HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone.

And welcome to 2010 – a year when the world’s attention will once again be focussed on South Africa, 20 years after the momentous day when Nelson Mandela walked free from prison. Possibly not quite as significant, but in a smaller, more local way, still noteworthy – 2010 also denotes Marketing Impact celebrating its twentieth year in business. Our ‘Platinum’ anniversary according to our American chums, which admittedly does sound a sight more flashy than the more traditional ‘China’ anniversary.

When Marketing Impact was launched in 1990, most in England had recovered from Gazza’s tears in the World Cup and the first of many times England were to be knocked out on penalties. The fact that the West Germans went on to become World Champions should have come as no surprise, after their year was welcomed in by David Hasselhoff uniting both sides of the decimated Berlin Wall in song. The Germans then decided to consolidate their position on top of the football tree by unifying in October to round off a memorable year for them.

The reaction in Britain was typified by Maggie Thatcher resigning as PM, suspiciously shortly after the official reunification. However there may be some evidence to suggest that she may well have taken umbrage to German pop sensation, Milli Vanilli’s revelation that they had not actually sung on their multi-award winning, worldwide No.1 hit ‘Girl you know it’s true’, with her decision to quit coming literally days around the time the announcement was made public.

Despite these remarkable goings-on over the Channel, Marketing Impact nevertheless decided to establish itself and place its future solely in the hands of Finnish brewer, Hartwall. The Lapin Kulta account served Marketing Impact well and soon more clients were signing up on the back of the successful campaign of this little-known beer.

Fast forward two decades and English football fans are now expecting to be knocked out whenever it goes to penalties and Marketing Impact is now in its 20th and one of its busiest years of trading. A broad range of clients are now on the books allowing the continual expansion and diversification of this resourceful agency. To mark the occasion, we are proposing a whole year of activity, including a rebrand, charity events, the sharing of acquired expertise, client platinum cards, plenty of ‘then and now’ fun and a big party in December to mark the actual day.

In the meantime, we would like to hear from anyone who has had a connection with Marketing Impact over the last 20 years. We’d like to hear from any former staff that we’re no longer in touch with, any past clients or stakeholders, any suppliers or friends of the company – please email us at 20@marketing-impact.co.uk and we’ll be in touch shortly.

All the best for 2010 from all at MI.