On January 20, 2025, Avalaunch Media gathered for its annual town hall — a time to reflect on the wins of 2024, celebrate our people and clients, and set our sights on the year ahead with our North Star in mind.
From major milestones to new initiatives, last year was one of growth, collaboration, and impact, and we’re carrying that momentum into 2025. But before we dive into meeting highlights, let’s talk about what guides us here at Avalaunch: client success.
Following Our North Star
In 2024, we defined our North Star. If you’re unfamiliar with the idea of a North Star in business, it represents your mission and drives every business decision to focus your actions on what matters most.
Our journey to defining our North Star came after Avalaunch Media’s CEO, David Mink, listened to a podcast where the host asked fitness mentor Mauro Stara one simple question:
“When did your business really take off?”
Reflecting on this question and Mauro Stara’s response, the answer was clear: our North Star is our clients’ success. At Avalaunch Media, every strategy, partnership, and plan is shaped by this guiding principle, as David shared on LinkedIn.
Our client’s success is our success, and this commitment led to key changes in 2024, including a new pod model designed to strengthen collaboration and better serve our clients (more on that later on).
Milestones and Memorable Moments From 2024
Our North Star guided us to new opportunities and meaningful growth for our clients and community members last year. Here’s a quick recap of the highlights.
Grew Our FCMO Service
We significantly expanded our Utah-based Fractional CMO (FCMO) initiative in 2024, a service that gives brands the opportunity to optimize their organizational strategy for marketing through partnership with executive-level marketing leaders without the C-suite payroll commitment.
As the only agency in Utah offering both FCMO expertise and full-service agency execution to carry out the FCMO’s strategy, we gave more brands access to needed marketing help and capitalized on all the unique opportunities this presented us.
Adopted a New Pod Model
In service of our North Star, we also restructured our client-facing teams into a more dedicated, interactive pod model to facilitate collaboration, reduce deliverable timelines, and strengthen client relationships. This change has already positively impacted our employee and client relations, and we’re excited to see what our pods can achieve together in 2025.
Expanded Traditional Media Offerings
Recognizing the value of traditional media, we expanded our offerings to complement our digital expertise. From radio production to billboard ads, we broadened our capabilities to help our clients reach their audiences wherever they are.
Hosted Our First Annual Charity Golf Tournament
In 2012, we launched Avalaunch Gives Back, an initiative created to give our employees the chance to give back to the local community. While we’ve continued to give back to our community each year since the start of this initiative, 2024 marked the beginning of a new tradition — our first-ever Avalaunch Gives Back Charity Golf Tournament.
Leading up to the event, our employees rallied our clients to participate in a friendly golf competition to raise money for Water for Life in support of those affected by Hurricane Helene, as well as Utah Valley University’s Care Hub, which helps students in crisis stay in school and graduate.
Town Hall Highlights: Launching Brands, People, and Purposes
Though it’s always fun to look back at our growth from the previous year, our employees’ favorite part of the meeting centered around our discussion of how Avalaunch fulfilled its mission to launch brands, people, and purposes in 2024.
Launching Brands: Client Success Stories
To kick off this portion of the meeting, we asked our strategists to round up videos from our clients to talk about how 2024 went for them. Their messages reflected on what we accomplished together and expressed gratitude for each of the people they worked with at Avalaunch. It was a special experience to cheer together and be inspired by our clients’ amazing successes.
Launching People: Company Activities & Employee Spotlights
We also laughed and shed a couple of tears as we reminisced on past events and heard a select few employees share their stories of how they came to Avalaunch — and we especially loved hearing how our company has genuinely “launched” their careers. We were so touched that we thought we would share their stories with you (with their permission, of course).
Jordyn
Jordyn, our social media specialist, expressed her gratitude for Avalaunch, sharing,
“During the six-month gap between graduating college and starting at Avalaunch, I was rejected from 52 positions at companies/agencies across Utah, but I was dedicated to getting a seat at Avalaunch. The picture that was painted during my initial interview of the culture, career opportunities, and everything in between was something I refused to let pass me by.
