Celebrating 100 Years Through Community Engagement, Digital Storytelling, Events, and a Timeless Brand
Turning 100. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As The City of Boca Raton approached its 100th anniversary, they recognized the Centennial was more than a commemorative milestone—it was a rare opportunity to unify civic pride, celebrate local history, and present the vision of the City’s future that would not come again for another 100 years.
However, the process did not officially start until Merit Mile competed against hundreds of agencies in the regional RFP invitation process. Eventually, a short-list of 6 agencies and 3 competing bids were considered prior to the selection.
"We are thrilled to partner with a local, Boca Raton-based firm like Merit Mile to elevate our Centennial celebration. This year-long, community-wide event is a significant milestone that demands extensive resources and expertise, and we believe Merit Mile is the perfect partner to help us achieve this."- Anne Marie Connolly,
Communications and Marketing Director
The contract award was 18 months, but that included several months of preparations including branding and website design. Officially launching in January 2025 for the public, the Centennial was conceived as a year-long, citywide initiative encompassing signature events, resident storytelling, historic preservation, partnerships, sponsorships, and engaging community programs.
To execute this vision at scale, the City required a strategic marketing partner capable of assuming full ownership across branding, digital experiences, marketing operations, communications and PR, events, and ongoing execution. As the agency of record (AOR) for the Centennial, Merit Mile led an engagement that extended well beyond marketing execution—positioning the team as an embedded extension of the City’s marketing function, responsible for steering strategy, managing complexity, and ensuring consistent, high-quality delivery across every public-facing Centennial touchpoint. Read the press release here.
Challenge
The scope of the Centennial presented a multifaceted municipal challenge. The City needed a digital platform capable of supporting dozens of dynamic initiatives—ranging from public events and oral history to merchandise sales, sponsorship activations, donations, and community partnerships—over the course of an entire year. This required a website that felt cohesive and intuitive for residents and visitors of all ages, while remaining flexible and reliable enough to support a full year of changing programs and activity.
At the same time, the City faced the challenge of maintaining brand consistency across an exceptionally high volume of outputs. Creative assets spanned digital, print, environmental signage, advertising, social media, video, and on-site event materials, all of which needed to align
to a unified Centennial identity while meeting ADA and public-sector accessibility requirements. Internally, City staff required streamlined brand tools and processes to manage usage, sponsorships, donations, and partner intake without adding administrative burden.
Integral to this scope was a clear requirement that the Centennial be thoroughly documented. Events were captured in real time and curated for ongoing distribution, future storytelling, and long-term documentation and archiving.
Solutions
Merit Mile approached the Centennial as an integrated marketing and events program, anchored by upfront strategy and long-term planning, and scaled through programmatic execution over an 18-month engagement. Early in the process, Merit Mile partnered closely with City stakeholders to establish a clear Centennial roadmap, defining priorities, governance, workflows, and success measures that guided the work throughout the year. This strategic foundation ensured alignment across branding, digital experiences, communications, partnerships, and content as the Centennial evolved.
Centennial Brand
A foundational component of this work was the creation of the official Centennial brandmark and comprehensive brand guidelines. Together, these assets established the visual and tonal foundation for the celebration and were designed to scale seamlessly across City departments, partners, events, merchandise, digital platforms, and municipal services. Merit Mile even developed a commemorative City of Boca Raton Centennial Branding Center for City-approved branding assets including complete logo suites and brand guidelines for the Centennial as well as the City’s Fire Rescue and Police Departments—an unexpected and memorable way to further integrate the Centennial identity into the fabric of Boca Raton. This portal became the go-to resource for approved logos, guidelines, imagery, and campaign assets—making it easy for everyone involved to access the right materials and apply the Centennial brand consistently.
Centennial Website – Boca100.com
At the center of everything was Boca100.com, the official Centennial destination, designed as a standalone, ADA-compliant digital hub for all Centennial activity. Built on WordPress and hosted on WP Engine, the site was designed for flexibility, performance, and efficient content management—allowing City staff and the Merit Mile team to publish updates, manage content, and support high-traffic moments throughout the Centennial year. Merit Mile owned the end-to-end digital experience, including information architecture, UX/UI design, copywriting, development, integrations, testing, deployment, and ongoing optimization. The site brought together event listings, historical timelines, photo and video galleries, resident stories, news updates, sponsorship information, and calls to action—creating an experience that was intuitive, accessible, and welcoming for users of all ages.
Merchandise Design and E-Commerce
Beyond serving as an informational destination, Boca100.com also featured an online storefront, Boca100 Boutique, where people could purchase Centennial branded merchandise. Merit Mile designed and launched an E-commerce store by WooCommerce, enabling secure transactions, order management, drop ship fulfillment, and seamless integration with the Centennial website.
Close to 50 products were custom designed by Merit Mile, from Centennial-branded clothing and Apolis market bags to premium products like Peter Millar polos and Yeti Tumblers. There was even an iconic Hawaiian shirt custom designed with Boca Raton landmarks that proved to be the number 1 top seller. The initiative extended beyond traditional merchandise as well, including a creative collaboration with O, Miami on Ode to Boca, a civic storytelling program that invited residents to express their connection to the City through poetry—reinforcing the Centennial’s emphasis on place, voice, and community.
