San Jose Water isn’t your typical Silicon Valley brand. It doesn’t move fast or break things. But it does deliver water to more than a million people, which can be a bit complicated in California.
Prices are challenging. Regulations are strict. Customers have questions and they can be tenacious.
For years, a local consumer advocate had criticized the utility’s rate increases and resource allocations. Instead of ducking the heat, Sterling Communications saw opportunity. We invited him — and 50 others — to talk directly with the people who run the pipes.
Talk ain’t cheap
Sterling recommended and helped San Jose Water launch a Customer Advisory Council (CAC), a twice-yearly gathering of stakeholders meant to create dialogue, surface feedback, and deepen trust. There were no pre-screened soundbites or pre-cooked presentations. Just frank Q&As with executives, guided tours of watershed and treatment sites, and breakout sessions that gave participants equal time at the mic.
That approach turned tension into transparency. The once-critical advocate left with a new appreciation for operational constraints and a willingness to share those insights with others. The council now acts as a kind of distributed public affairs team, helping their neighbors and friends understand SJW decisions and clearing up any confusion around rates, water quality, and infrastructure projects before complaints go viral.
PR or marketing? Yes.
This campaign blended the boundary between traditional PR and strategic marketing. It built media relationships by sourcing local stories from council conversations. It generated contributed content, like this Los Gatan guest column, that helped humanize the brand. And it produced measurable improvements in customer sentiment, drawn from post-event surveys where 100% of respondents rated the sessions a 4 or 5 out of 5. For a utility, that’s practically unheard of, as is the drop in angry customer calls.
Real leadership is earned
Winning a Bulldog PR Award for Best Community Engagement Campaign wasn’t the goal. Helping a water utility become a trusted community partner was. But the recognition validates how transparency, consistency, and dialogue aren’t soft skills. They’re what modern reputation management looks like, and it’s just part of Sterling’s larger effort to transform a basic utility into a cleantech and community leader.
For CMOs and comms directors trying to build authority in regulated, high-stakes environments — whether in cleantech PR, healthtech PR, or B2B tech — one lesson is clear: Being heard starts with listening. And Sterling helps you do both.