CARY – Revenues at SAS have been flat or declining for five consecutive years, but growth is expected in the company’s future, as the company delivers its largest user event of the year this week, and is still rolling out its new strategic branding campaign based on the principle of curiosity.

Curiosity Forever is our rallying cry. It reflects our belief that curiosity is at the heart of human progress. It’s a shared belief held by our customers and users. It’s a belief in the transformative power of curiosity – that when it’s harnessed and applied with intention, and with the right tools and tech, we can move the world forward,” said Jennifer Chase, a senior vice president and the head of marketing at SAS, in an interview with WRAL TechWire.

Curiosity Forever is also a promise. We will never stop exploring the data, analyzing it, learning from it. Our infinite curiosity is what fuels us to create the world’s leading and most trusted analytic tools. It’s what drives us to constantly unearth new insights and inform better decisions. Because when curiosity meets capability, the human race takes off,” she added.

The company made a decision to update its strategic brand messaging to position the company as “a clear leader in a very noisy market,” said Chase.  The campaign is positioned to go beyond demand generation and enhance brand awareness of the company as both the founder and the future of analytics, Chase noted.

“The analytics space is more crowded and misunderstood than ever,” said Chase. “The market is crowded with both incumbents and new startups all talking about analytics. There’s both a lot of hype and excitement around the potential of analytics.”

That’s due to a few factors, said Chase.  There’s a perceived opportunity in the segment, as organizations are rethinking their operations and experiencing digital transformation due to a multitude of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the advances in cloud computing and technology, and the expectations of consumers and businesses changing.

The company went “out of house” for guidance in developing its campaign, which Chase noted was focused on telling the story of SAS in a bolder way.

The state of SAS: After 5 years of flat revenue, growth may be returning in 2021

The campaign, Curiosity Forever, is based on a strength of the company, noted Chase, as the company re-invests more than a quarter of its revenue into research and development efforts annually.

‘We know that emotional and logical connections with our customers are more important than ever,” said Chase.  “This campaign is all about – appealing to both the emotional and logical side of our audience.  On the emotional side we’re leaning in on curiosity as a shared value – one that when coupled with the right analytics, the logical side – drives innovation that moves the world forward.”

The company is not changing its tagline, The Power to Know.

SAS co-founders John Sall and Jim Goodnight, and their partners Ginger Sall and Ann Goodnight, are also board members at Cary Academy, an independent school in close proximity to the company’s headquarters.  Cary Academy updated its strategic brand about three years ago, in the Be Curious campaign, that is also focused on curiosity.