“Sturges Word is honored and delighted to add another strong brand to our client roster,” said Melissa Sturges, co-founder and principal at the firm. “We strive to do business with organizations that build better communities, and the high-quality service and vital connectivity Verizon Wireless provides to Kansas and Missouri is consistent with that goal.”

Sturges Word’s clients include the Ash Grove Cement Company, the Kansas Bioscience Authority, the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, the Downtown Council of Kansas City, the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Hovey Williams LLP, Enterprise Bank & Trust, the Toy & Miniature Museum of Kansas City, HNTB, Kitchen Studio, and Tri-County Electric Cooperative.

Sturges Word Communications delivers inspiring results to organizations that build better communities in Kansas City, the Midwest and across the country. Founded in 1995 by Melissa Sturges and Linda Word, the firm helps clients meet their goals through branding, community relations, crisis communications, graphic design, public relations, social media strategy, strategic communications planning and web design. Sturges Word is the exclusive Kansas City partner in the Worldcom Public Relations Group, the largest partnership of independently owned public relations and integrated marketing firms in the world.

# # #

Keep the Art grew out of the Arts Ripple Effect, a research project by the Fine Arts Fund of Cincinnati, which indicated the need for a new communications approach to the arts that would lead to a sense of shared responsibility and actually motivate public action in support of the arts.  While the Keep the Art campaign is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it seeks to solve a serious problem, said Harlan Brownlee, president and CEO of the Arts Council.

“If there is one thing I’ve learned, it is not to take one’s self too seriously. That’s why we offer up KeepTheArt.org, our doomsday scenario of Kansas City, a city without art,” said Brownlee. ”The premise is simple. Art is a luxury and without support from the public, the arts dry up and leave the region.

“Of course, all of this is in good fun, but there is a serious side. The arts really do need our support.  The arts do benefit our region as an economic engine and as a means for building our community.  And the arts do have the power to transform our neighborhoods and our communities for the better.  So we hope that after they visit KeepTheArts.org and have a little chuckle, they’ll do their part to keep the arts alive in Kansas City.”

“We enjoyed providing creative design for the Keep the Art campaign, and as long-time supporters of the Arts Council, we understand the seriousness of the issue it addresses,” said Linda Word, principal at Sturges Word.  “As a creative design firm, we have profound appreciation for the importance of the arts and we sincerely hope this campaign compels people to give to the ArtsKC Fund at whatever level they can.”

I was not enthusiastic but then I read them, like each page was on fire.

A good story engages people and sticks in their craw. They remember it and build whole other stories and communities around it based on their experience with you, their feelings about what you do or say, and what it means to them, their family, co-workers and friends. They may share your story, compel others to participate in it, want to change or add to it.

What is your story and who is telling it? Is it compelling? Is there something in it that, at its core, speaks to a passion that others might also care and talk about? Story matters. Your story matters. You need to tell it in a way other people not only want to hear, but share in and do others they care about the favor of sharing with them, too. When your story is something people can’t wait for others to hear, that’s fire.

Funny, how we all eventually turn into our parents. I’ve been accused of reading online product reviews for sport. So it’s no surprise that when I recently bought my son a meat smoker, I first interviewed several barbecue experts and then dove with zeal into the blogosphere. I wanted to get the skinny on their recommended smoker from hundreds of other users.

The next thing I knew flashing red lights and submarine dive alarms were going off in my head. Seems the smoker is great when it works. When it doesn’t, the would-be chef is thrust into a customer service nightmare peopled by the rudest, most unkind minions of hell to ever answer a phone. If a brand is where your company lives in the consumer’s mind (and it is), then this company is dwelling at the intersection of Lucifer Lane and Brimstone Boulevard.

Needless to say, I didn’t buy it. The low score on the friendliness scale was a deal breaker. And I’m far from alone in allowing “kindness” to be a driver in my purchasing decision, especially these days.

In The Power of the Post-Recession Consumer, Booz + Co, a leading global consulting firm, shares results of its BAV (Brand Asset Valuator) survey. It  indicates that the recession has accelerated significant shifts in demand among consumers for certain brand attributes. These include “kindness and empathy” which rose a whopping 391 percent, and “friendly” which rose 148 percent compared to pre-recession standards.

“The desire for companies to be more empathetic toward consumers is the biggest shift in any attitude that we have ever see during the BAV survey’s two-decade history,” reads the Booz + Co report.

In other words, if your brand is made, or broken, at every touch point with your consumer (and it is), then it’s high time to be certain you have “friendly” covered. Are you a grocer who’s put up too long with a snarky butcher? A financial organization whose customers are forced to trip over “bankease” on the way to the simple answers they need?

Make it stop. Examine every door through which your customers come to ensure the welcome mat is out. It will be a big list – from the tone of your tweets to lighting in your parking lot. But, if customers won’t be loyal to a brand until they like its personality (and they won’t), it’s the ante to stay in the game.

One of the most rewarding professional development experiences of my career was earning accreditation in public relations (APR) through the Public Relations Society of America. A couple years ago Melissa and I went through the classes, peer review and standardized testing together.

I just wrote a post on the virtues of earning accreditation for the Kansas City chapter’s blog.

No matter what industry you’re in, continuing education matters for all employees from the front line to the c-suite. Unfortunately, busy schedules, budget constraints, and cynicism often keep companies from aggressively pursuing professional development programs.

