Came across these amazing paintings by Mark Goings, a realism painter with work featured in galleries all round the world. Love the subject matter – somehow it suits the more-real than real surreal feel of these pics (really!). The evocative feel of the images provides a rich palette for a thousand brand stories. For anyone who’s picked-up a paint brush – the technique is beyond sublime (if there’s such a place).

Love it.

We spotted these little beauties on Recave.com

Giorgio Armani is one of the world’s most recognisable and sought after fashion brands with end of year sales banded around at $1.69 billion. From haute coutre, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, watches, jewelry, eyewear, cosmetics and home interiors Armani has become synonymous with high-fashion and couture worldwide.

Under the Armani ‘umbrella” brand are sub-brands that include Giorgio Armani, Armani Collezioni, Emporio Armani, AJ|Armani Jeans, AX|Armani Exchange, Armani Junior, and Armani|Casa – not a bad brand portfolio really is it? But wait there’s more!

The Armani brand also operates a range of cafés worldwide, in addition to a bar, restaurant, nightclub and now the Armani Hotel Dubai (part of the Burj Khalifa development) the tallest commercial and residential building in the world built at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. The bottom 39 floors of the skyscraper house 160 guest rooms and suites, and 144 residences with Armani himself being responsible for overseeing all aspects of the interior design and style of the hotel – what I’d call an absolute ‘on brand’ experience!

Not only is the Armani hotel now operational in Dubai, but after signing an agreement in 2004 with Emaar Properties at least another six luxury hotels and three resorts are being planned in several major cities such as Milan, Paris, New York, London, Tokyo and Shanghai again all specially designed inline with products from the Armani/Casa home furnishings collection.

If you’d like to talk to us about how we could add greater hight to your brand and its story why not give us a call.

Dominic Guthrie
Client Account Director

Justin Gignac, a New York City based artist and entrepreneur, collects rubbish…pieces of New York City’s culture, documenting instances in time as archeologists have done for thousands of years. Gignac began
selling garbage in 2001 after co-workers challenged the importance of packaging design. To prove them
wrong, he set out to find something that no one in their right mind would ever buy, and demonstrate the
value of packaging by making what he found desirable. Looking around the dirty streets of Times Square, garbage was the perfect answer. Nine years later, over 1,300 NYC Garbage cubes have been sold and now
reside in 29 countries around the world.

I sell garbage
I scour New York City streets picking up trash. After filling bags with subway passes, Broadway tickets, and other NYC junk, I carefully arrange plastic cubes full of the stuff. Each box is unique and won’t leak or smell. The cubes are then signed, numbered, and dated, making them perfect for anyone who wants their own piece of the NYC landscape.

When Gignac first started reactions were mixed. Originally at $10 NYC Garbage was meant as a gag souvenir but when the price was raised to $50 and even $100 it became a piece of art. In edition to the typical New York City Garbage, he has produced a number of special edition cubes. Past editions include: The Republican National Convention, Opening Day at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, New Year’s Eve in Times Square, Obama’s Inauguration and even St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland, on behalf of the Dublin City Council.

A little piece of home
The project, Gignac says, evolved out of an argument over the importance of packaging to the consumer mind. To prove that it mattered, he decided he would nicely package up some…garbage. To consumers they have become more than this. The boxes which at first glance seem quirky have a romantic sensibility to them. They began to resonate with memories and the poignant histories of the city. NYC Garbage is a self-contained example of ‘material culture’, a living, breathing piece of the city. These cubes of garbage have become so iconic that New Yorker’s who move across country buy them to take a little piece of home with them.

Borås, Sweden

Milan, Italy

If you’d like to talk to some people who spend way too much of their life eating, sleeping, thinking about brands
give us a call.

Cassandra Gill
Director of Design.

So often we find a great brand communication thought that is let down by poor creative execution, or a piece of beautiful brand design that lacks a powerful thought. Obviously the best solutions are those that combine a strategically sharp piece of brand thinking with brand design that truly and deeply connects that thought with an emotionally evocative visual.

When we found this beautiful point of sale brand communication for Play-Doh, we knew we’d found a wonderful piece of brand story-telling. These posters have been created by Driv, a Malaysian born designer based-in Singapore. The crafting of the photography, styling and typography are beautiful. Nice one Driv.

Have you seen the UK version of the hit Life on Mars? Its set in the 70′s and I love it partly because its like a trip down memory lane. Brands and associated imagery I haven’t seen for 35 years or more come flooding back  As I mused on the program other Iconic UK Brands of yesteryear came flooding back, Corgi model cars, Chad Valley board games, Typhoo tea, Bisto Gravy and Birds Custard powder all sprang to mind.

Amongst all this nostalgia came one moment of enlightenment, the  realisation of what a sheltered ‘brand’ life I led as a child. My brand exposure was closely controlled by that most ruthless of administrators – my mother. I never questioned her decisions, she knew best. I can list of 40 or 50 brands I remember, and all of them would fit neatly under a ‘G’rating.

How very different it is for my kids growing up in the 21^st century.

