Can you believe that we’ve been providing our clients with top digital marketing talent they can trust for 10 YEARS!? It’s hard to describe how incredible our birthday bash was, but you better believe I’m gonna try. We knew that it would be impossible to celebrate a decade of Disruptive Advertising without pulling out all the stops – so we flew all of our remote workforce out to headquarters so we could “party hardy” as an entire company. The event kicked off with a visit to one of our favorite off-site event spaces: Kiln – (the site where we hosted Disrupticon earlier this year). Determined to travel through space and time as a company, we revved the Delorean up to 88 miles per hour and hit the timestream to answer these questions:

1. Where did we come from?
2. Where are we now?
3. Where are we going next?

  As a special treat, we brought back several former Disruptive employees – the house erupted when they came sprinting out of the fog (Oh yeah, we had the fog machines cranked up to 11). We celebrated the growth that these individuals experienced while they were at Disruptive and the impact that they are making out in the world today. Interviewing these DA rockstars as a panel provided a wealth of meaningful perspectives– We’re so proud of who they are and the good they’re doing in their new ventures.   “it was an incredible experience to be surrounded by so many people I love and so many people who have had such a huge impact on my career. There is “magic” in the Disruptive air and I forgot how potent it is!” —Katie Rhoton   Being together like this is always a bit magical, and it was a great opportunity to really connect our teams with our 10 year target and to realign around what it means to be at Disruptive Advertising. Paramount above all is our core focus:  

  For this event we dove into what it means to be an “Impactful Marketing Leader” and what it takes to get there. To us, an impactful marketing leader is someone who is dedicated to realizing and living their potential in three key areas:

1. Personal
2. Professional
3. Community

  As a company that is already full of impactful marketers, we shared what many among us had done to grow in each of these areas by exploring case studies of the cool things we’ve done. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when our Chief of Happiness, April Moody and our former employee, Katie Rhoton shared the ways that Disruptive has given back to the community and sought to lift and serve those who are in tender circumstances.   “Blasting into the past was a totally tubular time that allowed our company to come together and honor the years of hard work, dedication and love that put us where we are today. For me, it was a time to connect with people I would consider so much more than coworkers, the people I have the good fortune of working with keep my heart centered. In person week always leaves me feeling grateful but this time was extra special. I was able to connect with old friends and new and I left feeling such a strong sense of community within Disruptive but also the community we create outside of DA. The most impactful moment for me was Katie’s caring presentation (insert 500 sobbing emojis). My heart is on fire thinking about the influence DA has had on the world in the last 10 years and the opportunity we have to continue being a force of good and light for many years to come.”  —Lisa Williams   Our time traveling adventures reached their climax on the final night of the event when we dressed in our best ‘90s gear and partied at the rollerskating rink. Many laced up their skates, some fought it out in laser tag or in the arcade, and surprisingly quite a few folks mastered the mechanical bull. The best part of the party was when we gave out awards to our top performers. Awards based on individual performance and core value alignment were handed out while the crowd went wild.  

  “Leaving Disruptive’s birthday bash was bittersweet in the same way it feels to leave your favorite summer camp. For one week we were able to build stronger bonds with our co-workers than a virtual world ever could. The momentum we gained as a company during the birthday bash will carry us well into our best Q4 ever.”    —Bryan Davies We are so grateful for our people and culture team for planning and executing the best time traveling event in the history of ever, and we’re also indebted to our wonderful clients who make it possible for us to do what we do each day. DIsruptive Advertising is a special place, and this week was another reminder of that. Thank you to our employees (both current and former) for joining us at our 2023 Birthday Bash!   About the author:

Chad is a passionate people-lover who is always down for a silly-goose time. He\'s been doing digital marketing since 2007 (don\'t let the baby-face fool you) where he\'s excelled specifically in driving results and growth for lead generation organizations of all sizes. He\'s been winning Dungeons & Dragons since 1997, he\'s hit a grand slam in a state championship baseball game, and he won\'t stop hoarding books. When he\'s not busy running a successful division at Disruptive Advertising, you will find him in the mountains with his dog Rusty or swinging in his hammock with his 3 kids. Beware: guilty of contagious optimism!