Sil Hoeve on the Next Step for Our Brand
At STAR, we know the market. We work continuously to ensure that we understand what our clients and specialists need. Today, but perhaps more importantly tomorrow. It’s led to a new positioning for STAR. “A crown on all our hard work,” says CEO Sil Hoeve.
A new phase
During a video call from Austria, Sil lifts the tip of the veil on our new brand. “An awful lot of the hard work and effort by staff at STAR takes place in the wings and behind the scenes, completely out of sight from the world outside. Our new logo and corporate style is a tangible expression of everything we have achieved together over the past years. It heralds a new phase.”
It’s only natural that a new phase should bring new, exciting projects in previously unexplored sectors. “We’re becoming very active in the energy transition, for instance,” explains Sil, “and life sciences and infrastructure, and we’re creating new presences in several different countries. I’m in Austria as we speak, looking into some very interesting opportunities for STAR.”
Contributing to tomorrow
If you expand your range of services, it’s important to share the good news with the rest of the world. That soon leads you to the question as to whether the look and feel of your brand is compatible with your new markets and therefore still suitable at all. “We took the decision that a modest revamp was a good idea,” Sil tells me, “but we wanted to be careful because everybody is very much accustomed to how we have presented ourselves in the past. Nevertheless, our marketing agency had a compelling story and ultimately convinced us go ahead with confidence. And we’re glad we did: our new visual branding is much more modern, much sleeker. It reflects who we are precisely.”
How does Sil describe who we are and what we do? “We’re a partner who actively contributes to the decisions clients make, rather than acting merely as a supplier of labour. We sit down with you to look ahead, a partner you can build upon. A partner who delivers quality always, with compliance specialists on hand for every step of every process. And all that is now clearly manifest in our new look and feel: it’s picture-perfect. It’s appropriate to our services, which all strive to provide at the very best level, and in the same way that we maintain an eye on continuous improvement, this is an improvement. It really feels like a next step for the brand, and I’m sure that staff, specialists and clients feel the same way.”
“We always deliver a win-win situation for specialists and clients.”
Sil’s enthusiasm almost bursts through the screen of my laptop. Was it hard to contain his excitement before the new logo was presented? “I’m someone who has great difficulty keeping things a secret,” he confesses with a smile. “If there’s an upcoming birthday and I already have a present, then I can’t wait for the day and moment I can finally give it. It’s like the coin burning in a child’s pocket that must be spent – and sometimes I spend it. I was so excited that I couldn’t help but show one or two people before the big day came, and fortunately, they were equally excited as I was right away.”
Added value
Innovation is healthy, insists Sil. “I think it’s important to try something new every now and then. It maintains a certain momentum, which keeps everybody fit and on their toes. You see it reflected in our brand and how we operate on a day-to-day basis. By tapping into new sectors and countries, we’re in a position to offer our specialists an increasing variety of opportunity.”
The same applies to our clients: “Say you hired a specialist five years ago who is still doing the same job. It’s often a good idea to think about putting someone fresh on the project. That way, the original specialist gets the chance to grow in a position elsewhere and the company extends the same favour to someone who is perhaps a very eager newbie. It means that everybody can continue to develop and it’s just one of the ways we always deliver a win-win situation for specialists and clients.”
“We continue to develop our Academy for the same reason. So that specialists can continue to develop their skills and know-how, and our clients reap the benefits of increasingly qualified and capable specialists.”
STAR is unique in this respect, says Sil. “We’re rapidly becoming the partner of choice for many companies precisely because we offer security of supply from a plentiful pool of specialists who never lapse into stagnation and can rise to the challenges of tomorrow today. Our new brand expresses that clearly; it’s a crown on all our hard work.”
