To view testimonials please click on the relevant sector below.
ACCOUNTANCY FIRMS
"This is to record my thanks for the assistance you and your colleagues have given in raising the profile of Bishop Fleming since your appointment.
"Our profile in the region has moved substantially upwards over the last few years due in no small part to your involvement. In particular, we have moved from relative obscurity to distinct visibility in Bristol market place.
"I have appreciated your pro active approach in coming up with ideas for publicity and business development, based on a thorough working knowledge of the region and its business and professional communities. It is refreshing to work consistently with pro active and informed advice."
Brian Payne
Chief Executive
Bishop Fleming
“SVD is enthusiastic and efficient. They respond quickly to our agreed project plans (which they usually end up pulling together), and I have been delighted with the results achieved, including coverage in the regional press, and access to the local radio media.
"Coverage in the Western Daily Press is particularly important to us, and SVD‘s connections at the newspaper have resulted in some excellent coverage. They must get frustrated with the ‘busy-ness‘ of the partners at Deloitte at times, but they work around this very well, and give our PR a momentum that I am sure it would otherwise lack.”
Laurence Hedditch
Partner
Deloitte
“We appointed SVD with the aim of boosting our media profile, focused on key national press and regional business pages throughout the country.
“That is exactly what they have delivered – including the creation of a quarterly project with the enterprise editor of the Mail on Sunday, and regular coverage in the business pages of the key regional media.
“This is our first experience of using PR - and it is a good experience.”
Ellis Organ
Financial Director
Clifton Asset Management
"Sturgess Van Damme possesses a first-class knowledge of the region and what its media requires of an organisation such as Lloyds TSB, alongside a thorough grasp of the wider strategic issues and challenges facing South Wales and the South West. This has translated itself into excellent coverage."
Jason Evans
Director and Head of Corporate Finance
Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets
"We appointed Sturgess Van Damme to act for Momentum Corporate Finance because we needed our business to command the same level of attention as the Big Four accountancy firms - and because we had seen the contribution they made to PricewaterhouseCoopers over many years. We made the right decision!
"SVD understands the business community and media, they provide sound advice and solid ideas, and they deliver what they promise. We are now referring our clients to SVD, which has to be the biggest testimonial!"
Tony Kenny & Rob Crews
Partners
Momentum Corporate Finance
“We have always found the SVD team to be full of good creative ideas that we can take forward and gain press coverage.
"Sturgess Van Damme has also always been supportive of deadlines and help administratively whenever needed. Indeed our press coverage in the national press has increased 433% since we appointed SVD and our trade press coverage has also increased by 40%"
Jane Bergman
Head of Marketing & Communications
Cendant Mobility & Home Sale Network
"We have retained Sturgess Van Damme for the last 12 years to advise on and run our PR strategy in Bristol and the South West. In that time, they have enabled King Sturge to have a local and, when appropriate, national presence commensurate with the firm‘s No. 1 status in the region.
"The two means which we have found to be most effective are: SVD‘s elevation of our stories and comments beyond our trade and professional publications so King Sturge is perceived as far more than a property agent; and the way in which they have promoted our partners as ‘holistic‘ experts rather than estate agents and surveyors!"
Paul Gray
Marketing Partner
King Sturge
“Having built Integral‘s early business success without any external PR or marketing support, I appointed Sturgess Van Damme from a position of ‘healthy scepticism‘ – but was interested to see what they could deliver.
“And they delivered. Over the past two years, Integral‘s greater national profile has seen us talking to more of the country‘s biggest users of property maintenance services.
“SVD has now joined Integral‘s team, and taken a pro-active interest in all our plans. They are transforming our website, delivering new marketing materials, up-grading our internal communications, and confronting such issues as CSR.
“I welcome SVD‘s objective independence: they don‘t try to sell anything other than their advice. So far, that advice has been right for our business."
Bryan Glastonbury
Managing Director
Integral
"Sturgess Van Damme was retained by RICS South West for a period of 12 years. In that time they have provided an immensely valuable service.
"With their assistance, RICS has raised its profile within the region with a wide variety of stakeholders, including the regional agencies, the public, the business community, the media, and the members of RICS themselves. This is in no small part due to SVD‘s skill in proactively identifying PR opportunities that fulfil the strategic objectives of RICS South West. "
Matthew McKaig
Director
RICS South West
“I have used SVD for over 10 years. They bring an incisiveness and focus to the process of PR and marketing which in my experience is unusual.
"Where I have found them particularly successful is in positioning the client in their market place, then executing a strategy that both identifies their offer but also raises their profile to bring additional business. I describe them as ‘strategic PR and marketing consultants‘ because of their impact on business planning and business development.”
Martin Willey
Senior Vice President
Royal Town Planning Institute
“Sturgess Van Damme has promoted WCS locally and nationally with vigour and flair. As a result our press coverage has been excellent and, with their inspiration and help, we have embarked upon a number of media linked initiatives . The positive publicity generated for WCS has undoubtedly helped our business. Enquiries are up significantly and our order book is stronger.”
Steve Parsons
Chairman
Wells Cathedral Stonemasons
"Sturgess Van Damme‘s consultants have been instrumental in compiling influential surveys twice a year for the care sector that were often referred to, and quoted by, the top players in the sector. It is always a pleasure to work with SVD- they are efficient, creative and always helpful."
