Carroll Daniel recently celebrated our 75th anniversary to highlight our third-generation family-owned business of building opportunities for clients, partners, employees and the communities we serve. Since our inception by Carroll Ephraim Daniel in 1946 to his son, Carroll “Ed” Daniel, taking the reins, then passing on leadership to his son, our current President and CEO, Brian Daniel, we had a lot to celebrate, including our tremendous success and growth for nearly a century.
Starting the business in a small office in downtown Gainesville, Georgia — where our headquarters still stands (albeit in a larger building!) — Carroll built the company on a foundation of integrity and commitment to quality craftsmanship. Ed continued to grow the family legacy and was known throughout the construction industry as an admirable leader.
Under Brian’s leadership, Carroll Daniel has seen the most significant period of growth in company history, and we remain anchored by the core values upon which we were founded — Relationships, Integrity, Stewardship, and Excellence (RISE).
To celebrate this milestone anniversary and share our story, we focused on multiple components.
Amplifying the Message
We created a simple, yet effective tagline: “75 Years of Building Opportunities” and designed an anniversary logo with a vintage feel, which we applied to the front façade of our headquarters to give a nod to the city and community where we put down our roots.
We also created a full-color Commemorative Book to showcase our seasoned history and company growth and celebrate not only the communities we’ve built but also the communities that helped build us. We gave a copy of this book to our employees, clients and partners.
Other digital work included developing a 75th-anniversary landing page for our website, professional videos featuring Brian Daniel, and new advertisements, which we placed s in several publications, leading to hundreds of new followers on our social media channels.
We also worked with key editors, securing media coverage in publications such as Engineering News-Record, Georgia Trend, and our local newspaper, the Gainesville Times. Finally, we engaged with community members and leaders in cities across the Southeast where we operate — including clients and prospects in the construction industry.
Celebrating with our Team
Recognizing our employees — both past and present — is an essential component of the family atmosphere that we cultivate here at Carroll Daniel and, as such, was a key component of our anniversary celebration. We encouraged our leadership team to amplify our story and challenged our employees to live out our company values, coining an internal campaign called #challengetoRISE, using the acronym of our core values. Teams engaged with the social media handle through 75 acts of kindness, volunteering, jobsite outreach, hashtags and trivia. Our internal outreach enhanced employee engagement with 100 percent employee participation in the campaign.
And, last but not least: what would an anniversary be without a celebratory event? Carroll Daniel team members and roughly 200 of our friends, family, subcontractors and partners gathered at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia, for a celebratory dinner, further honoring our family atmosphere.
Acclaimed University of Georgia (UGA) Football Coach Vince Dooley and Herschel Walker, a UGA and college football legend, entertained guests with stories about sports, life and leadership. We are proud that over 91 percent of those invited to the event attended.
What’s Next?
The anniversary campaign was a great success, truly supporting our continued sense of purpose and company mission: to offer innovative solutions and industry-leading service, while maintaining our roots, family culture and solid core values.
As we continue to increase our employee base and client roster in the AEC industry, we look forward to celebrating success for the next 25 years and beyond.