Strategic Comms – Consultancy
How do you build a comms strategy that actually delivers?
We set the audience, the message and the channels before a single campaign goes live.
In short
Strategic communications starts with the outcome you need and works back to the plan that gets there. Before any campaign, it sets the audience you are really trying to move, the single message that will shift them, and the channels that will carry it. That is the difference between activity and progress: a clear line from a business goal to the comms that deliver it. Wild Card builds that strategy first, then activates it across earned media, social and influence, so brands invest in the right conversation rather than the loudest one. It is how good comms earns its budget, because every part of it points at a result.
Start at the end
Begin with the result, then work back
Good strategy begins with the result and works back. We define the business outcome first, then the audience, message and channel mix that get there. It sounds obvious, but most comms start with the activity and hope the result follows.
Working backwards forces the hard questions early. Who exactly are we trying to move, and away from what? What single thing do they need to believe? Answer those before the creative begins, and the creative gets sharper, because it has a job to do rather than a brief to fill.
People Relations
The audience as people, not a target
You cannot move an audience you do not understand. We get under the skin of the people you need to reach, what they care about, what they believe and what will actually change their behaviour. We call this People Relations, and it shapes every message we build.
Most communications fail because they start with the brand and its message, not the person and their motivation. We flip that, because a message only works if it lands with the person on the other end. That is what turns a campaign from something a brand says into something an audience does.
One plan, every channel
Travel and influence as managed channels
A strategy is only as good as its delivery, so we plan earned media, social and influence as managed channels under one plan, not as separate tactics. Travel rewards a year-round story, so we plan a steady flow of newsworthy angles that hold a continuous presence rather than going quiet between peaks.
Influence works the same way when it is planned as a channel: clear objectives, creators chosen for genuine audience fit, and measurement from the outset. Treated this way, it drives reach, trust and footfall alongside earned media rather than sitting on the side as one-off posts.
Strategy or activation
Know when you need which
Not every brief needs a full strategy. If you know the audience and the message and just need brilliant delivery, we can activate. But when you are entering a new market, repositioning, launching something significant, or trying to move a hard-to-reach audience, the strategy is what makes the spend work.
A short consultancy engagement up front often saves far more than it costs later, because it stops you spending against the wrong audience or the wrong message. Skipping strategy rarely saves money; it just moves the cost.
PR done right
Proof, Not Promises
A single strategic thread framed the Eden Project as a model of place-based regeneration, landing its £6.8bn impact.
We connected Cornish Lithium to the EV shift, earning 200+ placements and making it the UK’s leading lithium voice.
A year-round storytelling strategy for Watergate Bay drove 191 pieces of coverage and reach above 1.3 billion.
Ask Italian’s Friendsday Wednesday turned influence into footfall, reaching 69 million and peaking at 400 covers a day.
Strategy Clients
We Make Comms More Colourful
Strategic Comms
Discovery, audience and category research, positioning and messaging, and an audience and channel plan with measures agreed up front.
Full Colour Campaigns
Earned, social and influence activated as managed channels under one strategy, so every part of the work pulls the same way.
Our Approach
How We Get There
Brand Deep Drive
We get to the truth of your brand and category: what you stand for, where you have permission to play, and what makes you different from the brands you compete with for attention.
People Safari
We build a real understanding of the audiences that matter, going beyond demographics to the beliefs, habits and moments that shape what they do. This is where the strategy turns.
Game-Changing Insights
We turn it into the sharp idea that makes the work perform, and a clear plan you can act on: the outcome, audience, message, channels and measures on a page everyone can rally behind.
We’re a certified B Corp. We hold ourselves to the same standard we set for the work — for our people, our clients and the planet.
Questions We Answer
Go deeper on a specific question
Ready to make every campaign earn its budget?
Start with the outcome. We’ll work back to the plan that gets you there.
Questions, answered
Strategic comms, explained
It is the plan that connects a business goal to the comms that deliver it: the audience you need to move, the single message that will shift them, and the channels that will carry it. Strategy turns scattered activity into progress you can measure.
Because activity without a plan wastes budget. Strategy sets the outcome, audience and message first, so every campaign points at a result. It is the difference between being busy and making real progress.
People Relations is our take on PR: we start with people, not platforms. We build communications around a real understanding of the audience we need to move, which is what makes messages land and change behaviour.
A clear objective, a defined audience, the core message, the channel mix, and the measures of success. We add the insight that makes it distinctive, so the strategy is not just sound but sharp.
Brands that want senior strategic thinking before they spend on activity, or that face a moment that needs a clear plan: a launch, a repositioning or a new audience. It suits marketing leaders who want counsel, not just delivery.
Both. We run short, focused consultancy engagements to set strategy, and longer retained programmes to deliver it. Many clients start with a strategy sprint and move into delivery from there.
PR is one channel; strategic comms is the plan that decides which channels to use and why. We set the strategy first, then use PR, social, influence and content to deliver it.
Yes. We regularly lead the strategy and coordinate across creative, media and other partners, holding the through-line so every agency is pulling in the same direction.
Against the outcome it was built to deliver, agreed up front. Depending on the goal that might be awareness, consideration, leads or reputation, tracked over the life of the programme.
Yes. We run travel and lifestyle PR and influencer marketing as managed channels within a wider strategy, as with our year-round work for Watergate Bay and the Ask Italian Friendsday Wednesday campaign. Planning them under one strategy is what makes them perform.
A focused strategy sprint can take a few weeks, depending on the complexity of the brief and the research involved. We scope it to your timeline, and we can move quickly when there is a launch or a deadline driving it.