If you tried to fit 25 years of company history into one night, how would you do it?
Preparations for our 25th anniversary started quietly at the beginning of the year. We knew we didn’t want a typical corporate event. It had to be something that felt ours with a unique theme, our own visual identity, and a special way to honor both the founders and the people who have shaped Macrix. So, we set the bar high for ourselves, aiming to create an event that will live in our memories for a long time. The event that people will regret if they don’t attend.
THE PLACE AND LOGISTICS
Dominika & Patrycja have chosen Country Park near Gaj, a 1.8-hectare venue surrounded by nature. As far as I know, the selection process was not long, since we knew exactly what we needed: we needed space for both the official and the informal parts of the evening.
Olga took care of hotel bookings, delegations, and careful transport coordination. In the beginning, we wanted to rent a bus, but many people wanted to go by car, so Olga helped to arrange them appropriately.
First preparation meetings were done bi-weekly, and they were more about exchanging ideas, agreeing on the deliverables, and planning our work from a longer perspective.
The real momentum came a month before the event, when the idea of the Macrix Galaxy clicked, a metaphor for how Macrix was born and continues to expand, connecting new employees, projects, and stories over the years.
Before that, we’d had a dozen other concepts on the table, the strong ones were ‘transformation’ theme, evolving as a word… The galaxy metaphor suddenly made sense and complemented the evolving theme; it reflected how Macrix keeps expanding, connecting new stars, projects, and stories over the years.
25TH ANNIVERSARY VISUAL IDENTITY AND MARKETING DELIVERABLES
From marketing materials we created: the logotype, event graphics, email footers, Teams backgrounds, LinkedIn covers.
Our CEO, Marek, came up with the event slogan:
“Turning 25. Never felt younger.”
And that really captured the mood – proud of our experience, but still curious and full of energy.
We also created a short film for the event, a joint effort between the MOME (video agency), HR, and Marketing & Sales teams. It was one of those projects where everyone brought their best ideas. I will never forget one meeting with Marek when he was giving us his feedback about the logo, animation & video concept.
Here are the specially designed Teams background visuals:
REBUILDING 25 YEARS OF HISTORY
To tell our story properly, we needed to dig deep. We conducted 17 one-on-one interviews with the people who’ve been here the longest. The longest one, with Marcin Krzywulski, took three sessions, each lasting several hours. Marcin, thank you for your devotion.
For three weeks, we collected memories hidden in people’s heads, old photos from projects all around the world, and funny stories that had never been written down.
I’ll never forget anecdotes from Józef when he was showing me photos of pictures of Jarek, our colleague – standing on the border between Europe and Asia. Those images reminded us how far our journey has taken us.
By the end of this process, we had thousands of notes, quotes, and files and a clearer sense of who we are as a company. But how to show it off, how to make people want to play with discovering the Macrix’s history?
Recalling history, milestones, and turning points – but make it fun. The answer? An interactive game “Rebuild the Story of Macrix”:
- 5 stations with 5 guides across a 1.8-hectare venue, 15 tasks (chosen from 47 original ideas, simplified just 3 hours before launch)
- 100+ printed instruction cards
- 5 teams collected “artifacts” and pieced together the Macrix story step by step
- Galaxy board: 5×2 m panels representing 154 key milestones: employees, projects, products, offices, turning points, and more
We created an interactive quiz that led to a reveal: three portraits (Marek, Józek, Kristof), each containing QR codes linking to personalized video messages from the team. Before that, employees had filled out a survey with questions like: What’s your first memory with this founder? What are you grateful for? If they were a superhero, who would they be?
- 84 employee surveys
- 2,000 km traveled to hold multiple meetings in Poland and Germany to record the videos
- 150 descriptions per founder, 450 total – capturing how the team sees them
- 3 portraits hiding QR codes with 135 personalized video messages
- An interactive quiz with riddles for 3 founders, leading to gifts’ reveal.
You might wonder how these ideas actually come to life? Through a lot of iteration, of course!
I still remember showing Patrycja my idea for a Forbes-style cover, a fun concept where we’d recreate our founders as if they were featured on a business magazine and give them personalized posters. Patrycja said, “Nah, Józef would say that Forbes should pay him to be on the cover!” We both laughed, and that’s when Patrycja came up with another version: a poster with inspiring slogans and key words.
What also helped us a lot were in-person meetings and on-site visits to the event location. After each of those trips, we came back full of energy and with a clear mind about what needed to be done next.
So if you want to take your creativity to the next level, here’s my advice: change your surroundings, switch up your environment, and work with great people – that might be exactly what you need.
THE FINAL WEEK
The last week felt like a bootcamp. We worked in shifts, starting at 5 a.m. and finishing past midnight. There were moments of panic, laughter, fueled by a lot of coffee. The core team: Patrycja, Dominika, Jakub, and I worked side by side until the very end, with huge help from Begüm, Olga, and Claudia in the final stretch. We didn’t have an external agency. Every single detail, from concept to execution, was created inside Macrix.
My takeaways from organizing the event:
- Starting the planning for the 25th anniversary early on was definitely the right call – but next time, we should involve a broader group of stakeholders from the very beginning.
- The timelines for closing each part of the event should be spread out more evenly to avoid last-minute pressure.
- For such a large-scale event – especially without an external agency, it would make sense to strengthen the team already at the initial stage of planning.
But what went absolutely great – and what I’m personally most proud of:
- Teamwork was top of the top. Whenever someone committed to something, we gave 150%.
- Crisis management and problem-solving were also top of the top. We managed to find an additional graphic designer at the very last minute, recall a batch of misprinted puzzles, push the printing house for higher quality, and completely reorganize the outdoor game.
- Budget management went super well – we even found room for a few smart optimizations and savings.
LOOKING BACK
Preparing the 25th anniversary was the most intense project I’ve ever worked on at Macrix. But also one of the most rewarding. We didn’t just organize an event – we rediscovered our history. And we proved to ourselves that after 25 years, Macrix still has the same energy it had at the start.
Or as Marek said: Turning 25. Never felt younger.
Ps. Patrycja also created one slogan: I’ve never felt so tired/exhausted/creative.