Most dealerships remember their anniversary in July. By then half the year is gone, the photos are rushed, the video is shot in a hurry, and the milestone gets a sticker on the website and a line in one newsletter. Then it disappears.
That is a waste of the one piece of marketing no competitor can copy. Another store can match your price, your inventory and your ad budget. Nobody else can say they have served your community for 60 or 100 years.
Over the past two years Dealer Ignition has built anniversary campaigns for some of British Columbia's best-known dealer families, including Morrey Auto Group's 60th and Dueck Auto Group's 100th. This is the playbook behind them: how to turn a milestone into a year-long brand campaign, step by step.
"The 100 Year Anniversary project was a homerun for sure. Turned out fantastic."
-- Barry Chyzowski, President, Dueck Auto Group
1. Start in the Fall, Not the Summer
The best time to build an anniversary is the quiet season before it. Dueck's centennial proposal went in October 2025. Discovery and the logo work happened over the winter, and the new identity was unveiled at the start of 2026, so the films and rollout could carry it through the whole year.
Starting early does three things. It gives you time to find the real history instead of guessing at it. It lets you shoot content before the weather turns. And it means the anniversary goes live on day one of the year it belongs to, instead of halfway through it.
2. Research Before You Design
An anniversary mark has to feel like the business in its first year and in its latest. That only happens if you start with the history, not a design brief.
For Dueck we gathered two kinds of input. Historical: archive photos, old signage and documents, newspaper articles and early ads, and the stories the family tells. Internal: an interview plan covering the owner and family, executives, long-time staff and legacy customers, built on 35 questions across seven themes, from the founding to "the next 100 years."
Before anyone opened a design file, ownership set three simple dials: casual to formal, heritage to modern, minimal to elaborate. They marked up a wall of reference logos, circling the ones they liked and crossing out the ones they didn't. The brief that came out of it was clear: confident, informed by heritage, cleanly modern and deliberately simple. Every design decision after that had something concrete to answer to.
3. Build a Mark That Works Everywhere
The anniversary mark sits beside the dealership's logo. It does not replace it. And for a group, it has to work for the group and every store underneath it.
For Dueck the direction was to let the name carry the century. The result was a typographic identity where the centennial became part of the name, with a consistent family of marks for the Auto Group and each of its businesses.
Morrey's 60th took a different route to the same goal. Three concepts were presented, and the chosen mark, "60 Years of Excellence, 1965 to 2025," was built in two lockups: one for the auto group and one that sits with each dealership's own logo. Every store shared the milestone without losing its own brand.
4. Let the People Who Lived It Tell the Story
A logo gives the anniversary a face. Film gives it a voice. The strongest anniversary content is not a narrator reading history. It is the people who were there, telling it in their own words.
For Dueck we filmed everything in one planned day at the showroom: the owner, a senior sales manager, the head of Special Olympics BC, and Canucks legend Trevor Linden, a longtime friend of the family. The rules for every interview were the same. Ask for stories, not opinions. Wait a few seconds after every answer, because that is when people add the best part. And close on one line that ties it together: "For 100 years, nobody beats a Dueck deal."
Dueck 100th Story, produced by Dealer Ignition.
A complete anniversary film suite usually includes:
- A hero film of two to three minutes, narrated by the family
- A "Legacy Moments" series of short films on the founding, the family, customers and community
- Staff spotlights on the longest-serving people, the ones customers ask for by name
- A community film on the partners and causes the dealership supports
- A mark reveal animation that becomes the outro on every video ad for the year
Dueck 100th Anniversary, produced by Dealer Ignition.
5. Roll It Out Everywhere, All Year
This is where most anniversaries fall apart. The logo launches, the video gets posted, and by March nobody remembers. An anniversary works when a customer sees it three or four times without trying: on the website, at the end of an ad, on a salesperson's lanyard, at a show booth.
The single most effective move is to ride the advertising that already runs. Morrey's 60th happened to fall in the same year as Nissan Canada's own 60th. The monthly offer ads carried "Nissan 60 Years in Canada x Morrey 60th Anniversary," and video ads closed on a new 60th outro. The anniversary ran all year inside advertising that was running anyway, without a separate media budget.
Then carry it into everything people hold, wear and see. Dueck's rollout covered the anniversary web page, homepage banners, social covers, vehicle overlays, email signatures, letterhead, business cards, presentation folders, showroom posters and wall graphics, lapel pins, owner's manual covers and flags.
6. Plan the Whole Year, Not Just Launch Day
A strong anniversary has a plan for all twelve months. The structure we use:
Inside first. Staff see the film, get their pins and lanyards, and learn the story before any customer does. A proud team is the best launch channel a dealership has.
One big unveil. The mark, the hero film and the anniversary page go live the same morning, everywhere at once, with a letter from the family to past customers.
Follow the season. Give each part of the year its own job: shows and story in the quiet months, a named anniversary sales event when buyers come back, community events in the summer, and a thank-you to past customers in the fall.
A steady drumbeat. One story a week between the big moments: a customer, a long-serving staff member, a store, or a photo from the archive beside the same spot today.
One story, many chapters. For a group, every store gets its own chapter: when it opened, who has been there longest, and the families it serves.
Give customers a part. Ask for photos of their first vehicle from the dealership. It builds the archive, fills the content calendar and gets people sharing.
Close on thanks. End the year with a short film of everything that happened, then keep a "since" line in the everyday brand.
7. The Anniversary Checklist
- Start at least three months before the anniversary year begins
- Gather the archive: photos, signage, ads, newspaper clippings
- Interview the family, long-time staff and loyal customers
- Set the direction with ownership before any design begins
- Build one mark for the group and a version for every store
- Film the people, not a narrator, and plan the shoot day in detail
- Put the anniversary into every ad that already runs
- Brief and equip the staff first
- Plan a signature moment for every season
- Close the year with thanks, and keep what worked
8. About Dealer Ignition
Dealer Ignition is an automotive marketing agency that creates demand for dealerships: advertising, creative, brand strategy and video. Anniversary branding is part of that work, from discovery and identity through film and a year-long rollout. Our sister product, Diablo AI, is the Revenue Engine for dealerships: it answers every lead in seconds and books the appointments the team closes.
Planning a milestone year? Talk to us before the season starts, or see the full Morrey Auto Group case study.