Post Performance Report: The best brand milestone campaigns on social

We’re back with another installment of the Post Performance Report (PPR)—a series where we compile and analyze social media posts and campaigns inspiring us, and break down what makes them so genius. We don’t just examine the flawless creative execution of every post or campaign, but the business impact, too.

This time, we’re putting the spotlight on brands celebrating major milestones. Anniversaries are top of mind for us at Sprout, as we just celebrated 15 years!

Milestone campaigns are some of our favorites because they offer brands an opportunity to highlight their unique culture, history and customers. According to The 2025 Sprout Social Index™, nearly half (46%) of consumers say their favorite brands stand out by posting original content. That tells us audiences value well-crafted milestone stories just as much as marketers do.

Here’s a look at some brands celebrating in style—and key takeaways you can use to create buzz when your next big milestone rolls around.

Microsoft programs 50 years of success

Microsoft, the iconic technology company, first began operating in 1975. Since then, the organization has been a powerhouse market presence—so ubiquitous it’s hard to remember a time before it existed.

In honor of Microsoft’s 50-year anniversary, the brand celebrated on social by getting back to their roots. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella shared an image on stage alongside past CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. The LinkedIn post received nearly 50k likes at time of publishing.

Nadella’s post was from Microsoft’s 50th anniversary special event attended by 1,000 employees throughout the company. The brand posted tiny mic interviews on-site at the event, passing the mic to the employees eagerly waiting for it to begin. They also posted content generated by their employees and a post-event photo dump.

Beyond event content, Microsoft also unveiled a future-looking hype video to mark the milestone. The video honors the brand’s heritage, while centering topics like AI and innovation and—most importantly—their products’ end user.

Enthusiasm for Microsoft’s 50-year anniversary spilled over into mainstream media. Outlets like NPR reported on the milestone, retelling the brand’s famous origin story, tracking its evolution over the years and setting the stage for its next frontier: AI.

The play: Microsoft’s 50th anniversary campaign struck the perfect balance between honoring its legacy and looking toward the future. By combining executive storytelling, employee-generated content and a forward-facing brand video that centered its customers, Microsoft created a multi-layered celebration that felt both personal and visionary. The result was widespread engagement across social and mainstream media.

For your next brand anniversary, consider how you can humanize the celebration by leaning into your executives, employees and consumers.

Corona toasts to 100 years

Mexican beer brand Corona is unveiling their 100-year anniversary campaign, just in time for summer in the Northern hemisphere. The company is well known for their signature beer—a light and refreshing lager that’s perfect for a day on the beach.

The brand celebrated their centennial milestone by crafting the Corona Beach 100 List, a curation of the most iconic beaches on the planet. The list includes everything from hidden island gems to legendary coastlines, and explores how these beaches have shaped the last 100 years of beach culture.

For social, the brand created a visually striking list, with the names of each beach scrawled into the sand. They even included a behind-the-scenes video that demonstrated how artists individually wrote every letter with sand rakes—a differentiator in a sea of recent AI content generation misfires from other brands.

Corona also published a nostalgic and picturesque Reel that cements the brand with the feeling of beach days—featuring vignettes of dancing in the sand, plunging in salty water and relaxing away from the stress of daily life.

The brand’s campaign is generating major media buzz, with outlets like Adweek celebrating its success and originality. Other outlets like Travel Pulse Canada and Campaign Asia reported on the story, citing beaches from their respective countries that were included on the top 100 list.

The play: Corona’s campaign shows how milestone moments can become lifestyle statements when tied to a brand’s emotional territory—in this case, the beach. Rather than centering the brand itself, Corona celebrated the culture it’s long been part of, making the audience feel included in the moment.

Use anniversaries as an opportunity to spotlight the values and experiences your customers already associate with you, and bring those to life in fresh, tangible ways.

Trinity Business School marks 100 years of excellence

Trinity College’s Business School celebrates 100 years of business excellence. The triple-accredited business school has been redefining business education from the heart of Dublin for a century.

