campaign for a Detroit CPA firm, built to turn four decades of photographs, records and old footage into an evening guests could actually walk through.
Event Campaign
Accounting
Know More
Alan C. Young & Associates has been keeping the books for Detroit since 1983. For the four decade anniversary, Alan asked for a night that looked as premium as the firm's record and actually showed the history instead of just naming the number.
A long client, and one night to get right
Alan C. Young & Associates is a certified public accounting and consulting firm in Detroit, founded in 1983. My mother has worked there for 33 years, and the firm has been a client of mine for years in the everyday way: updating the logo, cleaning up promotional designs, and currently designing their social media posts.
For the anniversary, Alan hired me to take on the look of the event itself. The night was set for Friday, July 31 at The Roostertail on the Detroit River, and I had a few months to build everything leading up to it.
Problem
Forty years of history sitting in folders and old footage, and one evening to make a room feel it.
A milestone anniversary is easy to announce and hard to prove. The firm had four decades behind it, but most of that history lived in photographs and video nobody in the room would ever see. An anniversary that only states the number reads like any other banquet with a nicer cake.
The night also had to hold people in place. Guests arrive, find a table, sit through a program with a full lineup of speakers, and spend most of the evening at that table. Every one of those moments needed something designed for it, and all of them had to belong to the same event. The promotion had to start months ahead of that, so the room would be full by the time July came.
Concept
Let the archive do the talking, and put something worth reading on every table.
The firm opened up what it had kept: photographs from across the decades and whatever video I could find. I built the centerpiece out of it, a six minute history video that walks the room through the firm from 1983 forward. I cut it in Premiere Pro with music and no title cards, so the images and the faces carry it instead of text on a screen.
The table cards handled the other half of the night. Twenty five tent cards at three and a half by four inches, one per table, each carrying the anniversary lockup, the firm's logo and a QR code. Every card is different: its own table number, its own subtitle, a "Did You Know?" fact pulled from the firm's history, and a conversation starter. Guests sat down to something specific to their table, so the history kept working while people talked.
The System
One anniversary mark, carried from the save the date through the screens, the tables and the giveaways.
Promotion ran first. A save the date went out well ahead of the night, followed by the formal invitation carrying the venue, the address and an RSVP date, both built on the same deep red and gold anniversary look. A short commercial for the firm ran alongside them.
Video carried the program. Past the six minute history film there was a message video with congratulatory clips from three special guests, the slideshow that ran through the evening, and a set of looping four second speaker intros so every person who reached the podium was introduced on screen by name as they stood up. All of it was edited in Premiere Pro, music only.
Inside the room the same mark held. Digital signage welcomed guests at the entrance under the ACY logo, a branded step and repeat gave people somewhere to take a photo, and the anniversary lockup carried onto the merchandise the firm handed out, pins, cups and a few other pieces, reading "Over 4 Decades of Trusted Service" above the firm's four values and the year it was founded.
Because every piece came from the same anniversary mark, the evening read as one event from the first announcement in the spring to the gift bag guests carried out. The brief was that the anniversary look premium and show the history, and by the end of the night that history had been on the screens, on the tables and in people's hands.
More Works
FAQ
01
How much does it cost?
02
What is the process?
03
How do I know you're right for me?
04
Do you offer discounts or packages?
05
Is a deposit required?
06
How many revisions do I get?
07
What files do I receive?
08
Who owns the final files?
2026
Alan C. Young & Associates
A 40th anniversary campaign for a Detroit CPA firm, built to turn four decades of photographs, records and old footage into an evening guests could actually walk through.
Event Campaign
Accounting
Know More
Alan C. Young & Associates has been keeping the books for Detroit since 1983. For the four decade anniversary, Alan asked for a night that looked as premium as the firm's record and actually showed the history instead of just naming the number.
A long client, and one night to get right
Alan C. Young & Associates is a certified public accounting and consulting firm in Detroit, founded in 1983. My mother has worked there for 33 years, and the firm has been a client of mine for years in the everyday way: updating the logo, cleaning up promotional designs, and currently designing their social media posts.
For the anniversary, Alan hired me to take on the look of the event itself. The night was set for Friday, July 31 at The Roostertail on the Detroit River, and I had a few months to build everything leading up to it.
Problem
Forty years of history sitting in folders and old footage, and one evening to make a room feel it.
A milestone anniversary is easy to announce and hard to prove. The firm had four decades behind it, but most of that history lived in photographs and video nobody in the room would ever see. An anniversary that only states the number reads like any other banquet with a nicer cake.
The night also had to hold people in place. Guests arrive, find a table, sit through a program with a full lineup of speakers, and spend most of the evening at that table. Every one of those moments needed something designed for it, and all of them had to belong to the same event. The promotion had to start months ahead of that, so the room would be full by the time July came.
Concept
Let the archive do the talking, and put something worth reading on every table.
The firm opened up what it had kept: photographs from across the decades and whatever video I could find. I built the centerpiece out of it, a six minute history video that walks the room through the firm from 1983 forward. I cut it in Premiere Pro with music and no title cards, so the images and the faces carry it instead of text on a screen.
