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.

Walt Thompson has spent 22 hours shooting 2,600 pictures along with unmentionable hours of editing to create a Lego inspired marriage proposal for his girlfriend of four years. Like all good love stories, the film captures the moment they first met, as well as highlights of their time together, and reportedly depicting the couple in Lego outfits which match the clothes they were dressed in when they met.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Of course the short film concludes with a wedding ceremony. Notable guests actors include in the film include Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo in carbonite, on hand to officiate the nuptials. The big question is, was all the work worthwhile? Reportedly, the answer was ‘yes’ and the couple plan to get hitched in 2012.

Can there be a much higher tribute to a brand than to be woven into the most important and valued moments of our lives?

Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
Creator of Brand Obsession
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A Proposal in stop motion by Firepit Productions
Music; ‘Don’t wait too long’ by Madeleine Peyroux
Spotted on cnet and Design Boom.

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.

However, if you did choose turn off the cricket and put your cold beer down for a moment, and ponder what you believe will underpin the prosperity of the next generation of Australian’s, what would your answer be? We all have an awareness that we are currently living in a two speed economy where the resources sector is booming and the rest simply limping along. We have a strong dollar riding the wave of this resources boom and as a result an export sector that is struggling and many domestic businesses doing it tough against imports. Amongst this we have raging public debates about whether the Government should or should not be subsidising the automotive industry, while Toyota goes about dumping 10% of its labour force in Australia. We are seeing an ever greater dependency on our employment being derived from the services industry as companies simply seek to have their manufacturing done in lower cost developing economies. The world is getting smaller by the day and the the level of interdependency between countries around the globe more and more intertwined. We are all watching the dramas surrounding sovereign debt issues play out in Europe, all the time understanding if there is a defaulting country somewhere out there, we will feel the ramifications. Our world is changing and we have to change with it.

So what is our future? Commentators like Alan Mitchell, Economics Editor for the Australian Financial Review (24/1/2012) believes the answer resides with Australia making better use of its highly educated work force. That we should continue with the mindset of the Hawke and Keating Governments of the 70’s and 80’s when they opened up Australia to the withering blast of international competition and hoped industry would rise to the occasion, which it did. Mitchell suggests that instead of concerning ourselves with imminent job cuts and plant closures we should rejoice in the prospects of better paid jobs in businesses that have yet to be formed, producing goods and services yet to be developed, for customers still to be identified. I get Alan’s point, but we do not have to face such a vague future.

Surely, we do not have to leave the future of Australia’s prosperity solely in the hands of market forces. We could choose to adopt a brand mindset, and proactively determine what our proposition is to the world and disproportionately invest in driving that proposition to shape our destiny. We need to shift our paradigm of nation branding from one that is largely image and tourism based, to one that is founded on defining the economic and social endeavours that will fuel our prosperity. We need to commence an enlightened and imaginative national dialogue around what Australia’s future will be built on.

Peter Singline
Brand Scientist

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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.

Retailers will need to re-think everything. At the top of the list will be how they deliver value. This needs to extend beyond simply running sales events. It requires a wider gambit of thinking that includes the sort of retailer experience shoppers are exposed to, product selection and where possible the merchandising of exclusive products, finding the sweet spot at the intersection of the digital and physical worlds etc. It means re-thinking what your value proposition is and why it is or is not compelling. At its heart it is seeking ways that move beyond discounting as the foundation for delivering value. If regular discounting is to be your mantra then it will only make sense if you are positioned at the low end of the market and your operations are geared to deliver a sustainable outcome.

But yes, I agree, nothing new in the above comments. In fact like a lot of things easier said than done. However the retailers who have been inspired to reinvent their value chain are reaping the rewards. Think Ikea (stylish flat pack furniture). Think Zara and Top Shop (fast fashion). Think Bunnings (first mover in box format hardware in Australia). I suggest you at least explore the possibilities by deconstructing your value chain and appraising it against your competitors to determine how it may be reconfigured or amped up to provide yourself with a more differentiated value proposition.

