Our way of thinking

Some outlines of how this works:

Most of the work that Sticks undertakes is subject to non-disclosure agreements that preclude sharing detailed case studies, but it is possible to provide some basic outlines of the types of assignments that we have been used for in the past.

Sometimes the task is to look at a big issue that affects business generally and is not necessarily limited to a single company. For example, a number of our projects have involved looking at the more intangible factors in play between employers and their employees, especially as they arise in multinational corporations. These have included separate studies into onboarding, collaboration, physical office space, negativity, and gender balance. We helped another major financial company look at what it means to be an international business, and how that should impact the day-to-day practice at a local level.

Sometimes it’s much more specific. For example, one of our clients was a thriving retail business with over 200 locations that was seeking acquisition, but was experiencing regular fist-fights break out between its customers and its staff at a limited number of its sites. It took us almost four months to unpick what was going on, but the situation eventually became sufficiently addressable that the business was sold less than 12 months later.

On another occasion, we helped a craft beer company that had seen unexpected growth from 10,000 barrels a year to 108,000 barrels and was about to demolish its brewhouse to make one with much greater capacity. Before they did that, they wanted to be sure about quite what they had been doing right up until then so that they could continue doing it. That business has now been acquired by one of the world’s largest brewing companies and the brand has become distributed globally.

And then there was the insurance company that approached us because it believed it needed help with repositioning its brand in order to remain relevant in the marketplace. After demonstrating to them the threat to their foundational lines of auto and home protection from new technology – the stuff that is making cars far less likely to be in accidents or get stolen and homes far less likely to be burgled or burned down – we ended up helping them rethink their entire business model.

What unifies all Sticks assignments are clients who do not believe they already have the answer and who are prepared to have their most dearly held precepts opened to questioning.