From our Manifesto:   Treat our colleagues, customers, vendor partners, and community members well…

From our Core Values:  We value our clients, colleagues, and suppliers. Success means that everybody wins. It’s about ethical standards and respect. And in our opinion – it’s the ONLY way to do business.

The mandate is to treat ALL of our stakeholders well.

Employees:

1.  After an initial one-month furlough period, we were able to have our entire crew back full time.  In addition to that, we were able to bonus at the end of the year to help offset wage loss during the furlough.

2.  We implemented a “12 Week Year” plan with goals and metrics for all employees tracked via individual dashboards.  Weekly meeting created accountability, time to celebrate wins, as well as identify new opportunities to thrive.

Clients:

1.  We checked in with clients on a personal level – to see if they were ok & to ask if there was anything we could do to help.  We quickly learned to stay connected via zoom and other video platforms.

2.  Our industry became a major supplier of PPE and initially when pricing was skyrocketing, we cut our margins significantly.   Profiting off of overpriced product needed for survival is not consistent with our manifesto.

3.  The big pivot was understanding that the tangible quality of marketing merch filled a need during this time.  It helped people feel connected.  Thoughtfully curated swag kits that were individually packaged and shipped to recipient’s homes filled a need and saved our year.

Vendor Partners: 

1.  Just as with clients, we checked in with our vendor partners to make sure they were ok.

2.  We had a few VERY large projects come through, and rather than negotiate a better price for production based on quantity, we opted to pay a premium and share the wealth.  We were also very diligent about paying for services up front or before due to assist with our vendor partners cash flow.

Community:

1.   Community engagement was minimal with the social distancing rules.  We did manage to get out and plog regularly.  😁 “Do what you can!”

People Goals for 2020 – How did it go?

1.  Metrics around employee development:  Our 12-Week Year gamified the setting and reaching of goals.  Employee development was an aspect of this.

2.  Create a more diverse team as we grow:  We did not add any employees so no progress with this goal.

3.  Pick a cause to contribute to financially:  This also did not happen, but we did assist our employees, clients, and vendor-partners.

People Goals for 2021

1.  Continue the good habit of maintaining our 12-Week Year dashboards.

2.  Research the Social Responsibility mandates when selecting vendors to work with.

3.  Pick a cause to contribute to financially. 

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.  In that order.

In 2020, we continued to implement changes made in 2019 such as

1.  Eliminate disposable kitchen items.  We each brought our own dishes & silverware to stay compliant with Covid rules.

2.  Water filtration system in our sink eliminated the need for bottled water.  Employees provided their own water bottles

3.  Color coded towels (by employee) in the bathroom and frequent laundering.

4.  We continued to recycle anything that can be.  Paper, glass, packaging, etc.

5.  We are extremely mindful of the Marketing Merchandise solutions that we offer our clients, steering them towards more sustainable options.  In addition to this, we were creative in our packaging for individual shipments (another big Covid pivot), and reused materials as much as possible.  This included recycling packaging such as boxes & foam from neighbors in our complex instead of purchasing new material.

6.  Our Preferred Vendors have formal Social Responsibility programs in place.

Planet Goals for 2020 – How did we do?

Honestly, it was a bit of a mad scramble and the goal to create metrics to better understand our impact fell by the wayside.

The good news? We stayed true to our values.  Our actions were consistent with our manifesto.

Planet Goals for 2021

Remain vigilant with our efforts and create Metrics to better understand our impact. 

Most important is the belief that we can do good work, be environmentally responsible, treat our colleagues, customers, vendor partners, and community members well, AND – still make a fair profit.

1525 experienced 72% growth in 2020.  Even though we discounted PPE orders significantly when the pricing was high, we still managed to hit our margin goals for the year.

Profit Goals for 2020 – how did we do?

1.  We crushed our goal of 20% sales growth.

2.  Remain audaciously optimistic as we pivot services during unusual times – thus better serving our clients.  Who knew then how important this would be.  We heard that up to a third of the companies in our industry went out of business in 2020.  Controlling the initial panic and facing the challenge aggressively seems to have made all the difference.

3.  Women Owned / Emerging Small Business certification.  We achieved our ESB Certification but not the Woman Owned.

4.  Create stronger banking relationships.  This did happen

5.  Incorporate a Giving line item into the Profit & Loss projections so it becomes a budgeted line item.  Although this did not happen formally, we did contribute by helping our senior community clients and healthcare clients secure PPE at significantly reduced margins.

Profit Goals for 2021

1.  Maintain our sales level from 2020.