Published: April 16, 2021
by OC Creative
At OC we’re all about being a creative agency that is committed to our roots, to giving back to the community and honoring the ones who first believed in us. Being only five years young and receiving the area chamber’s Business of the Year Award for 2020 (in February 2021) really is an honor for all of us. Sure, talking about it and making the discussion permanent in a blog maybe isn’t the most humble thing we’ve ever done, but we felt this story was important for friends, partners, and future clients to know about. Also, it feels really good to win!
What Does it Mean to be Business of the Year?
While we might come from a relatively small city, the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce is no small player. They are 650+ members strong for our community of 40,000 people. That rivals and even tops many Chicago suburb chambers of commerce. The award is given to a business that has exceptional involvement with the DeKalb Chamber and the community. The competition can be pretty fierce, which means lots of organizations doing many great things for the community. The others in the running were local radio station WDKB, Clean USA, Gurukrupa Indian Grocery Store & Copy Service, and Pest Control Consultants. No matter who the chamber names the winner each year, it really seems like the community is the real winner in all of this.
Why Did We Win?
Feedback from the chamber and the community about why we were chosen included a few reasons. One big reason was the 40TUDE program we helped launch. 40TUDE Business and 40TUDE Nonprofit were started to help businesses and nonprofits who needed assistance during the COVID-19 crisis. The collaborations formed through the program brought together the expertise of NIU faculty and students, local business owners, and experienced marketing and nonprofit professionals. It felt good to win the award, as we said, but it feels even better to help organizations in need by making community connections that last.
We couldn’t have done it without the hard work of our team, who puts in 100% every day of the week to bring about positive change for our clients in a creative way. And we definitely couldn’t have gotten where we are today without the help of the community, our community, who recognizes hard work and isn’t afraid to take a risk to improve the place they call home. OC is excited as a business because we won the award, but we’re more excited to see where we as a community can go in the future.