It’s all about the customer.

Stories focused on their customers.

Sage’s global marketing strategy places their customer at the heart of their business. This deeply resonates with us.

We have a passion for storytelling, more specifically shining a light on small businesses to help them reach more customers. We have come on board as one of Sage’s digital agencies to help them share their customer’s success stories.

"Sage South Africa has been working with ThinkStory on a number of big projects and have been incredibly impressed with their professionalism, high standard of work produced and the effort put in to build relationships and deliver on-time.

I would highly recommend ThinkStory to tell your business story so that it resonates with your customers in a unique, dynamic and professional way."

Ashleigh du Plessis

Program Marketing Manager

Storytelling & Copywriting

Sage has always kept their customers at the heart of what they do. We came onboard to help Sage spotlight their clients’ stories. This involved connecting with Sage’s clients, understanding their businesses and the relationship they have with Sage. We needed to engage in deep discovery on each project in order to tell the most compelling stories.

Deliverables included a blog write-up for each project and conversion of that story into their CI provided design framework document.

Pre-Production

Without sufficient preparation and planning, a shoot day can unravel quickly.  

To get the best results and to ensure that we are all aligned, it’s important for us to liaise with Sage’s clients and on-board their interviewees through questionnaires and discovery sessions.

Its important to consider every aspect of a shoot day. We assist with arranging shoot permits, developing shoot timelines, booking rental equipment, and developing shot lists and scripts.

We’re basically here to make sure that the shoot runs smoothly!

Stills Production

Photography is a key visual element in storytelling. The Sage Customer Success Stories naturally required stills production as part of each project.

Stills production is far more complex than the click of a shutter. We believe that the most important element of stills production is that everyone feels comfortable on camera. This is especially important when working with business people who are not professional models.

These images allowed for a high level of distribution within the Sage branded documents and other digital touchpoints.

Post Production

After sitting down for a 90 minute interview, it’s incredibly important to dissect and deliver a digestible and distributable product.

The post-production phase involves the processing all stills and video content shot on the day. All photography needs to  be edited, graded and colour-corrected, according Sage’s unique brand guidelines.

All video footage is analysed and edited into a 2-minute concise Spotlight video. This process includes all editing, grading, colour-correction, audio adjustments and more, while adhering to Sage’s brand guidelines.

Film Production

When it comes down to it, the most high pressure day is a shoot day. We execute all planning, no matter the obstacles.

Before conducting interviews with Sage’s partners and clients, our team sets up all sound, lighting and camera equipment and frames each shot, according to Sage’s specific visual guidelines. We sit down with the client, making sure they are comfortable on camera before shooting the interviews.

We’re able to extract the most important information from each business owner to showcase the key elements in their relationship with Sage.

Digital Design

Sage wants to get as many people to read their Customer Success Stories as possible. It’s important that these stories are packaged in an easy-to-read and compelling document.

In order to fit in with Sage’s requirements, we spend many hours designing, writing and rewriting these Spotlight Stories. As a global company, it’s important for Sage to maintain a consistent brand look and feel, and we make sure that all documents produced by us, adhere to those requirements.

All of the Sage projects involve our entire team, working at their peak, to produce content of the highest quality.

Effective business storytelling.