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JB Hi-Fi Group CEO shares insights on brand survival post Amazon

How Australia’s largest home entertainment brand is preparing for Amazon’s arrival in Australian. Recently ranked the 9th strongest brand in Australia, JB Hi-Fi is an Aussie success story but is this all about to change for the retail giant? Last week JB Hi-Fi’s Group Chief…

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Kudos to Illustrators

With the steady increase in readily available free stock imagery, I often wonder about illustrators and how they are staying afloat in the growing pool of image libraries. Are illustrators being put on the back burner because stock imagery is so easily obtainable? Or is…

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KFC brings back The Colonel with H.A.R.L.A.N.D. the drive-through robot

Capturing the spirit of the KFC brand personality. KFC recently launched H.A.R.L.A.N.D. (Human Assisted Robotic Linguistic Animatronic Networked Device) He is a robot created to take drive-thru orders in order to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day. So firstly – yes; National Fried Chicken Day is…

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Brandless but far from being unbranded

Introducing a brand called Brandless™ (yes, trademark is noted). A start-up riding the unbranded trend and set to shake-up everyday retail in the USA and they’ve raised $50 million to get going. Way back when, our ancestors bought basics supplies from their local store. They…

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8 Strategies for Australian Retailers to take on Amazon

Head of Salmat eCommerce, Ben Popplestone recently attended the Magento Imagine 2017 event in Las Vegas which brought together 2500 eCommerce experts from 45 countries to discuss the latest in online retail.  A hot topic at the event was the expansion of Amazon into new…

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Moby Mart – A Disruptive Convenience Retail Model

From the same crew who brought us Wheely’s bike cafes, comes Moby Mart. A few years back we wrote about Wheely’s an organisation looking to disrupt the cafe market with their new model of pedal powered, solar powered, low on carbon footprint, high on smarts…

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What will peak sugar mean for food brands?

It was interesting last week to see Coca-Cola get some local blowback from Woolworths on their new No Sugar Coke. Coke, a cornerstone in most supermarkets has been attacked over the years from many angles: constantly by perennial #2 Pepsi with the taste challenge; for…

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Why physical stores are still so important for retail brands in the digital age

Global Retailer Aldo  – Bricks & Mortar Believers Global footwear retailer Aldo has seen amazing growth to more than 2,600 stores in 100 countries. Senior Vice President of Aldo Group, Nick Martire co-founded the Aldo Product Services division which generated $1 billion in retail sales…

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New Brand set to disrupt the Pharmacy Category

No More Late Night Trips to the Pharmacy Coined a ‘digital pharmacy’ Capsule’s brand strategy is about adding simplicity and convenience to their category. Capsule launched in New York last year and  although only based in NYC currently, the business model provides an insight into…

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Three Ways Retailers Are Scaring Away Ready-to-Buy Customers

The way customers buy has changed I recently read a great article on Curalate by Jarred Shelley, Head of Content Strategy that captured one of the great challenges fro retail brands in today’s ever-changed marketplace. The article talks through a shopping experience that is reflective…

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What Amazon’s Australian launch means for local retail brands

With Amazon’s launch into the Australian market around the corner, the picture of what that means for Australian consumers and retailers is becoming clearer. For Australian consumers, Amazon is likely to wind-up offering everything from fresh and non perishable groceries, beauty products, wine, clothing and…

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Sensory brand differentiation

Custom Apple accessory maker 12 South has created a ‘New Mac Smell’ candle for this Christmas. While it’s got plenty of headlines for obvious reasons. For me it raises the question: What do sensory branding do you do? We’re all aware of brands that have…

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Why Craft Brands are genuinely challenging the Goliaths

Is the age of the Goliath brand over? Author Ben Zifkin’s book The Rise of the Craft Brand, set’s out a compelling case for why smaller, craft-focused brands are set to become a force in the changing world of commerce. The world of brands and…

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H&M’s wonderful new Christmas ad shot by Wes Anderson

  Come Together – A Christmas Brand Gesture As the ‘content as entertainment’ train continues to gain momentum, Global retail brand H&M have teamed-up with film maker Wes Anderson to create a Christmas ad that is as quirkily cinematic as it is retail oriented. True…

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IKEA brand taps into a higher purpose to support the Red Cross in Syria

  Meaningful branding builds deeper customer loyalty An unwritten law of commerce is that we do business with those we like. This applies equally to B2B sales as it does to B2C where it’s often about how much we like the brand rather than the…

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KolesWorth – Revealing the layers of successful SME branding

There’s more to branding than meets the eye Recently a small, independent supermarket opened at our local shopping strip. I was immediately drawn to the name and brand identity which are  naively unethical and amusing in equal measures. It turns out this is the fifth…

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Coles muddies the milk with undifferentiated brand

Farmers Fund milk brand clouds the issues As predicted Coles have started muddying the waters around fair Milk prices by introducing an undifferentiated milk brand called Farmers Fund to the market. The brand which ‘gives back’ 40c of each 2 litre carton to a Fund…

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Re-imagining Retail Design – A truly differentiated brand space

Fresh New Retail Design from Japan Tokyo has rightly earned the reputation for a city that thinks outside the square. Japanese design culture is often fresh, innovative and disruptive, and this retail space designed by Nobuo Araki/The Archetype is a bold example. Following-on from The…

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Organic natural brands no longer differentiate