First off my mum had only to control exposure to one commercial TV channel and one newspaper to effectively control the dissemination of information to her growing brood.

My kids can access a mind boggling array of communication channels… added to that they have access to many of those channels 24/7. They are the beneficiaries of an environment which exposes them to brands when they are away from home and outside my influence. The brands they come across cover the entire spectrum from G to R18+.

Secondly where as a child I hardly recognised that I was being exposed to brands, by comparison my kids are conscious and greedy consumers of brands, they seek them out.

So are my kids dangerously exposed to ‘brands’. No.

In fact I’d argue they’re better equipped than I was. When I was a child we believed in everything our limited set of brands told us. My kids don’t. In an environment where competing brands scream for their attention they have learned to evaluate, consider and challenge. Fail the test and you’re off the list.

In 2010 they hold brands far more accountable than I did as a child.

At Truly Deeply we specialise in helping our clients communicate effectively with and stay relevant to their audience.
If you’d like to speak to us about how we can help you be a brand that is relevant for today’s consumer why not give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey

Client Experience Director and Brand Nostalgist.

A Clever Piece of Brand Storytelling
German medical technology brand EIZO produces medical imaging high precision displays for the examination and diagnosis of radiographs. When it came to creating a piece of brand communication to capture the attention and tickle the funny bone (medical term) of their doctor clientele, they hit it out of the park with this clever and revealing take on the pin-up calendar. The medical imaging of the pin-up calendar shows-off the capabilities of EIZOs equipment in absolute detail, whilst having a laugh at themselves – a fresh and endearing approach chock-full of brand personality in what is typically a dry and uninspiring category.

Love it.

We found this little pearler on advertolog.com
Ad created by the clever guys at a ‘Butter’ in Berlin & Duesseldorf, Germany.

A couple of months ago I posted a blog about the best way to make a big brand impression and what level of budget spend gets you the desired outcome – an outcome that creates a buzz and lot’s of it!

All clients want their brand messaging to make a massive impact, create lots of talk and increase sales far greater than that of the level of dollars invested. It’s the big, oversized, creative ideas that usually create the most buzz but I also like to give credit to the smaller creative ideas that create just as much buzz but on a smaller budget.

For example take a look at this fitness company ad that ran on buses throughout Frankfurt – what a very well thought out, clever and creative concept that everyone would’ve taken notice of and no doubt had a little fun in taking the odd pic.

Another low budget ad that grabbed my attention is this ripper for a local karate school. It’s the simplest of ideas that really do create such an impact and I’m guessing that this could’ve been quite easily thought of and implemented by the owner, a staff member or even student!

The following examples of course all create enormous impact by delivering a bold brand gesture due to their sheer size, creative prowess and ideal positioning in high traffic zones.

Time to switch to Sweetex – this billboard says it all!

A simple head turner from Kinkos.

As the sky changes so does the message for Benjamin Moore Paints – we’ll match it.

One of my favourites – the clever usage of the surrounding environment to really make a bold brand impression.

If you’d like to see your brand communications create a buzz, make your company more dollars and be the talk of the town through the way they connect with your market, why not give us a call.

Dominic Guthrie
Client Account Director

Three weeks ago I wrote a blog about Dulux’s stunning ‘Let’s Colour’ Brand Campaign and the Let’s Colour Project – a worldwide community initiative with one goal in mind, to brighten up the world by transforming grey spaces with vibrant colour.

Well the team at Dulux have taken it one step further and created the ‘Walls are Dancing’ Project for Let’s Colour France. This time they are stepping up the colour even more with painting events happening over three weeks. Three artists – MWM (Mural Art), Monsieur Monsieur (Electro DJ), and Le Groupuscule (Film Makers) – have been invited to explore the power of colour in Marseille, Lyon and Paris. During open performances in the street and online they aim to show how colourful paint and the talent of a group of people can actually give
a flat surface a life of its own. At the end of the performances, the three walls will form one unique work of multi-
media art, celebrating the meeting of street art, music and animation around the extraordinary power of colour.

Let’s Colour Marseille

MWM used geometrical shapes of warm hues to colour Marseille and now in Lyon he has mixed it up, opting for fluid shapes and colder colours.

Let’s Colour Lyon

The first two of the three walls in the ‘Walls are Dancing’ Project are complete. The occasions have been marked by erecting plaques with a QR code on each wall. When the videoclip by Monsieur Monsieur is released you will be able to download it for free using the code from your mobile phone. The concept sounds inspiring and I am excited to see the final videoclip celebrating the extraordinary power of colour.

If you’d like to talk to some people who spend way too much of their life eating, sleeping, thinking about the role of colour in brands give us a call.

Cassandra Gill
Director of Design.

A new Australia tourism ad has just been released to replace the infamous “Where the bloody hell are you?” ad.

