News

April 18, 2018

Fingerpaint Marketing Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary

Article originally published on PR Newswire.

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of Fingerpaint Marketing. The agency commemorated this milestone by doing what it has always done – putting people first – and flying the entire company to Scottsdale, Ariz. for a four-day company anniversary celebration, a nearly $600,000 investment.

This past week, around 200 Fingerpainters were flown to the scenic JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa for four days of team building, information sharing, and leisure activities, such as horseback riding and mountain biking. The unprecedented gathering provided employees the opportunity to converge from four offices across the country and honor Fingerpaint’s incredible successes over the past decade.

Day one kicked off with a larger-than-life company meeting, where team members were recognized for their hard work by agency founder Ed Mitzen. As a special acknowledgement, Fingerpaint recognized three employees who have gone above and beyond during their tenures with the agency. Michelle Petroff (Account Service, Conshohocken), Anne Marie White (Account Service, Saratoga Springs), and Jenny McKenna (Operations, Saratoga Springs) were each gifted a custom Rolex timepiece in appreciation of their dedication to the growth and mission behind Fingerpaint since they joined in 2010.

“Fingerpaint has always made it a point to foster a people-first culture,” said Mitzen. “Just like a family would come together to celebrate a birthday, we wanted to ensure our entire team – from all offices – was in one place to celebrate what we have built and what we will continue to build, together.”

As another thank-you to the company and the dedicated people behind it, four additional employee benefit announcements were made, adding to Fingerpaint’s already stellar benefits package. Additions and improvements include a new student loan repayment assistance program, an office rotation program, a 300% increase in the 401(k) match, and last, but not least, summer business hours. The day closed out with a wonderful cocktail hour and dinner served on the grounds of Taliesin West, a National Historic Landmark nestled in the desert foothills of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale and home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the School of Architecture at Taliesin.

Day two was focused on charting Fingerpaint’s future with presentations, activities, and breakout sessions led by the agency’s creative leads from each office. In typical creative Fingerpaint fashion, Bruce Rooke (Ideation, Columbus) rode in to the outdoor presentation on a unicorn (a real live horse with a not-so-real horn and pink glitter mane) to drive home the point that Fingerpaint is a “unicorn” of an agency, an organization so rare, talented, and unique that planning for its future successes is an all-hands-on-deck operation of creativity, laughter, and love.

In addition, the agency heard from team leaders, including Bo Goliber (Philanthropy), who announced this year’s Philanthropy Day initiative: “Operation Lunch Lady” to help tackle food insecurity. Each year, Fingerpaint employees participate in a day of service aimed at giving back to a beloved charitable organization. This year, the Fingerpaint team will partner with The Pack Shack to provide 65,000 meals across the country. The Pack Shack will visit each office, where Fingerpainters will be encouraged to dress in full lunch lady garb (hairnet, apron, etc.) and help The Pack Shack prepare and package meals for kids in need right in their own communities.

Fingerpaint closed out the exciting celebration with an “Arizona Luau” themed dinner party hosted at La Puesta del Sol, a premier event destination secluded in the Arizona Desert and boasting stunning desert vistas perched atop a cactus-dotted mesa. From the stunning 360-degree views of the sunset to mechanical bull riding, cowboy games, and a barbeque cookout, it was the perfect way to cap the experience and let Fingerpainters cut loose before embarking on the next 10 years.

Starting from humble beginnings in 2008, Mitzen took the company from operating on card tables in 400 square feet of office space to four offices across the country with almost 200 highly skilled employees. From inception, Mitzen set out to shake up the agency structure by dismantling the status quo and building an unfettered “no titles, no offices, no egos” approach. From free healthcare and paid sabbaticals to pet- and child-friendly offices, Fingerpaint has always treated its staff like family, not employees.

To learn more about Fingerpaint, its trailblazing work, and inclusive company culture, please visit www.FingerpaintMarketing.com.