I can start this letter by telling you the total number of projects and campaigns we collaborated on this year, or talk to you about all of the important team building experiences we shared, or even touch upon the awards and accolades we were so fortunate to receive, but I don’t think I’d be doing my team justice if I didn’t take an even more authentic approach to this year’s letter. 

So, again, transition. 

According to the Oxford Dictionary, one definition of transition is “the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.” 

I think this one word perfectly sums up our year here at Coal Creative. We had a lot going on, much of it behind the scenes throughout the year. A few highlights: 

• We moved to our new location.
• We grew our team to 14 incredible humans. 
• We welcomed and expanded new collaborations.
• We upgraded our project management system. 
• We dedicated ourselves to progressive internal changes. 
• We completed and implemented findings from a DEI roadmap experience. 

These items above, and much more, shaped the year we had together, as a collective, and have made us stronger as a company. As always, there are lessons and even some hardships along the way, but that is to be expected when you are building a company and culture that considers the diverse needs of our team and our collaborators.

I am proud to say we have been progressive in many of the things we do as a company, both internally and externally, for a few years now. We consistently invest; both monetarily and with our time, into things that may seem unconventional for a business of our size. As a human-first organization, we have found the benefits outweigh any other factor. In 2023, we rolled out a handful of additional policies to benefit our team and community. Here are a few highlights: 

• Dedicated pro bono hours to put towards causes that are important to each member of our team. 
• Paid time off related to birthdays, bereavement (inclusive of pets), and maternity and paternity leave. 
• Additional reimbursements related to car care and mental health applications.

As noted earlier, we also completed a DEI Roadmap with friend and colleague, Dan Kimbrough, that involved our entire team in the process. This experience allowed us to be open and honest with ourselves as individuals and as a company. It inspired immediate and long-term change in some of our approaches and policies. It created brand new efforts too, which we look forward to implementing in the new year. 

As we look back at 2023, we acknowledge the tremendous transition that created the space and foundation for growth in 2024. We are excited and energized by each of our existing collaborations and are open and ready for any new opportunities that may come our way.

And if you didn’t know, Coal Creative will be celebrating a milestone anniversary in 2024: 10 years in business! 

I believe there will be much to celebrate over the next 12 months, and I invite you to follow along – and hopefully partner with us in some way! 

Cheers to the year ahead. 

Stay coal,

Holly K. Pilcavage

The post A Letter From Holly K. Pilcavage, President & CEO — 2023 Recap first appeared on Coal Creative.

At the meeting, I had our Chief Creative Officer ask the team to think about their year at Coal Creative and share one word that came to mind. On the count of 3, he asked everyone to submit their response in the Zoom chat box, in true virtual meeting fashion. 

Outlined below are the words that were sent and my personal reflection of each of them.  

Determined

We set out at the beginning of the year determined to grow in so many ways. We were determined to build relationships with new potential collaborators while committing to elevate our quality. 

We were also determined to take care of our team. 2022 marks the first year we were able to provide health insurance, dental and vision included, to every team member. It was a milestone for our small business and especially for those of us who have been with Coal Creative for 5+ years. When I held my new insurance card in my hand for the first time, I saw legitimate proof of how far we have come.

Community

Supporting our community is something we love to do all. year. long. We stepped up to support the first-ever PrideFest Parade in Downtown Wilkes-Barre that was brought to life by the Rainbow Alliance. We also partnered with the International Women’s Day Luncheon and Woman In Power Campaign once again, which highlighted well over 100 women from across Northeast Pennsylvania through the month of March. 

United Way Day of Caring, Fork Over Love food distribution, DWBBA Window Painting for the holiday season — oh my!  

And there’s more! Our designers created the show posters and graphics for KISS Theatre’s line up all year long and we supported the first-ever The Office 5K in Scranton.  

Learning

Wilkes-Barre Connect launched Project Pivot earlier this year to test run unlimited access to training courses via LinkedIn Learning and our team participated in the trial period. It was extremely beneficial and gave us a space to advance our knowledge in things that benefited our collaborators and processes. 

Beyond Project Pivot, we also challenged ourselves to learn new things to help out various partners. Two really cool examples of this are the Signallamp CCM Economic Value Model calculator and the avatar builder we developed for the same collaborator to be used internally by their team of 100+ employees. 

Busy

Busy is a nice way to put it. Because we were busy. Like, really freakin’ busy. We actually took the time to calculate the number of projects we did. (And the numbers don’t reflect any of our pro bono work mentioned above!)

• Websites – 50+
• Videos – 70+
• Social media posts – 1,500
• Designs – literally hundreds, probably thousands
• Campaigns  – 18

Whirlwind

Did you just read how many programs we supported (and attended, might I add) this year? Did you see the number of projects we worked on?! I’m not even sure how some of us are still standing! 

It was a whirlwind, but we always did our best to slow down and enjoy it while we were in it through team building and bonding activities, reflective Keeping Up With The Coal Crew prompts, and sharing the praises we received in a special “praises-for-coal” Slack channel we set up internally. 

Trailblazing

In November, we were named Emerging Business of the Year by the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce at their Annual Dinner in November. This night was extra special because our entire team had the opportunity to be there— a rare event as half of us are remote and two team members live 2 and 5 hours away so they truly don’t have the option to be with us every day!

Perspective

In the summer of 2022, we began the process of creating our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Roadmap with DEI Facilitator Dan Kimbrough. We know we don’t have all the answers and we know we still have a lot of work to do as a company when it comes to DEI. We were honest with ourselves and knew we needed to bring in an expert perspective and facilitator to lead us through this process. More to come from this in 2023! 