Merchandise fulfillment was supported through Printify for on-demand production and drop-shipping, helping alleviate inventory management for the City, while select premium items were coordinated for local pickup at City offices—a process Merit Mile helped facilitate end to end. The storefront experience supported secure checkout, payment apps, order and inventory management, and financial/tax reporting.
Sponsorship, Donation, and Community Partnership Programs
A core component of the engagement involved developing structured frameworks to support community participation. Merit Mile created comprehensive Sponsorship, Donation, and Community Partnership programs, each built around clearly defined tiering structures, participation levels, and value exchanges. Each tier was supported by a custom-designed badge, giving sponsors, donors, and partners a clear visual identity that could be used consistently across digital and physical touchpoints.
To support outreach and activation, Merit Mile developed a full marketing kit—including social media graphics, flyers, brochures, and digital assets—used by the City’s team when engaging prospective sponsors and partners. Additional promotional materials were also created for the City, partners, and sponsors to use in their own communications, extending the reach of the Centennial while maintaining a cohesive visual system. These programs and tools were published and managed through the Centennial website, providing the City with scalable, easy-to-use models for engagement.
Merit Mile also played a central role in identifying and securing key local partnerships, including collaboration with the Boca Raton Historical Society to elevate historical storytelling and securing a partnership with Prosperity Brewers that resulted in the creation of a specialty beer brew, “1925 Centenni-Ale,” a signature Centennial product honoring the City's founding year that is still available in community restaurants and retail locations.
Communications, Advertising, and Ongoing Execution
Throughout the Centennial, Merit Mile maintained a steady cadence of strategic and tactical support. This included ongoing creative direction, copywriting, website updates, social media planning and content development, advertising design, media coordination, and project management—supported by regular leadership touchpoints with City stakeholders. A weekly meeting and reporting cadence as well as an ongoing dynamic marketing calendar kept stakeholders informed and teams aligned.
Merit Mile also led cross-functional coordination across creative execution, digital and social channels, media placements, and third-party partners, ensuring consistent messaging and seamless delivery across all platforms.
Video and Photography
To preserve the memories for future generations and extend the reach of the Centennial, Merit Mile provided on-site photography and video coverage across signature Centennial events and initiatives. Five turnkey videos were produced end to end—spanning concept development, scripting, filming, and post-production—supported by an extensive visual library.
These assets fueled digital campaigns, social media, TV broadcast placements, City communications, and broader storytelling initiatives, while also serving as a lasting archival record of the Centennial year.
Results
Merit Mile's sustained strategic ownership and hands-on execution resulted in a Centennial program that delivered measurable impact across digital engagement, commerce, partnerships, communications, and community storytelling. Among commerce, donations, and a variety of Centennial sponsorship and partner fund raising initiatives, revenues generated for the 18-month community initiative offset marketing expenses to nearly break-even levels.
Digital Engagement, Website, and E-Commerce Performance
The Centennial website quickly became the central destination for the year-long celebration, attracting 40,000+ site visitors in 2025 alone—a figure that, when viewed against Boca Raton’s population of roughly 102,000 residents, underscores the scale of community interest and engagement. Residents, visitors, and businesses relied on Boca100.com to discover events, explore the City's history, engage with Centennial content, and participate through merchandise, sponsorships, and donations—reinforcing the site's role as the connective hub for the initiative. Centennial merchandise also proved to be a strong engagement driver and meaningful revenue stream. Seasonal releases, signature event promotions, and limited-edition holiday apparel helped sustain momentum while extending the Centennial brand into everyday community life.
Sponsorships and Partnerships
Merit Mile helped the City activate and manage fourteen local sponsors and partners, supported by clearly tiered participation levels, custom partner badges, and turnkey outreach and promotional materials. Through a combination of sponsorships, partnerships, merchandise commerce, and donations, the Centennial initiative recouped approximately 90% of the City's marketing investment, significantly offsetting program costs while strengthening private-sector and community involvement.
Video, Photography, and Event Coverage
Merit Mile provided on-site coverage across signature Centennial events, capturing hours of video footage and thousands of photographs to support real-time promotion, post-event storytelling, and long-term archival use. Major events documented included Boca Street Fest, the Centennial Celebration Weekend Concert (featuring Weezer and Fountains of Wayne), the Centennial Drone Show at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus, the Holiday Street Parade, the Wildflower Park Art Unveiling, and additional City-led activations.
Video production efforts included a Centennial Sizzle Reel to kick off the year, a Website Launch teaser, event-specific promotional assets—including two unique broadcast television ads for Boca Street Fest—A Century of Community resident storytelling video, and a Centennial Recap video to close the year, collectively creating a complete visual narrative from launch through legacy.
Communications, Advertising & Media Presence
Throughout the Centennial year, Merit Mile produced dozens of communications assets and social media posts, ensuring consistent visibility across City-owned and partner channels. Monthly print advertisements were designed and placed in prominent local and regional publications including Boca Magazine, Sun Sentinel, Boca Observer, and other South Florida outlets. In parallel, digital and video advertising supported major events and milestones, extending reach and driving attendance.
