Brand Envy Pure and Simple
Yeah I know we bang-on a bit about Lego and the extraordinary level of loyalty, even obsession the brand creates. But we wouldn’t if there weren’t so many great examples of passion for the brand, a level of passion most businesses can only stand-by and admire with envy.
A US film maker has recently created a Lego stop-animation film to… you guessed it – propose to his girlfriend.
Design is the Secret Ingredient in Successful Green brands of the Future
My attention was hijacked recently by marketing images of this new concept car from VW. Concept cars pop-up at every motor show, and alone the sleek lines of the next big auto-thing is not usually enough to tickle my fancy, but this one hit my sweet spot. The new ‘e-bugster’ from VW is not just the beautifully designed evolution of the famous ‘VW beetle’ – but it’s also ‘green’.
More then ever, honesty is vital for brands as consumers become more switched on, less naïve and ready to boycott those brands they don’t trust. Brands have the ability to have relationships with their audience and like any good, successful relationship, they should be built on trust and honesty. Brands are built on perceptions. You can’t just say that your brand is honest in the hope that the public will believe it. You need to earn this trust in every transaction, interaction and experience your audience has with your brand.
The 26th of January each year represents Australia’s official national day and marks the anniversary of the first fleet sailing into Sydney back in 1788. For many it brings great joy, largely because it provides a day off work to share time with families and friends, not to mention the odd cold beer – and if Sam Kekovich and the Meat and Livestock Authority get their way a good feed of Australian farmed lamb. Given we are in the midst of a lovely summer, and for a sports mad community enjoying the Australian Open tennis and a test cricket match against India, along with the fact that most Australian’s have a job to return to the next day (with unemployment running at about 5.2%) one could be forgiven for feeling pretty good about life down under.
Australia day is here for another year, along with painted faces, flag flying, boxing kangaroos and, of course, companies trying to leverage patriotic feelings for their brand’s benefit. Coles and Woolies are fighting it out to prove who is ‘more Australian’, Vegemite has renamed their famous spread to ‘Australia’ and Lamb has again released their annual Lambassor, Sam Kekovic, for another ripper viral session – this time trying to get him the number 1 on the pop charts.
But this year, it is Wine Australia that has caught my attention with their idea to ‘de-stride’ those drinking foreign vino.
A feel-good Burger Brand
South African fast food brand Wimpy Burgers have come-up with a promotional brand gesture that has both underscored their inclusive positioning and created a real buzz. The story goes that Wimpy wanted to let visually impaired people know they offered braille menus. So to spread the word they created braille burgers that blind people could actually read.
Baked-in Brand Differentiation
I was having lunch before Christmas with a bunch of Australia’s best young business dynamos and conversation turned to our latest and most interesting projects – as it often does. One of the lunchers was Brendan McKeegan, a serial entrepreneur based-out of Melbourne, Australia. Brendan was filling us-in on a business he’s involved-in called Emue Technologies and a great piece of innovative technology they have created and sold into global finance behemoth, Visa. We love nothing better than brand innovation – and even more-so when the differentiation is built into the product.
2012 will continue to be a tough environment for retailers. Consumers have no reason to throw off their new found sense of caution and propensity to put saving ahead of spending. If anything 2012 may produce even more reasons for them to retreat with some recent news of the financial services sector spruiking the need to lay off workers, and a sense that flat retail sales is placing huge pressure on retailers to reduce costs.
Having just spent three weeks in California over the holiday period, I couldn’t help but marvel at the wide array of creative expressions seen in the every day. From the impressive graffiti and street art in San Francisco, to the high end museums and art galleries in Los Angeles, there was something for everyone. On my travels, I came cross a truly unique creative project which I wanted to share. Creative Future is a creative publication and art project, featuring some of the most talented and inspiring individuals in the art and design industry. The purpose behind the project was to create a handcrafted quality product that’s not only a creative publication, but also an artwork in itself.
The ever-changing digital reality for Brand Communications – 60 Seconds on the Net
Recently a friend emailed me this iconographic of what’s happening every 60 seconds in the online world. The numbers are seriously noteworthy, especially for someone who works in the brand space day-in and day-out. What was equally of interest was how these numbers have changed since we last looked at them just six months ago.
