All Glowed Up: Introducing SBS Comms

(We’re still strange, but in the best way)

If you navigated over to our website in the past few months, you might’ve felt like you were transported back to 1996. A floating SBS logo, reminiscent of the classic DVD screensaver, left more questions than answers about who we are and what we do. We began 2023 with an intention - execute a brand image that accurately captures the depth, personality and variety of our people, our clients and our work. A glow up, as the kids like to say.?

Today we’re excited to be unveiling our new website and (officially) sharing our new name.

Say hey to SBS Comms.

SBS stands for Strange Brew Strategies, named after a classic 80s movie - but we like to say it's also a clever analogy for concocting best hits . Quirky is in our DNA - after all, we’re the agency that earlier this year offered to help extraterrestrials with their PR .

Our new website and brand image capture SBS today and where we’re headed: Playful, optimistic and creative, balanced with a sleek look and feel that mimics our forward-thinking approach.

SBS has modernized communications, dropping the baggage of outdated strategies, methodologies and processes in favor of progress and results. Moving gradients and a dynamic logo represent the changing media and technology landscape that, as comms professionals, were continually being challenged to operate within. Most importantly, it feels like us.?

Our makeover comes six months into a milestone year for the Brew Crew - we’ve been fortunate in a tough economic environment to have experienced growth and industry recognition, while continuing to stretch our creativity both inside and outside our walls.?

Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to:?

Landing Best Hits…

We continue doing what we’re known for: landing best hits and adapting to changing news cycles with ease. In just the past few weeks, we snagged Runway a coveted spot on the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies 2023 list and landed a profile for Bessemer Venture Partners in Fortune (and too many others to name).

…and taking names?

We’ve added companies like Vercel , Runway , Red Cell Partners , Flashbots , Akash Network , SiMa.ai , and Bessemer Venture Partners to our roster, and have grown into new markets with the addition of clients like AIR COMPANY , the Brooklyn-based startup that is developing products like vodka, hand sanitizer, perfume and sustainable aviation fuel from air in an effort to extend life of Earth.?

Winning??

PRWeek named us in the publication’s Agency Business Report 2023 with a headline that boutique agency dreams are made of: This newcomer is catching the attention of Fortune 500 companies. Business Insider finally realized what we all knew, and named Senior Account Manager Brittany Catucci a PR Rising Star .?

Making media parties cool again

We brought back old school media parties with NIGHT MOVES, hosting two successful events in San Francisco and NYC, resulting in packed rooms, good times and juicy takeaways . Stay tuned for details on our next SF event soon.?

Sharing our hot takes?

We launched Briefing Notes, where we dish out regular insights on all things tech culture, comms and the media landscape (shout out to Forbes' Kenrick Cai , our first featured reporter Q&A! ).?

Getting OnBoard?

We created an opportunity in the market to serve early stage companies at a fraction of the cost with the launch of OnBoard . Already, our OnBoard crew is landing stories in TechCrunch , WIRED , The Washington Post and beyond for a range of startups across robotics, enterprise software, green energy and more.?

Investing in The Brew Crew?

Our Fellowship program - which we kicked off in 2020 as a way to cultivate the next generation of PR pros - has resulted in 11 talented full-time hires who have been instrumental to our success. Meanwhile, our media mentorship program , an immersive four month training program focused on media strategy fundamentals, just kicked off its fourth cohort.?

Taking it way back?

We’d be remiss to talk about all of this recent goodness without acknowledging the journey we took to get here.?

Strange Brew Strategies launched in 2017 as a PR consultancy focused on “next frontier tech” - geeky, cool, emerging tech that most would deem too deeply technical or “out there” for the average PR flack to wrap their head around. It gave us an edge: We were savvy on AI, blockchain and advanced manufacturing years before they went mainstream, serving clients like Relativity Space and the Ai2 .?Our affinity for nerd tech informed our first logo (pictured below).

By 2020, our knack for getting needle-moving stories like this Bloomberg cover story for GitHub began to put us on the map for industry-leading companies like Flexport , Cloudflare , American Express , Paradigm and more. To everyone’s delight, we ditched the beaker and introduced a more elevated look to match the caliber of clients that came knocking on our door. It’s a brand that carried us through expansion into new markets like gaming, Web3, music, endless hits for our clients, and a flourishing culture that we’re proud to have built (ask anyone on our team - we throw a great offsite).?

About six months ago we began our rebranding project with the support of ilovecreatives , a super awesome creative shop out of LA, to reimagine the SBS brand and bring it up to snuff with who we are today. Goodbye floating logo, hello groovy gradients.?

The future is bright, and now so is our site. Head on over to see for yourself. And you can always catch us on Instagram and Twitter or say hey: [email protected] .?

By EVP Claudia Traverso