Data is a means to an end. For our Knight Eady team, it’s easy to answer the why when it comes to putting an emphasis on analytics. We want to drive strategy, support decision-making, ensure profitability, understand the industry, develop a competitive advantage — and that’s just off the top of our head. We use data because it gives us the insights we need to succeed and ensure our clients succeed. That is our objective. 

Today is a particularly special day for our communities. May 5 marks the newly named Giving Tuesday Now. The day was created to bring together nonprofits, communities, small businesses and more to provide a unified day of giving in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. It’s a day to support those on the front lines and give back to essential workers who are ensuring we have what we need.  Giving Tuesday Now represents a global action for giving and unity against COVID-19 and reminds us we are all on the same team working together to flatten the curve and fight this pandemic. 

At Knight Eady, we strive to make a difference through sports. Although we won’t see one buzzer-beater during March Madness this year or hear the roar of the crowds on the 18th green in Augusta, we still believe we can use our brand promise to make a difference and we see this magic taking shape in a new way with many of our clients and partners.

But, as the old adage goes, “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” It’s easy to get caught up in the bright lights, the cheering crowd, the buzzer-beaters and the championships. At Knight Eady, our careers revolve around sports, many of us played sports growing up and we are lifelong fans of many teams, so it became easy for some of those privileges to feel as though they were part of normal life. Spoiler alert, they aren’t so normal when life as we know it isn’t normal.

In 2013, Knight Eady was founded as an event operations group in Birmingham. Seven years later, we have evolved into a full-service event, strategy and creative agency, working with clients across the country to bring brands and fans together.

This fall, for the first time in company history, Knight Eady will host a total of four NCAA Men’s Basketball games. Spanning across eight days and two cities, the thread tips off on December 14th with the Mike Slive Invitational, followed by the Chick-fil-A Birmingham Classic on December 18th, and wraps up with the annual Rocket City Classic doubleheader on December 21st.

I remember competing in the Nastia Cup held in Jacksonville, Florida in 2011. I don’t remember much about my routines or scores, but I vividly remember how the competition made me feel. I qualified from my home club’s annual meet.

The Web.com Tour and Knight Eady announced today a new tournament set to debut on the annual schedule in 2020. The Huntsville Championship, which will be contested at The Ledges in Huntsville, Alabama, will debut the week of April 20-26, with 156 players competing for a $600,000 purse. A five-year partnership is in place through 2024.

At the 2019 Birmingham ADDY Awards, Knight Eady received eight silver awards for projects we completed in 2018. More than 100 creative works, and the individuals and firms who produced them, were honored at the Birmingham ADDY event. The award recognizes the spirit of great advertising in all types of media, created by all sizes and types of entrants, for advertisers from every industry.

I remember every moment of my Texas high school 6A state semifinal like it was yesterday. I remember the bright lights, the sound of fans cheering as we took the field, their makeshift cardboard signs peppering the stands red and white. I remember exactly how the grass smelled and how the dirt crunched under my cleats. I remember my heart beating in my chest as the announcer read my name over the PA followed by the word, “senior.”

Everyone loves gameday, especially in our state. From tailgates to touchdowns, Saturdays in the fall are some of the best days of the year. Even so, gamedays do not come without their fair share of frustrations. Whether your team blows a big play, the weather does not cooperate or the traffic makes you late, there are plenty of ways gameday can be frustrating. Wins and losses aside, fans of opposing teams can all agree on one thing: there’s nothing worse than gameday parking.

Inc. magazine revealed today that Knight Eady is No. 808 on its 37th annual Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent small businesses. Microsoft, Dell, Domino’s Pizza, Pandora, Timberland, LinkedIn, Yelp, Zillow, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.