Whoo hoo! This month we celebrated Pete’s fifteenth anniversary with Howard Design Group, and Sarah’s fifth.

It’s our tradition to celebrate these special dates with a field trip to somewhere fun, followed by a late lunch at a nice restaurant—great food, lively conversation, and, as you can imagine, a lot of laughs. Last year, we took a trip to the Barnes Foundation for Eiran’s tenth anniversary. We also visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art for Dori’s tenth, and had a lobster bake for Jeff’s fifth.

Believe it or not, we are a sporty bunch around here. So, when Sarah and Pete picked mini-golf for their celebration, the competition was on! You could not see Doodie for the dust as she pulled out of the parking lot in Princeton on her way to Pine Creek Miniature Golf. Carl, who has been known to play a few rounds of golf, took the lead on the first nine holes, with Jeff, Pete and Sarah on his tail. Both Dori and Diane rattled the leaders, scoring holes in one in the second half—not bad for two people who could not see the hole from the tee!  For Diane, clearly all that tennis was paying off. Eiran managed to play a great game, while capturing some super, sneaky shots on his camera of our team at work. In the end, it was Jeff who had the lowest score, making him the winner of the day, followed closely by Pete. Pete would like everyone to know that he only lost by one point and was robbed! Ah, the talent at HDG! As for me, well, let’s just say that I had the best placement (it’s a math thing), but need to get a little better at putting. I’m secretly practicing in my backyard. When I reach my fifth anniversary, watch out!

So, what’s all this got to do with marketing? It’s about making your people a priority, whether it’s your employees or your customers. Diane and Carl always have. As a small business, it is how we’ve managed to keep such incredible design talent at HDG and how we have life-long clients.

Looking forward to celebrating Pete’s twentieth and Sarah’s tenth!