Since its inception in 1995, Sterling has been at the forefront of providing global, integrated and strategic communications consultancy for corporates, consumer brands, charities, countries, government entities, celebrities, global leaders and private clients.
Our mission is to deliver strategies to address 21st century business and communication challenges, that bring a brand’s purpose closer to its audience, creates real value for stakeholders and converts profit into purpose.
We do this by developing and positioning a brand’s authenticity to find it’s true meaningful purpose, creating clear and compelling branded narratives that unify with what audiences really care about and storytelling these in innovative ways.
Through re-engagement we help brands achieve a balance between increasing its business value whether it’s to encourage sales for a latest product, donations to a charity, Box Office sales for a new film, to build a celebrity’s fan base, raise an individual’s profile, increase business growth, or even set a new trend, and delivering on a promise for real, measurable social impact.
UNEARTHING A BRAND’S SOUL
We are experiencing a new paradigm shift:
– from people to citizens
– from products to outcomes
– from talking to building relationships
– from brand position to purpose In today’s world.
Markets are complex and fast changing, competitive and borderless and audiences are savvier, more diverse and with heightened conscious. Stakeholders are looking for purpose in every aspect of their life, which has led to them disconnecting themselves from brand “talk”. Thus a need has arisen for deeper logic and more creativity when connecting clients to stakeholders.
Brands must do more than just educate, entertain and inspire but add real meaning to the lives of its stakeholders, to create a lasting and memorable impact. In doing so, brands have adopted the role of transformative agents where an inspiring purpose takes centre stage. This results in stakeholders only being brand-loyal to what brands matters most to them.
REPUTATION IS KEY
It’s all about change and managing this is key to developing clear strategies for clients that meet business and communication aims. With the rapid flow of information clients do and don’t want disseminated to stakeholders, we adopt the role of communication counsels, providing a combined advisory and strategic role to protect reputations and business integrity.
EXPERT TEAM
With the boundaries of communication shrinking and the world becoming borderless, leadership has no physical boundaries. This also means a client’s exposure transcends any barriers to reach and engage with a wider audience base. With an expert team of high-level multi-lingual and multi-cultural specialists we create communications plans that are relevant to local markets.
ADVOCATING TO INFLUENCE
Every brand has an influencer who advocates and promotes them to target audiences. We identify, engage and nurture your key advocates by creating and launching innovative communications strategies that lead to meaningful change. We do this by mapping stakeholders, framing messages, conducting environment audits and shaping compelling narratives from sources influencers trust.
CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE
It’s good to talk. However the art of noise is to know when to scream or stay silent and cut through the chatter. With a shift in consumer behaviour and with no shortage of creativity, the key is to balance ingenuity with strategy so our ideas make a difference. We use market intelligence, insight, and creative thoughts to research, spot insights and forecast trends so that it directly makes a difference.
BRANDS & BRANDING
When working with a client, we approach them as if they were a “brand”, whether they are an individual, product, company, celebrity or even country. A brand is a set of associations an individual makes of them. It’s what stakeholders think and feel when they hear a client’s name.
Ultimately, a brand is a promise and through developing an effective strategy comprising of branding tactics and communication techniques, we help brands deliver this in true, meaningful ways. When branding we think up a big idea for a client which has longevity – their purpose – and define their values, vision and personality to help them stand out from their competitors. We do this by creating difference, adding value to their promise and creating a compelling connection between them and stakeholders. We then help them communicate these traits in a number of ways such as through creative storytelling.
FUTURISTIC & RELEVANT
Brands need to remain ‘current’ and embrace the zeitgeist. We balance delivering today with the need to create tomorrow, by gaining new market intelligence and insights into what really matters to audiences. We help change perceptions by developing compelling content, which in turn makes the brand relevant to its target audience.