Olufumni Majekodunmi
Editor
Caring Business
I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Sturgess van Damme, and in particular David Sturgess, for many years and what marks him out in particular is his close understanding of how the media works – not something you can say about all agencies. Television, newspapers and magazines may all be lumped under the same heading, “media”, but all have different demands and agendas. It is refreshing to find someone who actually understands this!
The relationship between journalists and PR firms can sometimes be, shall we say, fraught, but I am glad to say I have never encountered any difficulties with David and his team.
Bob Constantine
Political Editor
ITV Plc
"Sturgess Van Damme is one of the most engaged and intelligent PR agencies I have encountered in the South West.
"As editor of South West Business Insider magazine, I want thoughtful two-way communications with PR agencies that understand the magazine, its audience and its remit. Sturgess Van Damme is one of the few whose team has taken the time and trouble to understand what the magazine is about and to match us up with relevant clients or feed in useful ideas.
"If only there were more agencies like this!"
Christian Annesley
Editor
South West Business Insider
"I‘m happy to recommend Sturgess Van Damme because working with them is always a positive experience. They go the extra mile to create genuinely interesting stories. Many agencies send out press releases like confetti but most fail to see the light of day because the information is not framed in a genuinely interesting and relevant context.
Success requires a little more creativity. In my experience, that is the Sturgess Van Damme approach. They understand the needs of the media and will work up ideas for news articles, features and series - often with case studies. Indeed, I remember with gratitude not only numerous newsy stories but also conversations that have led to 1,000-word feature articles supplied by Sturgess Van Damme to meet a particular brief.
This is a win-win situation because not only does it save the journalist a huge amount of time and effort in researching and writing about an issue but it also wins the client excellent publicity without being overtly a marketing story. I don‘t think anybody in the South West does this more successfully".
John Fox-Clinch
Deputy Business Manager
Western Daily Press
"As a reporter, Business Editor and News Editor, I have worked closely with Sturgess Van Damme at a number of Northcliffe titles for more than 15 years. I consider them to be one of the best PR agencies in the region because of their knowledge of their clients and the sectors they work in. The quality of their written work is also second to none.
"Other major strengths include Sturgess Van Damme‘s proactiveness and their knowledge of the media. Their knowledge of the Western Morning News, its market and the issues affecting its readers have enabled us to work together over recent months to highlight the region‘s biggest housing crisis. "
Steve Grant
News Editor
Western Morning News
"It has been a pleasure working with Sturgess Van Damme, who understood our objectives from the start. By working in close partnership with SVD and under their direction, Battens' profile in the region has grown considerably and our presence as the leading firm in the area was confirmed by our being awarded ‘Best Professional Service‘ only 3 months after SVD were appointed.
“In particular, we have been extremely impressed with David, his knowledge of the legal profession, regional affairs, and his ability to develop strategies that expose the firm to the maximum effect.
“David and his team have never let us down. We would not hesitate in recommending SVD."
Bhavani Hogarty
Director
Battens
“I have enjoyed working with David Sturgess for many years. He has always provided very sound, pro-active advice and has very often gone far beyond what one could reasonably expect of an external PR consultant.
“His knowledge of current issues and the business community of the South West is encyclopaedic and is, in my view, in a class of its own. It is probably not going too far to say that David has a ‘passion‘ for his clients and certainly the service which he provided for Clarke Willmott always exceeded any contractual terms.”
David Sedgwick
Managing Partner
Clarke Willmott
"I had the privilege of working with Sturgess Van Damme in my role as Managing Director of Brymon Airways (latterly BA CityExpress) and Plymouth City Airport Limited.
"I found David and his team‘s support invaluable in managing not only ‘marketing mix‘ Public Relations initiatives- such as new route launches and new aircraft acquisitions- but also in developing strategies to deal with ‘political‘ issues, such as the construction of a runway extension at Plymouth, the contentious move of Brymon‘s Plymouth route from Heathrow to Gatwick, and positioning the relationship between the airline and Bristol International Airport.
"Throughout this time I found Sturgess Van Damme to be highly perceptive in terms of their awareness of the regional aviation, travel and political scene. The organisation is responsive and flexible, and the levels of commitment and professionalism shown by David and his people are tremendous. The bond between the Communications Agency and a growing business is vital, and Sturgess Van Damme played a key role in the growth of Brymon from a South West regional player to a European regional airline."
Gareth Kirkwood
Operations Director
British Airways
“In my 3O years‘ experience in industry I have developed a healthy scepticism about PR consultants who, in the main, deliver at the outset and then fail to maintain the momentum. In my experience there have only been two organisations that have exceeded my expectations, and one of these is SVD.”
Jon Horne
Managing Director
Cardiff International Airport
"Sturgess Van Damme have played a key role in introducing us to the ‘top table‘ in the sectors in which we operate - education, care and early years- by creating a topical and engaging pipeline of news stories and surveys on our behalf, alongside a series of issues-led round table dinner debates.
"This has enabled us to build relationships with several key sector journalists for the first time, and enjoy better coverage and results than has previously been the case."
Brian Potter
Marketing & Sales Director
The Consortium