Celebrating 15 Years of VisionPoint

I’m humbled and excited to announce that the month of April marks the 15th anniversary of VisionPoint Marketing!

When I reflect upon what the last 15 years have meant for our company, several emotions come to mind: pride, joy, humility, gratitude, nostalgia. Perhaps the most powerful emotion is wonder. What will the next 15 years bring? What’s next for us?

It’s in this spirit of reflection, that our team compiled a few of the major milestones we’ve achieved over the last 15 years. From the work we do, to our people, to our clients – we have much to celebrate.

• 2001 – VisionPoint Media, Inc. was founded with a single desk in Diane’s guest room. About a month later, VisionPoint’s hired its first employee.
• 2002 – Diane moved the team into VisionPoint’s first office space. The file cabinets, desktop PCs and Rolodexes that kept this initial office running have long since been replaced by iPhones, iPads and Google Docs.
• 2003 – VisionPoint joined the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, a partnership that has proven extremely valuable to the company and has provided countless opportunities for us to contribute to our local business community.
• 2004 – 75% of VisionPoint’s clients were based outside of North Carolina and represented a wide range of industries.
• 2005 – We had our first experience using a Content Management System. I shudder to think about what life today would be like without a robust CMS to manage all of our content!
• 2006 – VisionPoint acquired Miami-based aHa! Factory and Tony Poillucci joined the team, bringing a strong creative voice and a firm commitment to process.
• 2007 – Gail Knoles was hired as Office Manager and Executive assistant. In case you missed it, we celebrated Gail’s retirement earlier this year (another VisionPoint milestone).
• 2008 – The VisionPoint team settled in at our current Lynn Road location and expanded its work with the NC State Jenkins MBA Program. We were thrilled to have a hand in shaping the brand of an aspirational program at an institution located just minutes away from our home office.
• 2009 – A long-standing partnership formed with UNC Charlotte. We are proud to say that we continue to work with various colleges and departments within the University today.
• 2010 – VisionPoint held its first Summit. This is huge! Summits have become a staple of our culture, giving us the opportunity to step away from client work and focus on our goals and vision for the company.
• 2011- We attended our first higher education conference, the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. We’ve come a long way since then, as Tony is now a part of the AMA Symposium Planning Committee.
• 2012 – Our Vision Points were clearly defined and published. This was another big step for the company, as these are the values that inform everything we do. From the type of people we hire to the work we take on, our Vision Points are at the heart of our unique company culture, defining and uniting us as a group. Now, you can find mugs around the office with our Vision Points printed on the side as a reminder of what we stand for.
• 2013 – VisionPoint began a partnership with our first client on the West Coast, the California Western School of Law. Today, our clients are all across the country. We’ve even talked about opening a West Coast office some day.
• 2014 – Diane represented VisionPoint at our first OmniUpdate User Training Conference as an official OmniUpdate Partner. We’re now committed to exploring new partnerships and expanding current ones with other organizations who are as committed to serving higher education as we are.
• 2015 – The VisionPoint team grew to 16 talented employees with even more open positions. Our team continues to grow as we expand our service offerings and our list of client partners.
• 2016 – Earlier this year, VisionPoint earned a spot among the top 10 best employers in NC and once again we’ve outgrown our space. Later this year, we plan to move into a new office with more room for collaboration and a bigger kitchen!
• Onward – Today, we’re thrilled to say over 98% of our business comes from serving higher education. The work we do in partnership with our clients is nationally recognized and our people are often invited to speak at many of higher education’s preeminent marketing conferences all around the country, demonstrating our collective thought leadership on topics ranging from branding to content strategy to integrated marketing.

As I look ahead to the next 15 years, I’m encouraged to know that our foundation is strong. I’m grateful for the people and clients who’ve helped us get to where we are. Here’s to 15 years of success as a company! Stay tuned for updates on the next 15 and beyond.