To mark this milestone on social, the Trinity College social team interviewed students and staff to find out what makes Trinity Business School such a special place. The team also captured the Dean of Trinity Business School sharing his vision for what this milestone means, and what’s in store for the future.

The festivities continued when Trinity Business School shared images from their 100th birthday event and promoted their Trinity Business Summit 2025. Trinity also shared posts recapping summit highlights.

Last year, Trinity College’s MBA program was listed among LinkedIn’s top 100 programs, securing the top spot in Ireland and top 25 ranking in Europe overall. As Trinity’s profile rises at home and abroad, the business school’s well-coordinated 100-year celebration is generating media attention and gives them a chance to platform their moniker: transforming business for good. Their future-focused vision is embedded across everything they’ve done to celebrate their anniversary.

The play: Higher education institutions can use milestones to reinforce both legacy and leadership. By blending reflections from students, faculty and administrators with forward-looking messaging, Trinity embodied both pride in the past and momentum for the future. The lesson is to treat anniversaries not just as celebrations, but as strategic brand moments—ones that elevate academic reputation, showcase community voices and align with long-term institutional goals.

CAVA’s Peter Chip makes his birthday debut

CAVA, the Mediterranean fast-casual brand, just introduced a wholesome new character in celebration of National Pita Day. Peter Chip, a googley-eyed pita chip, celebrated his birthday on the national holiday. To kick off the birthday festivities, Peter announced that all loyalty program members would receive a free pita chip order.

Peter “took over” CAVA’s entire social presence to introduce himself and spread the word about the upcoming promotion. Like in this video, where Peter comes to life and explains to CAVA’s TikTok followers how “he” is made.

Comments on the posts were overwhelmingly positive, with fans sharing their excitement for the “Aries king” and his birthday. The campaign is an example of how CAVA keeps fans engaged by rewarding loyal customers, and using social to expand awareness of their brand and its offerings.

In Q1 2025, CAVA reported a 10.8% increase in same-store sales, and a 7.5% increase in foot traffic. At a time when cost is a top concern and the restaurant landscape is more competitive than ever, CAVA has excelled at attracting and retaining repeat customers.

The play: You don’t have to wait for a major anniversary or milestone to celebrate. You can tie your brand to an existing cultural event to keep your brand top of mind. Take a cue from CAVA by incorporating your character (or inventing a new one) or introducing a new loyalty program perk in honor of a brand-adjacent holiday. However you choose to celebrate, make it easy (and fun) for your customers to get involved and use social to drive awareness of your campaign.

Small business spotlight: Primally Pure

For small businesses like Primally Pure, reaching a decade is no small feat. The natural skincare brand has built a loyal customer base on social, helping them mature from a homegrown company (where the founder would formulate products in the kitchen of her family farm) to a brand worth millions.

To celebrate their past, present and future, Primally Pure debuted a 10th birthday box that contained some of their best-selling products, new releases and a few exclusive items. The box came complete with a scrapbook-style lid that commemorated the brand’s early days, complete with journal entries straight from the founder.

To promote the release, the brand crafted an ASMR-inspired, cookie frosting Reel that showcased cookies inspired by the products in the box.

Primally Pure also shared a photo montage of key milestones over the past decade. From those early days in the farmhouse kitchen to opening their office space and later spa, to influencer partnerships and their most recent rebrand, the entire company history was encapsulated.

The play: Primally Pure’s 10-year celebration shows that small brands can make a big impact by leaning into storytelling, authenticity and community. Their milestone campaign didn’t just spotlight products—it honored the founder’s journey, creating an emotional connection with longtime customers.

Use your anniversary to tell the story only you can tell, and package it in a way that feels personal, nostalgic and shareable.

It’s time to celebrate your brand

That wraps up this month’s installment of PPR. Stay tuned for next month, where we’ll be highlighting brands who use their social efforts to deliver ROI. In the meantime, remember these key takeaways:

Looking for another example of a brand anniversary campaign? Read our CEO’s take on Sprout’s 15-year anniversary.

And if you see a social post or campaign that deserves to be highlighted, tag us @sproutsocial and use #PostPerformanceReport to have your idea included in a future article.