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Senior Strategist

Cincinnati, OH

At Sterling, we create brands that make people think, feel and engage. Brands for today. We’ve done it for super heroes and super causes, organic farmers and information miners, bricks and mortar and digital destinations, cosmetics, condoms, and cornflakes – the tried and true and the disruptive trailblazer.

Our obsessively human-centric approach links every inspiration back to the consumer: their lives and passions, their habits and habitats. The result; is beautiful, inclusive, and effective solutions that make brands come alive and thrive. 

Our focus is on consumer brands and their identity expressions on-pack, in-store, and online. We love creating the worlds brands live in and inspiring people to be part of them.

Sterling has an amazing culture of appreciation and celebrating team successes. 

 

About the Role:

Our obsessively human-centric approach links every inspiration back to the consumer: their lives and passions, their habits and habitats. The result; is beautiful, inclusive, and effective solutions that make brands come alive and thrive.

Our focus is on consumer brands and their identity expressions on-pack, in-store, and online. We love creating the worlds brands live in and inspiring people to be part of them. 

Sterling has a culture of appreciation and celebrating team successes. Your contributions and ideas will be highly valued by your partners in client service and creative.

In this role, you will get to: 

  • Work within our Strategy team to provide rich consumer and marketplace insights
  • Work closely with client services and creative teams 
  • Help develop compelling brand strategies for our wide range of clients

  

 What You’ll Do:

  • Own and drive all aspects of an assignment from start to finish 
  • Structure and conduct primary qualitative/quantitative research, including online, mobile and in-person formats
  • Manage and participate in naming, messaging strategy, and copywriting assignments
  • Contribute to brand positioning development, brand architecture optimization, brand experience mapping, and brand activation
  • Take the time to learn the client’s business intimately to understand the impact our recommendations will have on their business
  • Craft strategic recommendations that are distinctive, actionable, and inspiring – translating these into clear, concise briefs
  • Acts as a strategic consumer advocate during all stages of design work, providing on-going strategic input to internal and client teams
  • Mentor junior team members to ensure our clients receive the best thinking for every project
  • Build long, trust-based client relationships
  • Work to identify new and continuing business opportunities, from existing and new clients, and develop appealing proposals and presentation pitches

 

Qualifications:

  • A college degree or equivalent (preferably in business or the arts)
  • 8+ years of experience in strategy consulting, brand consulting, market research, or marketing on the client side
  • A strategic brain with proven aptitude and genuine passion for brand strategy, as well as design
  • Familiarity with a wide range of research modalities, qualitative and quantitative, and hands-on primary research experience
  • Outstanding communication and presentation skills – clear, concise and inspiring 
  • Fluency in Keynote, and familiarity with Illustrator and other design programs is a plus
  • Open to client-based travel

 

About Sterling:

We are a brand design consultancy based in NYC, San Francisco, and Cincinnati. For over 25 years, our design, strategy, and innovation teams have been working to bring brands to life across the entire ecosystem of experiences. 

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