In addition to having a rethink in terms of the value you offer, every brand should also be consciously determining the values it seeks to express. Phillip Kotler in his recent book Marketing 3.0 notes a growing trend in society, whereby consumers are now not only looking for products and services that satisfy their needs but also searching for experiences and business models that touch their spiritual side. Supplying meaning is the future value proposition in marketing. He sees the values-driven business model as the new killer app in Marketing 3.0. Marketers need to identify the anxieties and desires of the consumers to be able to target their minds, hearts, and spirits. In the globalization paradox, the generic anxiety and desire of many consumers is to make their society—and the world at large—a better, perhaps even an ideal place to live. Brands need to share the same dream with consumers and make a difference.

When you consider the Australian retail sector I challenge you to identify a major player who distinguishes themselves by being known for their social conscience. In most categories the competitive dimensions remain entrenched in product, service and other functional attributes. Seeking to build social equity by being a values driven branded organisation represents a fertile territory for retail brands to ponder, particularly if we find 2012 to be a year where economic confidence remains shaky and Governments struggle to craft a reassuring narrative of the future.

Peter Singline
Brand Scientist

We always say you either get branding or you don’t. There is no real middle ground. It was therefore a pleasure to visit our mate Lester Marshall from the Coffin Bay Oyster Farm just before Christmas. Lester farms oysters in Australia’s premium seafood area on the Eyre Peninsula. Internationally recognised for their quality, flavour and size, Coffin Bay is South Australia’s most famous oyster growing location. This is largely because the waterways surrounding Coffin Bay are constantly being nourished from the nutrient-rich seawater and up welling from the Southern Ocean. It is a remarkable area, amazing oysters and Lester is doing his best to tell the world about it.

We previously told you about working with Lester to create the Coffin Bay Oyster Farm brand and a range of oyster sub-brands, a differentiation strategy based on the the old oyster’s aren’t oysters type thinking. And at one extreme end of that brand portfolio continuum is the Coffin Bay Oyster Farm’s King Oyster. Lester has taken it upon himself to farm an oyster for six or more years until it is the size of small dinner plate and meal in its own right. It is an initiative that is designed simply to inject theatre and talkability into the life of his brand. From a brand management perspective he is investing energy into creating gestures that suggest to the market that his brand is different. Each King oyster he grows he individual numbers with a metal tag and sells them in the region’s most upmarket hotel for $100 a oyster. At that price he is providing more than a great eat, he is delivering full bragging rights to those who purchase them. And rest assured people are buying them. Recently, a female hotel guest ordered and consumed one on two successive nights – clearly needing double the bragging rights. Not bad when most of my friends won’t ever fork out $100 for a bottle of good wine…well that’s for another story.

(For a mere $100, Lester would have allowed me to keep this gem of a King Oyster.)

So what is the moral of this story? You guessed it. What is the King Oyster gesture for your brand. What wildly extravagant dimension could you possible wrap around your brand. It is a good reminder why limited editions have worked so well, for so many brands, for so long. But it does require imagination and commitment.

If you would like us to feed you some ideas (and perhaps a King Oyster) give us a call – you won’t go home empty handed, 2012 is our year of stirring the happy genes of individuals and brands.

Peter Singline
Brand Scientist

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.

As a brand strategy and design agency we spend much of our lives crafting brand communication for our clients. From brand identity to web site and digital design, from packaging design to annual reports and shareholder communications, we are obsessed with developing brand communication strategies and then honing the perfect visual communication of those messages in order to connect with and engage their audiences. A well-crafted visual message told in a rich brand voice are the perfect recipe for powerful brand storytelling.  So when we come across a powerful example of brand message communication such as these for Meat Out, we simply must take our hats-off to them.

Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
Designer of Tasty Brand Communication
For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter

The art of brand management in today’s economic climate presents huge challenges. In Australia, the theory is that we have missed a recession, but we have been left with a hugely cautious consumer and a distinctly two speed economy. Managing the challenges of a ‘value’  conscious consumers and the relentless intensity of hungry competitors, both domestically and overseas is tough. The battlefront has been complicated with the fragmentation of media and the growth of the digital world. There is an awful lot for brand managers to get their head around.

There is little wonder that many food related brand owners are shaking their heads at the moment, when on top of all this they face total abuse, well certainly a lack of love, from their intermediaries. We have read a lot about the market power of the two major supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, their push into private label and the leverage of their clout with respect to new line fees, discounts and promotional support. I thought up until recently I had a fix on the extent of it all, so I was blown away to hear the latest iteration of screw the food brand owner from the third player in the category, Metcash.

