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.
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.
We Love Pop-Up Retail
There’s something about retail experiences popping-up in spaces that were previously public thoroughfares that creates an irresistible energy and attraction. The right offer, appearing magically in the path of the right consumer with the right brand proposition and brand identity creates a dissonance for consumers that is both compelling and inspiring. ‘Snackbox’, a shipping container turned modern canteen has recently popped-up in New York’s Times Square.
Masters of Stunning Retail Brand Design
As retail brands go, AESOP have built a formidable reputation on the back of their stunning store designs, and the latest installation on display within Hong Kong’s I.T Hysan One flagship store continues the theme.
The Power of a Perfect Image
I’m the first to admit, I’m about as far from a vegetarian as you can be. Sure I haven’t reconciled the issues surrounding animal cruelty and a tasty dinner at my favorite restaurant – but when it comes to an appreciation of powerful visual communication I have absolute clarity. So when I saw these images over the weekend from a recent Meat Out protest in Germany I was moved to applaud the power of their visual communication.
Beautiful Retail Brand Design
In one of my favorite creative collaborations for 2011, US retro font designers House Industries have joined forces with iconic, retail fashion brand Hermés to create this magical visual merchandising for their Maison Hermés Ginza, Tokyo store.
A friend of mine was trying to purchase a new smart phone. With great anticipation of acquiring a new gadget (that he had to have), the experience soon soured as he became confused and then frustrated. Eventually, he just gave up and left without buying.
This made me think, instead of making the choice easier, are some brands actually over-complicating the buying experience and causing decision fatigue?