In the first six months of my time here, I was offered a summer internship to lead and teach about digital marketing. I had the opportunity to branch into organic social media, SEO, email automation, paid advertisement, and project management. From that experience, I knew Avalaunch was willing to allow any of us to explore the various forms of marketing we offer, and I took advantage of that.
Soon after, I dove headfirst into PPC with the plan to integrate my organic social media department with paid social media to offer more to our clients for success and to launch them forward. I am now managing multiple organic and paid social media clients with team leads who are willing to take the time to teach and invest in me. The owners have done the same by providing countless chances to open my knowledge of marketing.
I love being at Avalaunch, and I’m excited to see the direction we are going in during 2025. I think there is something powerful to say about the trust an agency has in its team, growth, and opportunities when it puts energy into those who others deem “not experienced enough.”
Hunter
Hunter, one of our paid media managers, shared a heartfelt story of his career journey:
“My journey to Avalaunch Media has been anything but ordinary. After graduating from Utah Valley University in 2020 with marketing and business management degrees, I dreamed of helping businesses leverage traditional advertising in the Salt Lake market. But the pandemic derailed my plans, leading to layoffs, financial stress, and countless job applications.
I found work teaching driver education courses, which unexpectedly introduced me to paid media. Despite the steep learning curve and lack of mentorship, I taught myself platforms like Facebook, Google, TikTok, and more. A chance reconnection with a college friend provided guidance and a new job, where I became a trusted Facebook ads buyer. Unfortunately, I was laid off again when the company was sold, facing uncertainty with a young family to support.
That same day, Avalaunch Media reached out. Within hours, I interviewed, and a week later, I was hired. Over the past three years, Avalaunch has given me stability, growth opportunities, and a supportive team. I’ve expanded my skills, ventured into traditional media, and finally found a place to thrive.
Thank you, Avalaunch, for being such an integral part of the chapter where my story took off.”
Emma
Emma, our office admin, came to Avalaunch for a new challenge:
“I joined Avalaunch at a pivotal moment in my career. After spending over seven years at another company and gaining invaluable experience, I was eager for a fresh challenge. One lesson that has profoundly shaped my career is the importance of working alongside supportive coworkers and leaders. That’s why Avalaunch’s focus on employee experience and culture immediately stood out to me during my job search.
When I came in for my interview, Avalaunch felt like the perfect fit, though I lacked some HR experience the role required. Instead of seeing it as a roadblock, the team proposed I take a course to develop my HR skills, fully covering the cost.
This early investment in my growth, coupled with the confidence my team showed in me, has been a driving force behind every project I’ve taken on since. From day one, I felt trusted and empowered, which made every event, process, and initiative a rewarding experience. My team at Avalaunch didn’t just help me launch into a new career. They created a supportive environment where I could thrive and grow.”
Launching Purposes: Our Rebrand
Another meeting highlight was watching with excitement as our Growth Strategist, Carsen Kendall, and designer, Will Shiflett, unveiled our new branding. They gave our logo a fresh look to represent our new company direction while maintaining our commitment to launching brands, people, and purposes. Here’s what Will had to say about the project:
“When redesigning our logo, it was important for us to honor our past while embracing the present and future. In a world of countless touchpoints, it’s never been more important for a brand’s visual presence to be adaptable and versatile yet instantly identifiable.
Our mark is the most recognizable element of our brand, so minor tweaks were the key — a small move here, a tiny adjustment there — making it mathematically correct while retaining its magic. Our typography received the biggest facelift, becoming bolder and easier to read, but undeniably Avalaunch.“
Building Momentum With Our North Star in 2025
Reflecting on 2024 and looking forward to 2025 with our North Star in full view, we ended our annual meeting by announcing Avalaunch’s first-ever North Star League. This friendly competition between our pods is designed to improve the experience of our employees and clients. As part of this initiative, you’ll see us start to share a lot more client success stories in the near future, so stay tuned!
To wrap up, we’d like to express our gratitude to our clients, partners, and employees who helped make 2024 a success. We’re excited to see what we will grow and achieve together in 2025.