The table cards handled the other half of the night. Twenty five tent cards at three and a half by four inches, one per table, each carrying the anniversary lockup, the firm's logo and a QR code. Every card is different: its own table number, its own subtitle, a "Did You Know?" fact pulled from the firm's history, and a conversation starter. Guests sat down to something specific to their table, so the history kept working while people talked.
The System
One anniversary mark, carried from the save the date through the screens, the tables and the giveaways.
Promotion ran first. A save the date went out well ahead of the night, followed by the formal invitation carrying the venue, the address and an RSVP date, both built on the same deep red and gold anniversary look. A short commercial for the firm ran alongside them.
Video carried the program. Past the six minute history film there was a message video with congratulatory clips from three special guests, the slideshow that ran through the evening, and a set of looping four second speaker intros so every person who reached the podium was introduced on screen by name as they stood up. All of it was edited in Premiere Pro, music only.
Inside the room the same mark held. Digital signage welcomed guests at the entrance under the ACY logo, a branded step and repeat gave people somewhere to take a photo, and the anniversary lockup carried onto the merchandise the firm handed out, pins, cups and a few other pieces, reading "Over 4 Decades of Trusted Service" above the firm's four values and the year it was founded.
Because every piece came from the same anniversary mark, the evening read as one event from the first announcement in the spring to the gift bag guests carried out. The brief was that the anniversary look premium and show the history, and by the end of the night that history had been on the screens, on the tables and in people's hands.
More Works
FAQ
01
How much does it cost?
02
What is the process?
03
How do I know you're right for me?
04
Do you offer discounts or packages?
05
Is a deposit required?
06
How many revisions do I get?
07
What files do I receive?
08
Who owns the final files?
2026
Alan C. Young & Associates
A 40th anniversary campaign for a Detroit CPA firm, built to turn four decades of photographs, records and old footage into an evening guests could actually walk through.
Event Campaign
Accounting
Know More
Alan C. Young & Associates has been keeping the books for Detroit since 1983. For the four decade anniversary, Alan asked for a night that looked as premium as the firm's record and actually showed the history instead of just naming the number.
A long client, and one night to get right
Alan C. Young & Associates is a certified public accounting and consulting firm in Detroit, founded in 1983. My mother has worked there for 33 years, and the firm has been a client of mine for years in the everyday way: updating the logo, cleaning up promotional designs, and currently designing their social media posts.
For the anniversary, Alan hired me to take on the look of the event itself. The night was set for Friday, July 31 at The Roostertail on the Detroit River, and I had a few months to build everything leading up to it.
Problem
Forty years of history sitting in folders and old footage, and one evening to make a room feel it.
A milestone anniversary is easy to announce and hard to prove. The firm had four decades behind it, but most of that history lived in photographs and video nobody in the room would ever see. An anniversary that only states the number reads like any other banquet with a nicer cake.
The night also had to hold people in place. Guests arrive, find a table, sit through a program with a full lineup of speakers, and spend most of the evening at that table. Every one of those moments needed something designed for it, and all of them had to belong to the same event. The promotion had to start months ahead of that, so the room would be full by the time July came.
Concept
Let the archive do the talking, and put something worth reading on every table.
The firm opened up what it had kept: photographs from across the decades and whatever video I could find. I built the centerpiece out of it, a six minute history video that walks the room through the firm from 1983 forward. I cut it in Premiere Pro with music and no title cards, so the images and the faces carry it instead of text on a screen.
The table cards handled the other half of the night. Twenty five tent cards at three and a half by four inches, one per table, each carrying the anniversary lockup, the firm's logo and a QR code. Every card is different: its own table number, its own subtitle, a "Did You Know?" fact pulled from the firm's history, and a conversation starter. Guests sat down to something specific to their table, so the history kept working while people talked.
The System
One anniversary mark, carried from the save the date through the screens, the tables and the giveaways.
Promotion ran first. A save the date went out well ahead of the night, followed by the formal invitation carrying the venue, the address and an RSVP date, both built on the same deep red and gold anniversary look. A short commercial for the firm ran alongside them.
Video carried the program. Past the six minute history film there was a message video with congratulatory clips from three special guests, the slideshow that ran through the evening, and a set of looping four second speaker intros so every person who reached the podium was introduced on screen by name as they stood up. All of it was edited in Premiere Pro, music only.
Inside the room the same mark held. Digital signage welcomed guests at the entrance under the ACY logo, a branded step and repeat gave people somewhere to take a photo, and the anniversary lockup carried onto the merchandise the firm handed out, pins, cups and a few other pieces, reading "Over 4 Decades of Trusted Service" above the firm's four values and the year it was founded.
Because every piece came from the same anniversary mark, the evening read as one event from the first announcement in the spring to the gift bag guests carried out. The brief was that the anniversary look premium and show the history, and by the end of the night that history had been on the screens, on the tables and in people's hands.
More Works
FAQ
How much does it cost?
What is the process?
How do I know you're right for me?
Do you offer discounts or packages?
Is a deposit required?
How many revisions do I get?
What files do I receive?
Who owns the final files?