Sturges Word Communications

SWC Principal Melissa Sturges continues leadership role in the Worldcom Group

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (June 11, 2010) – Sturges Word Communications, a Kansas City, Mo.-based integrated communications firm that builds brands, moves product and manages reputations, today announced that Melissa Sturges has been elected secretary-treasurer of the board of directors for the Worldcom Group. Worldcom is the world’s leading network of independent public relations and integrated marketing communications agencies, boasting 104 partner firms across six continents.

Other board members include leaders of agencies in Bangkok, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Minneapolis, Munich, New York, Sydney, and Washington.

In addition to her role on the board, Sturges was also elected co-chair of Worldcom’s Sustainability Practice Group, which includes agencies with significant experience serving clients in the energy and public affairs sectors.

Sturges has held a variety of leadership posts in the Worldcom Group since the firm joined the network in 1999, including chair and treasurer of the Americas Region and a previous term as secretary-treasurer.

Sturges Word Communications is a full-service integrated marketing communications agency with special expertise in the development/real estate, financial/professional services, public involvement/public affairs, retail/hospitality, and utility 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.

# # #

KC-based integrated communications firm marks 15th anniversary with updated Web presence

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (April 6, 2010) – Sturges Word Communications, a Kansas City, Mo.-based integrated communications firm that builds brands, moves product and manages reputations, recently unveiled a completely redesigned website, www.sturgesword.com. Developed as a collaboration between Sturges Word staff and Kansas City-based Web programmer Propaganda3, the new site is designed to be regularly updated with fresh content that goes beyond the traditional “billboard” or “filing cabinet” approaches to websites.

“Both our business and our industry have changed significantly over the past few years, and we’re excited to launch a new site that reflects this evolution,” said Linda Word, Sturges Word principal and creative director. “We want this site to be a living document where our clients, prospects and friends can engage in a conversation with us about relevant issues facing both our industry and the industries we serve. Our team and the team at Propaganda3 did a great job creating a site that shows the results we can deliver using a full range of integrated communication solutions.”

The site is representative of Web design and communications strategy work SWC is doing with clients that leverages these tools for thought leadership positioning, public involvement, B2B and B2C outreach through blogs, case studies, news updates and the like, extending their reach by connecting fresh content and communities across multiple social media and other platforms.

The launch coincides with the beginning of Sturges Word’s 15th anniversary celebration. The firm was founded on April Fools Day 1995 when Melissa Sturges and Linda Word teamed up.

Sturges Word Communications is a full-service integrated marketing communications agency with special expertise in the development/real estate, financial/professional services, public involvement/government, retail/hospitality, and utility 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.

SWC is excited to welcome Cloverland Electric Cooperative, Ash Grove Cement, HNTB, and TCEDA as clients.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 25, 2010) – Sturges Word Communications, a Kansas City-based integrated communications firm that builds brands, moves product and manages reputations, continues to grow its portfolio of clients with the addition of Cloverland Electric Cooperative, Ash Grove Cement Company, HNTB and the Tri-County Economic Development Alliance.

Recent account additions:

Cloverland Electric Cooperative in Dafter, Mich., is one of a half dozen rural electric cooperatives undergoing an acquisition for which Sturges Word has executed comprehensive communications including public relations, presentations, branding and collateral development, social media strategy, event support, and advocacy. The cooperative recently retained the firm to assist in its acquisition of the Edison Sault Electric Company.

Ash Grove Cement Company, the nation’s largest American-owned and family-owned cement producer, picked SWC to design its annual report and provide strategic communication planning and consulting services.

SWC’s most recent engagement with HNTB, a national architectural and engineering firm, is a public involvement campaign for the Missouri Department of Transportation’s “Safe and Sound” initiative which is replacing more than 800 structurally deficient bridges in the state.

Faced with a once-in-a-lifetime economic development opportunity, the Tri-County Economic Development Alliance (TCEDA) in northwestern Illinois turned to SWC to cultivate and organize grassroots community support for the use of the Thomson Correctional Center to house terrorism suspects now held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The public involvement campaign resulted in the advisory panel voting in 7-4 in favor of Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn closing the prison so it could be used as desired by the Obama administration.

Sturges Word Communications is a full-service integrated marketing communications agency with special expertise in the development/real estate, financial/professional services, public involvement/government, retail/hospitality, and utility 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.

Grassroots community support raised visibility of potential 3,000 jobs, $1 billion in economic activity

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (January 6, 2010) – Sturges Word Communications, a Kansas City, Mo.-based integrated communications firm that builds brands, moves product and manages reputations, helped the Tri-County Economic Development Alliance (TCEDA) in northwestern Illinois organize and engage grassroots community support for the use of the Thomson Correctional Center to house terrorism suspects now held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

TCEDA and SWC worked to mobilize an overwhelming show of support for the proposal at an official state legislative hearing that drew national media attention and hundreds attendees.

Sturges Word developed the overall strategy to organize and mobilize support; developed the media materials and Web site copy; created the campaign name, logo and tagline; helped build and manage social media outreach; coordinated event-day logistics for the group; and drafted the testimony delivered by TCEDA’s chairman at the special legislative hearing.

The panel voted in 7-4 in favor of Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn closing the prison so it could be used as desired by the Obama administration.

Completed in 2001, the Thomson prison was to house approximately 1,600 maximum security prisoners under the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections. Budget cuts have prevented the prison from fully opening – only a small, minimum security wing is operational.

In late October 2009, the facility emerged as a potential site for housing detained terrorism suspects currently held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. While some communities have strongly opposed the idea of GITMO prisoners coming to their area, the people of Carroll County (and surrounding areas in northwestern Illinois) have largely supported the idea.

Headquartered in Savanna, Ill., TCEDA is a private, not-for-profit 501c6 corporation formed to develop regional public/private partnerships that promote, encourage and support industrial and economic development in Jo Daviess, Carroll and Whiteside Counties.

Sturges Word Communications is a full-service integrated marketing communications agency with special expertise in the development/real estate, financial/professional services, public involvement/government, retail/hospitality, and utility 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.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (January 12, 2010) – Sturges Word Communications, a Kansas City, Mo.-based integrated communications firm that builds brands, moves product and manages reputations, had a “Best Practice” feature recently in The Kansas City Star about creative and meaningful ways to leverage even the mundane to generate visibility and, serve your clients.

With a recent move to new office space, the agency tied notification to clients and other need-to-know contacts to its brand by going beyond the change-of-address card route, using a few, simple ideas.

• Sturges Word staff selected from all the moving supplies and art directed themselves for a photo shoot. Some wrapped themselves in bubble wrap, slapped “fragile” signs across their forehead, were loaded onto a two-wheeler, buried themselves in a box of Styrofoam “peanuts” or allowed themselves to be carried off by coworkers.

• Each employee’s image was designed into a new business card that were to be used for the next year, with “we’ve moved” imprinted on the back.

• About a month before the move:

- E-marketing distributed emails with the fun images to the firm’s contact list, notifying them that the Sturges Word office move was imminent with the new change of address.
- Changes to email signatures were in place
- All correspondence and invoicing noted the impending change.

• Two flash movies were posted to the agency’s Web site, one giving the heads up that it was going to move, and one revised to say the firm had moved once the transition was completed.

The business cards continued to be effective conversation starters for months following the completion of the move and led directly to deeper conversations as to the agency’s competencies, industry expertise and how similar strategic thinking has been put to use for client needs.

Sturges Word Communications is a full-service integrated marketing communications agency with special expertise in the development/real estate, financial/professional services, public involvement/government, retail/hospitality, and utility 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.