But if you make it a priority and keep an open mind, I bet you can walk away from almost any training with a little bit of value. Maybe it’s something small like a new website to check out. Or maybe it’s something a little meatier, like a new business lead or an interesting technique for solving a common problem. Every now and then you discover something that feels like the missing puzzle piece that will transform the way you do business.

Professional development also sends an important message to your clients/customers. It tells them you’re always out actively seeking new information and different ways of thinking to solve their problems.

What are you doing to grow, stay sharp and get connected?

This happens a lot in our work. Clients  want to do something. We ask, why? Or, more pointedly, what is it, exactly, that you are trying to accomplish?

Asking and unpacking all the elements of what you are trying to accomplish has a way of concentrating the mind, clearing the extraneous and getting everyone in the discussion on the same page. It seems simple, but it is easy to forget and then you find yourself well down a path in a marketing tactic, communication outreach, some other initiative – even an argument – without the astringent that the answer to what we are trying to accomplish provides.

Look to your inner toddler. Ask the golden question. What am I trying to accomplish? Does it drive an existing plan? Is it consistent with well-stated goals? To whom does it matter? What are its implications? What is required? I am going to keep asking it. And next time in Children’s Ministry, I’m going to see if I can get that kid to reframe his question. Don’t ask me why. Ask me what I am trying to accomplish?

The firm was honored in the categories of Public Affairs/Lobbying/Issues Management, Internet Communications, and Newsletters.

In addition to the awards, Sturges Word Communications Account Manager Justin LaBerge was nominated as PRSA president-elect for the 2012 year.

Sturges Word Communications is a strategic design and public relations firm with special expertise in the public involvement/government, utility/infrastructure, development/real estate, financial/professional services, retail/hospitality sectors. The agency helps clients get results with experience and creativity applied to the right mix of communications tools including advertising, branding, community engagement, creative, crisis communications, event planning, public relations, social media strategy, and Web design. The firm’s work does what matters to clients – builds brands, moves product and manages reputations. Sturges Word is a member of the Worldcom Group, the largest network of independent integrated and public relations firms in the world.

###

She also brings Sunflower (or Sunny), the service/guide puppy in training.

Terri began her career as an award-winning reporter and editor, holding leadership roles with the Kansas City area’s two largest newspaper publishers, Sun Publications and the Kansas City Star, for more than a decade.

Sunny was born into her career on June 21 at Kansas Specialty Service Dogs in Washington, Kansas. KSDS is a non-profit organization that promotes independence of people who are visually impaired or physical handicapped by providing highly-trained canine assistance and support.

In 2003, Terri joined another strategic communications firm where she served as Director of Client services.  In that role she was responsible for oversight and management of the client service function and was accountable for the long-term health of the firm’s client relationships. Terri has expertise in an array of communications activities, including strategic planning, branding, media relations and issues management.

Sunny’s expertise includes sit, off, no, down, no, shake, leave it, drop it and no.

In 2006, one of Terri’s largest CCG clients hired her as their Vice President of Marketing. She was responsible for all aspects of marketing and communications for this $1 billion asset bank and its 10 banking locations.

Terri is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the winner of PRSA Prism Awards for media relations and special events.

Sunny will soon be winning the heart of every client, delivery person, and maintenance worker who walks through our front door. Treats are welcome.

Though a native of St. Louis, Mo., Terri has lived most of her adult life in Kansas City. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Management and Human Relations at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas.

Sunny will graduate and earn the right to become a life partner for a blind or disabled person … if Terri does her second job well.  And though success means giving up Sunny at the age of 20-24 months, we’ll all be proud, even as we shed some inevitable tears.

Sturges Word was happy to support the center’s grand opening with the Insider’s Guide to Parking — a clearly illustrated parking and driving map of the area around the Kauffman Center. It is hoped that the map, which is available as a full color PDF download, will help the 20,000 anticipated grand-opening visitors find parking, shuttles, trolleys and other transportation to ensure that they not only experience the new Kauffman Center, but enjoy their visit to Downtown Kansas City.

Designed and illustrated by the team at Sturges Word, the map shows surface and underground parking lots, trolley and shuttle stops and the Max bus route, as well as the many other attractions near the Kauffman Center. It is an excerpt of a larger printed parking map that Sturges Word designed for the Downtown Council of Kansas City, Missouri. That larger map shows parking and attractions in all of the districts that comprise downtown Kansas City.

“Sturges Word has been located in downtown Kansas City for almost 20 years,” says Linda Word, principal and creative director. “We are so pleased with all of the recent development, and we hope this PDF will help visitors enjoy not only their visit to the Kauffman Center, but their visit downtown. It’s an area rich with culture, and with additions like the center, it’s only getting richer.”

Click here to download the Kauffman Center Parking Map.

“Sturges Word is a strong advocate for the Arts Council,” says Linda Word, Sturges Word creative director and principal. “We support their mission and enjoyed being a part of the Art/Work program. It was inspiring to see the work of so many creative Kansas Citians from so many different companies.”

Art/Work is a city-wide corporate arts challenge that encourages people in the Kansas City work force to share their personal creative talents in the literary, visual and performing arts. A panel of local professionals evaluates the entries and awards “Best in Show” honors at an awards program. The general public is also invited to vote for “People’s Choice” award winners.

Art/Work is one of many programs that the Arts Council provides that enables Kansas City area companies to actively engage in the arts. The council also offers a variety of programs and services that support area artists and arts organizations.