Archive for the ‘Thinking’ Category

05.20.13

Don’t reinvent the brand, just shift the way it’s perceived.

Wedgwood a national icon and brand

Recently the ceramic manufacturer Wedgwood, has been rebranded with a new identity, campaign and packaging designed by BuroCreative. Wedgwood has had a number of reincarnations over the last 254 years, most recently it was affected by the global financial crisis and placed into administration and subsequently purchased by the private equity firm KPS in 2008. One of the challenges of staying in the business of tableware for a brand as old as Wedgwood is to remain relevant and desirable to the next generation of consumers. Read the rest of this entry »

05.13.13

An important lesson from a short animated film: A Cautionary Tail.

03

Recently, I discovered an inspiring short animated film – A Cautionary Tail. It is a 14 minutes film about a girl born with a tail that expresses her emotions. As a child, her parents celebrate their daughter’s eloquent, athletic appendage, and her tail inspires magical make-believe adventures with her friends. As she grows up, however, the young woman faces pressure to fit in, and must choose between conformity and self-expression. Read the rest of this entry »

05.09.13

Who Gives A Crap – My New Favorite Super Brand

crap4

Stand Back, its the Multi Proposition Super Brand
The first thing I have to admit is we didn’t create this brand – it’s not one of ours, but what the hell – something this cool should be celebrated all the same. And a truly clever bit of brand building it is too. Who Gives A Crap is a new entrant into the established toilet paper category, a category typically viewed as a commodity with undifferentiated product offerings. And-yet against this less than inspiring backdrop we have an inspiring challenger brand with the DNA to make a significant splash in the market.

Read the rest of this entry »

05.06.13

Personal Branding under done with Australian Cricket

01

Call it a team sport, but cricket needs big individual brands amongst its players if it wishes to maximise its appeal with the Australian public. Unfortunately, the Australian Cricket Board is inadvertently doing every thing in its power to diminish the impact of individual personal brands. The strategy adopted over the last summer whereby the selectors insisted on a rotation policy, which had players, particularly bowlers, being rested despite strong performances. Regardless of whether it had merit from an injury perspective, it meant that supporters of cricket never really got to establish a connection with the players. This particularly a problem when you have a crop of new players attempting to establish themselves with the team and the public. Read the rest of this entry »

05.03.13

Open Studio Club, another great collaborative consumer brand.

Open Studio - Collaborative Consumer Brand

Ever fancied a work place exchange, or a working holiday with all the comforts and conveniences of your studio at home? Or maybe you were wondering when the next airbnb/couch surfing, peer-to-peer consumer brand would focus on studio space rentals… If you have, the “Open Studio Club” is the brand for you. It consists of a free listing website to help you find affordable studio spaces all over the world. Each studio listing specifies whether the space has such things as: internet access, power supply, parking availability, music policy and computer support. The spaces advertised are always affordable and suitable for all types of creative professionals.
Read the rest of this entry »

04.25.13

Kill Off The Department Store Label – Our March article for The Melbourne Review

retail brand agency

The challenging future of department stores in Australia.

April 2013
Peter Singline & David Ansett

There is much written about the challenging future of department stores in Australia. Both David Jones and Myer are household names with a rich heritage in retailing, but for many years their relevance in an ever-changing retail landscape is being questioned. In more recent years, the impact of the GFC, combined with enhanced competition from online players and strong international fashion retailers opening stores in Australia, means Myer and David Jones are facing significant head winds.

But it is a phenomenon that is not limited to Australia. Around the world the department store concept is being challenged. In March the Financial Review quoted the chief executive of Paris based department store Galeries Lafayette as saying that he was convinced that the department store format faces extinction. What is instead being proclaimed as the future for Galeries Lafayette is to position itself as a ‘multi-specialist lifestyle retailer’. Their aim is to build a house of brands under one roof that offers the best of French and international premium and luxury goods.

Read the rest of this entry »

04.17.13

Brand grab: CUB fights to keep heritage in landmark IP case

CUB Victoria brewery

We always stress the importance of protecting your brand by trademarking the name, identity and its associated positioning but what if that is not enough.

This week, an interesting case of brand security is in the Australian courts. It is a David and Golliath fight between CUB and Thunder Road Brewing Company to restore shelved beer brands and for once, I am on the side of the giant.

Read the rest of this entry »

04.09.13

Shizens – brand name smarts or fail?

shizens

Walking through the shopping centre at the weekend, I couldn’t help but think this must be a joke – unfortunately it’s not.

Malaysian cosmetic brand Shizen (now in Australia) must’ve thought they were on a winner with this name.  The Japanese word conveys much of the brand’s positioning of natural beauty and they secured the dot-com.

The trouble is, as they expanded from Asia to Australia they didn’t consider how the name might be understood.

Read the rest of this entry »

04.05.13

Do the Green Thing Brand Poster Campaign

Dean Chalkley Environmental Poster Campaign

Creative Environmental Charity Do the Green Thing, established by Naresh Ramchandani (Pentagram) & Andy Hobsbaum (Evrythng), have published a custom designed poster for each day in March leading up to Earth Hour at the end of the month. This is a campaign that is uniquely inspiring in its effort to encourage people to support environmental sustainability. Read the rest of this entry »

04.02.13

Pop up hotels an interesting place branding option

Radisson-popup-hotel

The Easter break is a great reminder of the varying demands placed on accommodation places. Peak periods, whether it be holiday driven or major events often means greater demand than availability for accommodation. It is the very reason why we are likely to see a growing presence of ‘pop hotels’ in our lives.  Read the rest of this entry »

« Older Entries