The 2011 Oracle World Retail Awards taking place this week in Berlin marks a very special moment for one of Australia’s hardest working retailers, The Salvation Army.
Archive for September, 2011
09.27.11
Going nude; a clever brand gesture
For generations, parents have been trying to get their kids to eat healthier food. Is it possible that one brand has finally found a way to make it happen, at least at school?
A Beautifully Executed Re-branding Project.
We were engaged with Jean Hailes to conduct a full brand re-design, starting with the strategic framework and outputting all brand identity collateral. In a little under two decades Jean Hailes has developed a significant standing in the women’s health sector. But it also understands that it needs to continue to proactively develop the direction of the Jean Hailes brand. A direction that would further solidify Jean Hailes as the authority in women’s health to deliver cutting edge research and medical services for their clients. The result — a beautifully designed re-brand for this not-for profit in women’s health.
09.23.11
I See Beautiful Type
As someone who’s spent too much of my life wading through font collections to find the right one for a clients big brand development or even a friends invite this clever simple piece from Austrian designer Moritz Resl jumped out at me. A clever way to reveal the beauty in every font. Read the rest of this entry »
Business literature keeps advocating the need for businesses to pursue best practice. To aspire to achieve against a set of metrics that are considered optimum performance in a given category. However, the extent to which brands seek to identify best practice performers amongst their competitors, and then match them or better them on those measures, ultimately produces sameness and lack of differentiation in the market.
Students lead the way in Ferrar’s future!
Ferrari World Design Contest is a competition that was launched by the team from Maranello in collaboration with Autodesk (the project’s technical partner and official sponsor) for schools and universities from the design and automotive sectors not only in Italy but around the world to create the Ferrari of the future.
The Litmus group is a market leading niche international management consulting company who needed to rephrase their brand to better fit their highly differentiated approach business proposition.
The famous and annoying catch cry, “down, down” and the big red finger might actually carry far greater symbolism for Coles and their reputation than they realise. As the brand becomes more elastic and focuses on ‘stretch, stretch how far can we stretch’, could this strategy actually bring the brand down or is Coles setting a new benchmark for Australian brands?
Companies are always seeking new ways to grow and expand but when brands start to develop a bigger range of products, there is a danger of stretching the brand too far. Extensions can have a knock on effect that confuses the brand’s identity, its customers and can potentially leave the brand open to attack from more focussed competitors.
Truly Deeply Brand continued Social Responsibility
Last Wednesday night saw us at Truly Deeply kick off of our Tenth Annual Art with Heart charity art show. This year we had 40 artists who generously donated a whopping 90 paintings/artworks to raise money for Swags For Homeless. Swags For Homeless are a Melbourne based not-for-profit organisation that provides Backpack Beds to the homeless – an interim crisis measure (emergency relief) for those turned away from shelters.
IKEA reminds us to not forget the Brand Communication in our Brands.
Last year we featured a post on IKEA’s brand communication, and here the Swedish mass-design furniture and home-wares brand are popping up again. As a global brand, IKEA is well known for the budget priced, low-mid quality Swedish inspired, practical and functional furniture they design and sell. The interesting additional element to their successful brand strategy is design. IKEA have accomplished the not insignificant task of lifting the design bar for the average Joe (and Jodie). The secret ingredient to the IKEA brand DNA is their ability to bring an impressively high level of Swedish furniture design to the masses. So what better way to communicate that brand attribute than through delivering creatively designed brand communications along with it.