Lasting Impact
Together, these results reflect a Centennial program that went beyond celebration. The initiative strengthened community pride, expanded resident and visitor participation, engaged local businesses, and established a modern, repeatable framework for digital engagement, sponsorship activation, content creation, and brand stewardship.
The Centennial didn't just celebrate Boca Raton's past—it brought the City's story to life and set a new standard for how Boca Raton engages, celebrates, and connects with its community.
"We're proud to recognize Merit Mile for their outstanding work as the official marketing consultants for Boca Raton’s Centennial celebration! Over the past year, they’ve helped bring #Boca100 to life, beginning with the creation of our vibrant Centennial brandmark that captures the spirit, history, and energy of our community. Thank you, Merit Mile, for your creativity, collaboration, and commitment to celebrating 100 years of Boca Raton!"- City of Boca Raton
Outcome
The success of the Centennial program established Merit Mile as a trusted strategic partner beyond the scope of a single initiative. As the year progressed, City leadership continued to engage Merit Mile on additional, forward-looking projects—reflecting a strong working rhythm and confidence in the team's ability to handle complex initiatives. This expanded collaboration included exploratory design work for a new City of Boca Raton flag at the mayor’s request, concept development for redesigned City entryway signage, and comprehensive brandmark exploration for Downtown Boca. Merit Mile also evolved the Centennial identity into two refreshed City of Boca Raton logo concepts intended to support the City's visual identity beyond the Centennial year—extending the value of the original system into the future.
In parallel, Merit Mile partnered closely with the City of Boca Raton's Office of Economic Development, providing both creative and public relations support. Merit Mile led a comprehensive PR program encompassing planning, messaging and positioning, press materials, media relations, and thought leadership strategy, resulting in 46 earned media placements across a range of high-profile publications such as The South Florida Business Journal, The Washington Post, and FOX 2 Detroit. On the advertising side, Merit Mile transformed the Office of Economic Development’s Boyd Report—an independent economic analysis highlighting the cost, talent, and quality-of-life advantages of doing business in Boca Raton—into a refined, City-branded marketing asset. The work enhanced clarity, visual storytelling, charts, and overall flow while preserving the integrity of the research, enabling the City to more effectively communicate Boca Raton’s value proposition to prospective businesses and site-selection stakeholders.
"Thank you for being amazing partners this last year and a half. It has been such a pleasure working with you all and looking forward to continuing to do so on other projects."- Amy DiNorscio,
Amphiteater and Community Events Manager
Services
- Strategic planning, execution, and management of an 18-month City-Centennial program
- Full brand strategy, visual identity framework, brand guidelines, and brand portal
- Boca100.com centennial website including strategy, IA, copywriting, UX/UI, development, integrations, ADA compliance, testing, and ongoing optimizations
- E-commerce storefront and donor platform design and build
- Development of a partner, sponsor, and donor programs including financial models, program tiers, marketing kits, and promotion
- Video production including concepting, storyboarding, scripts, onsite shoots, pre-and-post-production services
- Event filming, photography, and onsite reporting
- Creative development and copywriting of all Centennial marketing assets including digital, print, social, and communications
- Intra-agency leadership functions across public relations, display/media advertising, and third-party vendors nationwide
- Liaison with a variety of City partner constituencies to steer Centennial awareness and demand marketing activities, including partner onboarding
- Ongoing website management, updates, support & optimization
- 3rd party vendor management, contracting, and pass-through
- Project management, reporting, dashboards against the master Centennial plan
Deliverables
- Centennial brandmark, visual identity system, and brand guidelines
- Centennial messaging and positioning frameworks
- Centralized Centennial brand and media portal (logos, guidelines, imagery, campaign assets)
- Boca100.com Centennial website
- Boca100 Boutique e-commerce storefront
- Sponsor, partner, and donor program packages (tiers, visual badges, marketing kits)
- Event-specific creative and on-site materials (signage, programs, promotional assets)
- Broadcast, digital, and print advertising assets for key Centennial events
- Centennial photo and video library (produced five videos and event photography)
- Ongoing social media content
- Centennial email and communications assets
Learn more about how Merit Mile can support your vertical content marketing, lead generation, and sales goals by contacting hello@meritmile.com.
About Merit Mile
Established in 2007 in Boca Raton, FL, Merit Mile is a marketing services provider focused on helping companies and corporate marketing departments build brands, drive sales revenue, and garner publicity in their respective industries. Our unique differentiator at Merit Mile is our ability to 100% own the message, the publicity, and the demand generation aspects of the corporate marketing function. Clients hire us and rehire us for our ability to refine their messaging/value proposition, develop top and mid-funnel leads, and get the type of editorial publicity that differentiates them from their competitors. From branding to PR to demand generation, Merit Mile is the high-octane fuel that invigorates corporate growth engines. To learn more, please email us at Hello@MeritMile.com, call us at 1-561-362-888, or visit us at www.MeritMile.com.
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