It seems that Australia has had a few goes at making a tourism ad. So it is interesting to note the direction that we take presenting to the world. The new ad stays well away from the profanities that got us into trouble the last time, and it is at best a safe representation of a few things to do while you are over here. But it has still managed to be shrouded in controversy. There is a scene where there are 2 girls driving in the outback, but they are driving a left hand drive car. We normally drive on the right over here. The ad will be on You Tube for 3 months before it goes live, I guess to find out if there is a back lash. Have a look and tell us what you think.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It is an interesting exercise making tourism advertisements. On the one hand they should be quite simple, some pretty shots of the environment, things to do and see and add some culture. I guess as they say the devil is in the detail, because there has to be a balance between how we want to be represented, what type of tourists we want to attract and what defines our culture. For a place like Australia, where the differences are so vast from place to place and the plethora of people from different cultures who live here, it is difficult to define a single point of attraction, and everyone will have have a different opinion. Expressionist Australian artists have spent their lives looking inwards on Australia and Australian culture. The likes of Brack, Whiteley, Olsen, Smart, Nolan, Arkley and Drysdale presented a unique take our culture, we went from being a British colony to searching for our identity and a uniting culture. While each artist was distinct in their approach, they shared the common thread of being connected to their landscape. Although, I am not entirely sure if you ever feel that deep connection in a bus ride to Oolaroo. But our landscape is not just the beautiful, vast dusty freedom of the outback. For most of us the Australian landscape looks more like an Arkley than a Drysdale. Is it possible to be collectively undefined?

John Brack, Collins Street 5pm, 1955

Brett Whiteley, Washing the Salt Off, 1985

John Olsen, Sydney Sun, 1965

Jeffrey Smart, The Guiding Spheres II (Homage to Cezanne), 1979

Sidney Nolan, Ned Kelly, 1946

Howard Arkley, Pink house, 1991

Russell Drysdale, The Cricketers, 1948

This did get me thinking about how other countries advertise their homeland. So I have compiled a collection of tourism adverts from around the world that are better than ours. The first one is from New Zealand, which in my opinion is one of the best I have seen, it creates a sense of a wonder and freedom, but also creates a strong connection with the place. New Zealand is breathtaking, and they have presented themselves as being youthful (aided by the soundtrack from Australian Indie outfit Youth Group) and a place where you can lose and discover yourself. New Zealand is a good comparison to Australia, we share a lot in common, and the New Zealand ad feels confident, sure of itself but presenting as being a million times more mature than Australia.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is the quirky Japanese tourist ad for okinawa, which relies more on culture shock and fun (both of which I want a heap of when I travel) and manages to capture all the craziness and uniqueness that Japan has to offer through the use of language and aesthetics.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Then there is this cheeky swiss tourist ad… sheer brilliance. This ad is effective because it doesn’t try to be everything to everyone. (and I think I am exactly their target market)

Click here to view the embedded video.

And the strange tourist advertisement for Turkey with a flying mermaid.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The reason that these ads are more effective than the Australian ad is they create a story and leave the ending up to us. I am interested in your thoughts on this. What do you think defines Australia? Does defining ourselves make for a good ad? Can we be everything tho everyone? But then again, I wonder if I will ever like an Australian tourism ad because I am Australian.

If you’d like to know more about defining your brand so it’s much more than a jingle, why not get in touch.

Lachlan McDougall
Design Creative

Being an avid sports enthusiast (in particular the round ball game) I went to the Socceroos farewell game against New Zealand on Monday night at the MCG. Now I’m going into detail about the match (fair to say it wasn’t pretty) but upon entering the ‘Best Sports City‘ in the world’s precinct there was the usual cheering, flag waving and buzz that Melbourne is accustomed to for any major (or for that matter often minor) sporting event, but something caught my eye and not only my eye but thousands of supporters – male and female.

Working for a creative brand agency that specialises in re-imagining brands, we’re always on the look out for new and innovative brand experiences and campaigns that turn heads and create a buzz in the market place to which this one certainly did! The crowd were urged to wear a pair of bright coloured yellow jocks as a part of a campaign by the official thirst crusher of the Qantas Socceroos, SOLO. Many people did the superhero thing and wore them on the outside of their pants and of course many used them as head gear.

The SOLO Lucky Undies campaign, created by BMF in Sydney I feel has done a great job. Aside from handing out thousands of pairs of undies and cans of SOLO the campaign also features large format mobile advertising and billboards across Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. Since receiving my pair of lucky undies and following the hype this campaign is generating I found myself purchasing SOLO again – this campaign is working on me that’s for sure so I’d reckon it’s be working on many others also.

One interesting point to note is that this campaign is far more reaching than meets the eye. In addition to the mass giveaways on Monday night (at a soccer match), the SOLO Lucky Undies trucks, until June 20, will be present at another 39 locations across Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth including major AFL and NRL events.

To me the four simple rules of remarkable brand communication are;

1. Saying the right message
2. To the right audience (in this case multiple audiences)
3. At the right time
4. In the right medium

It seems simple enough but getting all four right at the same time is where the magic happens and on another point, if you feel the Socceroos need some luck then pledge your support here.

If you’d like to see your brand turn heads and be the talk of the town (or the globe) through the way it connects with its audience, why not give us a call.

Dominic Guthrie
Client Account Director