Metcash is a grocery wholesaler who in the past month has been granted permission to complete a takeover of approximately 80 Franklins supermarkets. The acquisition has been held up by the competitor watch ACCC, but the deal now has the green light. Let’s forget the angst that Metcash had to work through to get the deal across the line, and focus for a moment on the angst it is now causing since succeeding. Metcash has decided to retrospectively invoice suppliers for any differences in trading terms between Metcash and Franklins. In other words if Franklins had been getting better buying terms than Metcash, they have decided to invoice suppliers for the difference, times the quantity of products transacted since July 2010.

Yes, that is exactly what I said. They are saying we want the same trading terms, and we want it applied to all sales, back dated to July 2011, because if the ACCC had not got involved, that is when they ‘would have’ taken over the Franklins business. Surprise, surprise it also works the other way. If Metcash had better terms than Franklins, it wants the difference also paid back.

So how did it communicate its desire for a retrospective rebate. It simply invoiced suppliers without any prior dialogue. But it does not stop there. My understanding is that it has also decided to do away with some of its accounts payable head count and replace them with an online portal that suppliers can track their payments. Enhanced service perhaps? Who knows, all we know at this point is that you have pay an annual subscription to be able to access the portal, and then a per item inquiry fee. Szimple really. If you wish to know when you are going to be paid the money you are owned, you can pay some more money to find out when.

In a world where increasingly we are seeing consumers wishing to associate with companies that match their values, it gets a bit more problematic in a business to business context, if you don’t have a choice. In the food industry brands really do have their backs against the wall. Given the way that Coles and Woolworths mimic each other, there is an opportunity for the third player in the industry to take a different approach. To seek to assume a stronger partnership role with food producers, to build a more trusted relationship and sense of mutual interest. It is disappointing that Metcash has simply opted to follow the other players and assert its muscle, resulting in some rather brutal gouging.

Peter Singline
Brand Scientist

For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter

Brand Differentiation by Design
One of my all-time favorite brands is Australian stationery retailer kikki.k. As brand developers with a passion for retail, here at Truly Deeply we love brands that clearly and confidently differentiate themselves from the competitive marketplace. Even more impressive are those brands we call ‘Category Creators’, whose vision and innovation see them create a whole new segment of the market in which they dominate. It was Jerry Garci of the psychedelic rock band Grateful Dead who summed-it-up best when he said: You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do. But the highest of all praise goes to those brands who achieve all this through the power of design – and kikki.k is one of those brands.

In a truly special offer from Kristina and the guys at kikki.k, we can offer you a great deal on their Inspiration Series of books.
Buy two books from the kikki.k Inspiration Series and receive the third free (that’s a grand saving of $39.95).* Record your dreams, plan your goals and achieve wellbeing with these gorgeous books. These stunning inspirational notebooks are the perfect place to start working towards achieving your dreams. They also make ideal gifts for loved ones and are perfect for Christmas.
*See details below…

Designing a Brand New Category
When kikki.k launched in Australia in 2001, there was no specialist, design stationery category. Stationery was a commodity purchase made on the grounds of cost and functionality. In-fact many people told the founder Kristina Karlsson that there was no demand for beautifully designed stationery – why would anyone spend $10 on a ring binder when you could buy one just as good from Office Works for $3.50? they questioned. Ten years and 80 stores later, Kristina and her partner Paul Lacey have proven the doubters well and truly wrong as they continue to build their wonderful retail brand upon the mission of bringing order and beauty to the world with their unique blend of  Swedish inspired design.

Their new range of 2012 diaries shows-off the brand’s visual style…

Crafted and Authentic Brand Storytelling
The rich and unique brand personality of kikki.k flows through all the brand does from retail store experience to online and the constant tide of new product development. Flipping through a kikki.k brand catalogue recently I was reminded of just how consistently the brand philosophy, spirit and visual language is communicated to their band of loyal brand fans.

The brand storytelling flows through their marketing communications like a well-told fable, in the voice of  kikki.k founder Kristina. A quote from their brand catalogue:

“It may sound ridiculous, but I love storage boxes. Not only are they the perfect representation of Swedish design – form and function achieved through simple, clean lines – but they convey the possibility of being organised and in control. I can’t get enough. In fact, the kikki.k white storage box was one of the first products I designed. You could even say it all started with a box. Today we have a storage box for all occasions – so what do you keep in yours?”