Refinement

While we were planning and expanding, it was simultaneously a year well spent on refining our behind-the-scenes operations. We spent time building out our operational team roles and their corresponding responsibilities, which would ultimately take our company to the next level. We also made further developments to our Coal Code — the top-secret guide to the culture of Coal Creative —including policies and expectations that take better care of our team as a whole. 

Rewarding

We don’t necessarily do the work we do for recognition, but it sure doesn’t hurt to hear you’re doing a good job! Some highlights from this year include our Content Director Samantha Bucher being named STEAM Professional of the Year and our video team taking home some gold at the American Business Awards. 

We were also named to the 2022 NEPA Best Places to Work by the Times Leader as well as the 2022 Best of the Best Advertising Agency by The Citizens’ Voice Readers Voice Awards. 

Growth

This word in particular was used by three team members and that didn’t surprise me. We have all grown professionally, but, maybe more importantly, personally as well. Even through the challenges we faced as a company this year, we always pushed through and found ourselves on the other side. Things might look a bit differently, but change really can be a good thing.

2022 has given us a lot. It has definitely given me a lot. My heart is full and I am grateful as we look forward to all that 2023 will offer. I invite you to join me in being open to all that is to come in the new year. 

Stay coal,

Holly K. Pilcavage  

The post A Letter From Holly K. Pilcavage, President & CEO: 2022 Recap first appeared on Coal Creative.

One of the best parts about being a local marketing agency is telling all the great stories about growth and change right here in Northeast Pennsylvania. But sometimes you see opportunities to do more, to make a difference. 

Our Chief Executive Officer Holly K. Pilcavage has been working on real initiatives like the Rainbow Alliance, the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce and Dress for Success Luzerne County (to name a few) for years now, and she’s helped them all in some big ways. 

It was because of her community efforts so far and her deep commitment to see this great region flourish that she’s gotten a great opportunity to do more. 

Drumroll please!

Holly’s been selected along with only 40 applicants across 13 states to take part in the Appalachian Regional Institute, an exclusive nine-month program that empowers regional leaders and trains them with best practices to change their communities. 

The fellowship program, run by the Appalachian Regional Commission, runs from October to July and includes six multi-day seminars focusing on skills and best practices, preparing fellows to:

• Design effective economic development project proposals
• Integrate community assets into long-term economic development strategies
• Identify resources available to spark economic and community development
• Locate and access investment capital from a variety of public and private sources
• Prepare competitive applications for public grant opportunities
• Use expanded connections and leadership skills to create strong regional partnerships

Appalachian Leadership Institute fellows were selected through a competitive application process to reflect the Appalachian region’s wide range of economic development challenges, opportunities and strategies.

Pilcavage will join one other area development expert, Todd Pousley, neighborhood revitalization manager with NeighborWorks Northeast Pennsylvania in Scranton also was selected. Cool, right? Out of just three fellows from Pennsylvania, two of them come from our region. 

Learn more about this incredible opportunity for Holly, Coal Creative and the northeast region. Click here

And if you happen to see Holly out and about, tell her, “Congratulations!”

The post Holly’s heading to the Appalachian Leadership Institute first appeared on Coal Creative.

I want to sincerely express my gratitude to my team, our collaborators, our partners, and our communities. It is because each of you chooses Coal, in your own way, that we are able to continue doing what we love every day.

At the beginning of the year, after months of deliberation, conversation, and ultimately consensus, we solidified and unveiled our official mission and vision statements.

Our Mission states that every day, we set out to tell stories that matter to you and your audience. Our Vision is a simple, yet powerful statement: We are authentic. human. storytellers.

I could not be more proud to be surrounded by a team that lives and breathes our mission and vision each and every day.

On its surface, Coal Creative is a marketing company — a creative agency born and raised on the sidelines of the historic Public Square in Downtown Wilkes-Barre. But it was through the craft of advertising that we discovered our potential to strengthen our community, which became unspeakably important this past year.

We have always felt called to support our community in many ways. From highlighting Northeastern Pennsylvania-based creatives each week to partnering with firms, organizations and individuals to boost business during the pandemic, we have responded to the call. We pivoted, like so many others, and continued to learn more about ourselves and our company along the way.

In 2021, we developed relationships and created award-winning content, all while navigating our new hybrid world. Our team spans across the state of Pennsylvania, challenging us in all the best ways possible. It’s a funny thing to say that your team feels closer than ever, when this is the furthest we have ever been from one another. This speaks to our true collaborative spirit, our ability to successfully overcome challenges, and our understanding of the importance of supporting one another on a very human level.

I am personally looking forward to all that 2022 has to offer and I invite you to join me in being open to all that is to come in the new year. We will continue to learn, grow, and evolve — together.

Stay coal,

Holly K. Pilcavage

The post A Letter From Coal Creative CEO Holly K. Pilcavage first appeared on Coal Creative.

Holly had many accomplishments in the year 2017. These included managing Wilkes-Barre Connect and putting together many successful events for the program and being nominated for the 2017 Young Professionals Award. She is also a member of the Leadership Wilkes-Barre Class of 2018, a member of the Young Professionals Network and the Women’s Network at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, Co-chair at the Young Professionals Society at United Way, and these are just some of the many hats she wears. It is not only her accomplishments that won her this distinction, but the fact that she is a driving force for growth and positivity in our local community. She is consistently motivated by members of our community who believe that there is good and potential here. It is all these reasons and more that have earned her this honor and we couldn’t be happier to wish her congratulations.

The post Holly K. Pilcavage is Honored as one of NEPA Business Journal’s Top 20 Under 40 first appeared on Coal Creative.