When mega brands go organic Gatorade is introducing an organic version of it’s brightly coloured sugar water for ‘athletes’. While the new product will be tested in select markets it seams Pepsi Co., the parent brand, sees the threat to the market dominant sports drink from more…

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Woolworths free fruit for kids campaign builds on their differentiated brand proposition

Deliciously Good Brand Differentiation Australian Supermarket brand Woolworths have teamed up with celebrity endorser and fresh food campaigner; Jamie Oliver to introduce their latest in store brand initiative – fresh fruit. Launched in-store and driven by an above the line TVC campaign, Woolworths have come…

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Calling all Courageous Blondes – Lululemon Partners with Canadian Brewery

It seem’s that Lululemon is now targeting the yoga loving, beer drinkers. Who doesn’t like a cold beer after a sweaty yoga session?… The global activewear brand has partnered with Canadian based brewery, Stanley Park Brewing to create a lemon hopped ale called ‘Courageous Blonde’.

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Retail Brand Theatre – Buenos Aires beautiful bookstore

Brand theatre proves the perfect differentiator for this Buenos Aires retailer. Found in the Barrio Norte neighborhood of Buenos Aires is this stunning bookshop called El Ateneo Grand Splendid. The bookshop is the latest incarnation of the Grand Splendid Theater, which was built in 1919.…

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When brand ideas and dreams come to life

There’s nothing we like more than sharing in the success with our clients when their brand finally launches and becomes a reality. Yesterday the team at Truly Deeply got behind one of our clients to try out their new soup store in Melbourne CBD. Zuppa…

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Truly Deeply refreshes iconic Aussie BBQ fuel brand, Heatbeads

Melbourne brand strategy and design agency has developed new packaging, brand messaging and design for the Heatbeads range of products. “The team at Truly Deeply took the time to really understand the Heatbeads customers and market to create packaging that both respected our brand’s long…

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New food retail brand strategy and identity redefines soup

Truly Deeply has been working with new fresh casual dining concept; Zuppa to develop an engaging brand and identity to launch them to market. Zuppa Soup Kitchen is bringing soup back to the table, but it’s better than you’ve ever imagined. Lovingly prepared in their…

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Wearing mental health on your chest

A creative new range of creative T-Shirts have been developed to combat mental health.

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The 4 critical numbers to understanding changing consumer behavior for brands

Customer Evolution – The Important Numbers for the Future of Retail Brands Recently I attended a presentation on Global Trends in Retail put on by PWC. One of the speakers was Dr Violet Lazarevic from Monash Business Schools ‘Australian Consumer, Retail, and Services’ Research Unit…

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Apple takes their retail store brand experience to the next level.

Apple Just Picked-up Their Brand Game… Again. There are few things more admirable than someone at the top of their game relentlessly pursuing a way to do things better. Apple have for several years been the number one retailer globally in terms of sales per…

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Australian Retailer Target loses $2b of Goodwill and Brand Value

Brand irrelevance leads to evaporating brand value Australian retailer Target has struggled in recent years to maintain a valued, differentiated consumer proposition in the market.  As competitive pricing has become a table stake rather than an active brand differentiator, mid-market retailers like Target (and the…

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Food brands let you see what you get, sometimes.

  See what you get food packaging, once it’s not the amount sugar. The Australian Government has just launched a new food labelling initiative that highlights the food’s country of origin with a campaign declaring ‘See what you’re getting’. The new labelling must be rolled…

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Disruptive online retailer the surprise buyer of Dick Smith brand

Ruslan Kogan to Revitalize Dick Smith Retail Brand It’d be tough to find two hotter topics in the world of brand and marketing than ‘new thinking brands disrupting’ and ‘old thinking brands imploding’. The latest move by Australian online retailer Kogan combines both. The move…

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Veganz Vegan Supermarket – The Engaging Power of Brand Focus

How Brand Focus can be the best Brand Strategy One of the most powerful truisms of branding is; ‘You can’t be all things to all people’. Yet when we think about the supermarket category, and even the innovations in this space of convenience stores, mini-supermarkets…

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Sugar the tobacco for big food brands

Big food’s short term thinking on sugar Every day there seems to be more and more information surfacing about the activities of major food brands in response to the obesity epidemic the western world is facing. There’s little doubt they’re using their financial muscle and…

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IKEA Chief believes we have reached ‘Peak Stuff’ – What does that mean for consumer brands?

Has the West has reached it’s peak of Consumerism? During a recent interview with NPR in the US, IKEA’s Global Chief Sustainability Officer, Steve Howard opined: “If you look at things like oil–well, actually, oil sales have peaked in the U.S. and Western Europe. Beef sales have pretty…

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#MyCalvins campaign takes over the internet

Calvin Klein has launched its latest Spring 2016 collection with another viral social media campaign. This time there was no need for large scale advertisements; but simply the profile of some big name celebrities and the hashtag #MyCalvins to capture the worlds attention. This digital…

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McDonald's Packaging Re-design falls short of inspiring

Will McDonald’s get bang for their packaging redesign buck? McDonald’s is set to launch a re-designed suite of packaging in the US as part of their continuing effort to keep the brand relevant with younger consumers. McDonald’s has unveiled a new series of take-away bag,…

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The world's best Christmas windows from 2015

As we blow the remnants of Christmas cobwebs from our brains and prepare to launch into 2016, we thought we’d indulge in a last little taste of the festive season. With retailers around the world looking to squeeze every last drop of Christmas cheer from…

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