“Being organised is about having more time for the enjoyable things in life… and the freedom that brings.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Beautiful, Evocative Brand Visual Language
The current retail campaign features beautiful photographic imagery combining the style of kikki.k with a range of stunning Swedish locations, providing a charming blend of aesthetic and product whilst continuing to build on the rich visual language of brand cues. Some of the images from their current campaign are below…

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A truly special offer from our friends at kikki.k.

“One of my absolute, absolute favorites is probably 101 Dreams. I think dreaming is the first step to actually achieving.”
Kristina Karlsson, founder of kikki.k

Our Inspiring kikki.k Special Offer – Save 1/3 when you Purchase three Books from the Inspiration Range
Buy two books from the kikki.K Inspiration Series and receive the third free.* Record your dreams, plan your goals and achieve wellbeing with these gorgeous books. These stunning inspirational notebooks are the perfect place to start working towards achieving your dreams. They also make ideal gifts for loved ones and are perfect for Christmas. Head instore or online today. For online purchases, enter promocode INSPIRE at the online checkout. For purchases in-store, mention this post.
Promotion ends 11 December 2011. Applies to Goal Book, Gratitude Book, 101 Dreams Book, Wellbeing Book and Inspiration Journal.

* Not valid with any other offer; Free item is of equal of lesser value

You can find your nearest kikki.k store by clicking here.
For online purchases visit the kikki.k site by clicking here.

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Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
Designer of Beautiful Brands
For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter

Nothing’s Colder than an Ex.
The Truly Deeply brand team were enjoying a Friday arvo pub lunch up at The Clarendon a couple of weeks ago when one of our guys spotted a point of sale promo for Ex-wife Bitter. The brand name was so brilliant, at first impression we assumed it to be a made-up brand. But we were delighted to discover there really is a beer brand called Ex-wife bitter, and the brand language just got better with the tag line of ‘nothing’s colder than an ex’.

As we enjoyed our chicken parmas and pub steak sangas, we reflected on the brand building power of an extraordinary brand name. Few brand names create the memorable talk-ability as inspired as Ex-wife Bitter, and for a consumer brand like a beer, talk-ability goes a long way to launching a new brand and building market share. Especially for small brands lacking substantial marketing budgets, the ability to create a powerful brand asset like a name with this much kick is an opportunity to really punch above your weight. In the modern blokey world that is the majority of the market for beer brands this piece of inspired brand naming was always going to be a winner.

Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
Creator of Brilliant Brand Names, not ex-wives
For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter

A Case Study of the Pitfalls of Branding with Social Media
Iconic Australian airline Qantas can’t seem to do anything right just now. Hot on the heels of grounding the airline to break-up an industrial dispute and leaving thousands of irate customers in the lurch, Qantas came up with a nice little social media campaign idea to help restore its battered reputation. The thing so many brands continue to fail to grasp is that social media is no free kick. As a channel for communicating with customers, social media interactions follow the same rules as every other human interaction. If it seems like a dumb thing to say to your customer face-to-face, then it’s going to seem just as dumb in social media, only the damage can be a million-fold greater.

The idea seems harmless enough out of context of the airlines last few weeks of brand damaging events;

Just a few of the highlights of the responses included these beauties:

#qantasluxury is chartering a Greyhound bus and arriving at your destination days before your grounded Qantas flight

Not having to worry about the safety demonstration, because you can’t crash if your flight never leaves #qantasluxury

#qantasluxury Somewhere in Qantas HQ a middle aged manager is yelling at a Gen Y social media “expert” to make it stop.

As a person who spends much of my life looking at the world through brand coloured glasses, the result was far from unpredictable – as thousands of people took the opportunity to vent their still boiling frustration and negativity with the brand. For me it seemed a bit like staying out all night with the boys before going home to an unimpressed wife, waiting twenty four hours and then asking her to list the top ten things she loves about you. The result in both cases is unlikely to be particularly falttering.

The outflow of negative brand sentiment has been impressive and impressively covered at length on-line. There’s a great account of the social media catastrophe on The Wall, a UK social media marketing blog. You can read it here.

We’re not ones for continuing to bash a brand when it’s down, but the cream on the cake is the reworking of this piece of classic film footage which captures the mood of the public response to this misplaced brand gesture by Qantas.

Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
Creator of Social Brands
For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter