Twitter continues to set the news agenda and prove how fast the message can spread and galvanise public debate. It also highlights the importance of monitoring and participating in the conversation about your brand and being ready to respond appropriately, particularly when you are caught up in the cross-fire.

More and more, it seems consumers are holding brands accountable and judging them on the company they keep. Brands need to be ready to protect themselves from the attack and use the opportunity to strengthen the relationship with their audiences.

This week we’ve seen Qantas fall victim to their flawed social media strategy (if they indeed had one) and now a radio network, as well as its sponsors are being put to the test.

Kyle Sandilands, 2Day FM’s leading on-air talent (I use the word loosely here) launched a tirade of personal abuse at a journalist yesterday that soon had many innocent bystanders caught up in the fire.

Within minutes of Sandilands on-air comments twitter was heaving with people venting their disapproval. Several hash-tags linked to the story instantly become the top trends and are still trending heavily today, including #VileKyle.

Aside from the damage to SouthernCross Austereo (owners of 2Day FM and Fox FM), sponsors of Sandilands’ programme were also directly targeted on twitter with many agreeing to demands to withdraw their advertising support.

Holden, then The Good Guys moved quickly to assure their customers that they did not support Sandilands’ comments and he does not reflect their brand values.

Other sponsors stayed silent. They were either not aware of the discussion or more likely, not sure how to respond.

All day, there were tweets from Vodafone customers threatening to cancel their phone contracts. Late last night, they responded with this tweet;

A day later, there are still several brands that haven’t responded and are they are continuing to be targeted and called to account by the public.

Living your brand values through the experience you provide is essential, but it’s not just what you do that matters. More and more, people are judging brands on the company they keep and this needs to also align to your brand values.

This has always been important. Twitter, if used intelligently just enables brands to listen and engage in the conversation. In doing so, brands have the ability to build a much closer relationship with their customers which has to be a good thing.

If you missed Sandilands in action, here it is; Karl Sandilands on air rant

For those who want to complain to ACMA about Sandilands’ conduct here is the form: click here – this is also one of the most popular tweeted link! It seems that Austereo will have a lot of traffic on their site but they will probably only really start to listen as the sponsors drop off and if the ratings follow.

Update: Charge.org has also informed us of a petition that they are running to get Sandilands dumped from radio. The petition was started by Emily Hehir and they claim to have 9,000 in less than 24 hours. You can find the details here.

Unfortunately, the interest in the station is probably having the opposite effect with more people tuning in who wouldn’t normally listen.

Michael Hughes
Director of Brand Strategy

The Brand Sponsorship, Brand Communications Conundrum
For many brands, the brand strategy question of sponsorship is a tough one – calculating the benefits to the brand is often an imperfect science. The only hard and fast rule for success is ‘be brilliant’.

In Australia the preeminent sporting code is Australian Rules football. It dominates the winter sporting landscape and attracts significant public interest, media coverage and team sponsorship. One brand that has created brilliant return for their sponsorship investment is optical brand OPSM. OPSM is the leading optician and spectacle retail brand in Australia with stores across the country. Rather than duke it out in the crowded and high stakes forum of team sponsorship, OPSM have chosen to sponsor the umpires. Not just the field umpires, but the goal and boundary umpires too. Now whenever any boisterous member of the crowd shouts: ‘You must be blind ump’ – the OPSM springs to top of mind. Which brand could possibly be a better choice to sponsor umpires? Love it.

Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
Brand Designer & Footy Tragic
For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter

Fujitsu stranded in a sea of negative brand association

Recently Fujitsu found itself in cold water when a hot air balloon was stranded in Port Philip Bay, in Australia’s southern city of Melbourne. The balloon, along with its ten passengers, originally landed on South Melbourne beach before being swept into the water. Consequently, the Fujitsu balloon has been the lead story in the nation’s TV bulletins, radio, twitter feeds and blogs in what could be a brand association nightmare for Fujitsu.

This isn’t the first time a multinational brand has found itself unintentionally the victim of negative brand association. Remember the photos of Australian crime matriarch Judy Moran being arrested with Dior sunglasses or the images of a less-than-glamorous Britney Spears with Starbucks coffees? Each brand had their reputations unwittingly tarnished as a result of these negative associations.

Brand association is a part of the everyday marketing landscape with brands investing huge amounts to ensure chosen celebrities endorses their products as they work to promote positive brand association. The benefits of having a brand associated with a positive influence or event (remember the Oakley Chilean miners example?), are evident, but what about when the events take your brand outside your control?

When Fujitsu originally sponsored the balloon, I’m sure they envisaged their logo floating above the city capturing the onlooker’s attention and imagination, not drifting out to sea, but nevertheless, they must now assess whether steps need to be taken to diminish any possible negative brand association.

I’m not of the belief that ‘any publicity is good publicity’ and can never understand why agencies advocate this to their clients.  That being said, there are some situations, today’s included, which can’t be avoided. Getting your brand onto the front page of the nation’s press is never easy.  The opportunity now for Fujitsu’s brand managers in Australia is to leverage this slightly soggy incident and respond with a positive brand message.  We will have to wait and see whether this recent event has a negative impact on Fujitsu’s image or if their brand team can seize the opportunity presented.

If you would like to discuss the implications of brand association (positive or negative) or simply want to talk about your own hot air ballooning experience why not give us a call.

Nikki Williams
Client Account Manager

Smashing Brand Communications Campaign
Footware brand adidas spend more time than most thinking outside the box. And in this case the box is their take on the classic kids party game, the pinata. Teaming-up with sports shoe retailer Footlocker, adidas has put together an online campaign – integrating video and Facebook – to build awareness around the launch of their new range of Ciero skate sneakers.

The last time we had a kids party with a pinata, the results were nearly fatal. I mean, think about it – 20 kids hyped–up on red lemonade, a blindfold, a big stick and a stuffed animal full of candy. You couldn’t create a more explosive and potentially lethal scenario. So the idea of taking this mayhem on-line seems to make alot of sense – even if just to make sure no-one takes their eye-out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The video is sweet, it carries the level of cool, urban production quality we expect from adidas. The clip – featuring Australian skaters Jack Crook, Tom Snape and Aaron Winsbury, BMX rider Leigh Giason staging an impromptu street party and smashing open a giant pair of adidas Ciero piñatas. The folded-paper typography for the campaign is a brand design bonus – you just gotta love that creative detail.

Unfortunately the game itself is pretty lame-o. It has the usual pass-it-on, win a prize scenario; the person who starts the Piñata that gets smashed and passed by the most people takes home a PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS Large and $1,000 worth of video games. And everyone who smashes and passes a Piñata goes into the draw to win secondary prizes, including a Foot Locker gift voucher valued at $150. It’s housed on the Footlocker site, and the Footlocker brand is just never going to carry the same level of tribal cred that adidas brand does – that’s just the reality of retail co-branding in Australia.

So here’s the issue for adidas; they can create all the ‘out of the box’ integrated brand campaigns they like, connecting with their urban street tribe, but the minute they try to integrate that campaign in-store (beyond the influence of their brand and through retail partners) the brand integrity becomes compromised – even in the online environment like this campaign. In a small market like ours, that’s one curly brand conundrum.

Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter
Brand Designer and supporter of giving blindfolded kids a semi-lethal weapon in the name of confectionery.

Brilliant Brand Association by Design
International sunglasses brand Oakley hit pay-dirt recently when their products were spotted on the dials of each of the 33 Chilean miners as they appeared in front of the world’s media, above ground for the first time in more than three months. Since they resurfaced, the rescued Chilean miners have been wearing specially designed Oakley sunglasses to protect their eyes as they re-acclimate to the sun.

So how is it that these miners end-up wearing $180 Oakleys for the whole world to see?

The story goes that a month ago a Chilean journalist covering the rescue efforts at the mine got in touch with Oakley. The journalist had recommended Oakley to the Chilean private health insurer responsible for providing eyewear protection for the miners once they surfaced. Oakley stepped up – as any brand would – donating 35 pairs of Oakley Radar® with Black Iridium® lenses in Path™ and Range® lens shapes for the miners to wear as their eyes return to normal.

Word has it the Minister of Mining; Laurence Golborne (who lead the rescue) has asked to wear one of the extra pairs to show solidarity.

Team Oakley – the 33 rescued miners sport the latest in hospital wear, slippers and shades.

Chilean police guard the home of one of the rescued miners, and make a play for their own sunnies sponsorship.

So, is this an example of another global brand hijacking a wonderful piece of human history for their own benefit, or a responsible global brand citizen responding to the call of these miners in need? The answer lies somewhere in between. Whilst I’m sure the motives of Oakley were not 100% saintly, do we really expect that of our brands? In the end, the miners were rescued and Chile and the world celebrated a great story of human triumph. Sure Oakley got some prime product placement, but to their credit they made no attempt to steal the show.

Nice one all round.

Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter
Brand designer in need of a new pair of (perhaps Oakley) sunnies

All Brands Have Meaning
Whether carefully and strategically considered or by default, all brands hold associated meanings in the minds of the market place. Well considered brands establish a competitive brand proposition (their brand strategy) with layers of meaning to both differentiate themselves from their competitors and to connect with their audience. These brands reinforce their meaning through all of their actions or brand touch points and their brand design. As a brand agency we help brands to define their meaning and create their unique brand design for all their communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the hearts and minds of their customers.

adidas Vs Nike
Today we compare the brand associations of spots apparel icons adidas & Nike.

A Snapshot of Brand Association
The clever people at Brand Tags have been busy collecting a comprehensive list of more than 1.7 million associations that people from around the globe have with brands. The result is a unique opportunity for those brands to compare the meaning and messages of their brand communication strategy with the brand associations of a cross section of the market.

A Comparison of Brand Associations
As to be expected, both brands have a high level of association with terms such as ‘shoes’ and ‘sports’, but interestingly, from their they depart into some interesting and differentiated territory. Both by design and through unintended association, the two sports apparel brands have quite distinctive meanings with the market. Interestingly adidas‘ German heritage has a strong association, where-as Nike is seen as a global brand without a clear link to any particular country.
What I find most astounding is given the insane amount of investment these two brands, but especially Nike plow into endorsements for the highest profile athletes on the planet, only Nike with Jordan at No.8 retain any significant brand association relative to these other more dominant associations.

The adidas Brand
adidas is clearly associated with soccer. The predominance of the association with the word ‘soccer’ suggests the associations have a North American (and possibly Australian) skew as most of the globe refers to the world game as football. Perhaps as a result of its European (German) heritage – certainly be strategic design, adidas (always spelled with a lower case ‘a’) has a stronger link to football than to any other sport. adidas’ German heritage too is recognized with a strong association, linking the brand to the positive aspects of quality and European history.
The first association with adidas‘ visual language comes-in at brand association No. 7 with the word ‘stripes’. This suggests adidas has the potential to strengthen the role their stipes plays in theri brand communication to increase the level of association with their proprietary visual property.

The most distinctively unique associations with the adidas brand flow from the fountain of cool. With the association of ‘sneakers’ and No.4 and ‘Cool’ at No.6 we get a sense of the level of cred adidas has developed strategically over the years. Further association with Rappers Run DMC is reflected further down the list of brand associations due to the preference of Run DMC for wearing the sports shoe and their track; ‘My adidas’.
adidas continue to imbue their brand with cool through creative collaborations with musicians and artistssuch as longtime partner, French artist Fafi. Using adidas products as the canvas for her well-known, whimsical graphics, Fafi brings her street styles to an adidas range of footwear and apparel for girls.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Nike Brand
The association of the Nike brand are enough to make any brand designer proud as punch. The two strongest Nike brand associations are ‘Swoosh’ and ‘Just do it’, reflecting just how effective Nike has been in establishing and owning these two unique brand properties. Regardless of what follows, we have to acknowledge any brand who achieves that level of recognition of identity and positioning.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’d like some help to define the meaning for your brand and create your communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers, why not drop us a line?

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
For regular updates of our brand thinking follow me on Twitter.
Brand Designers

All Brands Have Meaning
Whether carefully and strategically considered or by default, all brands hold associated meanings in the market place. Well considered brands establish a competitive brand proposition (their brand strategy) with layers of meaning to both differentiate themselves from their competitors and to connect with their audience. These brand reinforce their meaning through all of their actions or brand touch points. As a brand agency we help brands to define their meaning and create the brand design for all their communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers.

Apple Vs Microsoft
Today we compare the brand associations of consumer technology icons Apple & Microsoft.

A Snapshot of Brand Association
The clever people at Brand Tags have been busy collecting a comprehensive list of more than 1.7 million associations that people have with brands. The result is a unique opportunity for those brands to compare the meaning and messages of their brand communication strategy with the brand associations of a cross section of the market.

A Comparison of Brand Associations
As expected, both brands have a high level of association with descriptive terms such as ‘computer’, ‘pc’ and ‘software’. Both brands boast strong levels of association with their product line; ‘Windows’, ‘Mac’, ‘iPod’ , ‘Office’ and ‘Word’. Also, interestingly both brands maintain a strong association with their founders and leaders; ‘Steve Jobs’ and ‘Bill Gates’, reflecting the brand equity that these two industry icons continue to maintain. However, from there it gets interesting to say the least. Given the enormous number of people who have contributed the brand associations (more than 300,000 of them of all ages, nationalities and brand affiliations) the differing tone of brand association is astounding.

The Apple Brand
The Apple brand is openly loved, maybe even adored with strong levels of association to words like ‘cool’ ‘awesome’ and even ‘love’. Plenty of brands want to be loved, but very few can lay claim to that strongest of positive associations. The words ‘design’, ‘creative’ and ‘innovation’ are also strongly associated with the Apple brand. When pooled with associations of ‘quality’, ‘sleek’, ‘simple’ and ‘style’ it is easy to see why Apple commands such high levels of brand loyalty and continues to create enourmous anticipation for each new product launch.

The Microsoft Brand
On the other hand I could barely believe my eyes when tracking the negative tone of much of the strongest brand association for Microsoft. Few successful brands include such high levels of negative association including; ‘evil’, ‘monopoly’, ‘crap’, ‘shit’ and that classic of poor customer feedback – ‘sucks’. Whilst at a commercial level, Microsoft’s strategic, commercial partnerships have built incredibly high levels of product use, it appears that the brand has seriously failed to translate that product use into positive brand association and brand loyalty.

If you’d like some help to define the meaning for your brand and create your communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers, why not drop us a line?

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
If you’d like daily updates of our brand thinking, you can follow me on Twitter here.
Graphic Design Melbourne



All Brands Have Meaning
Whether carefully and strategically considered or by default, all brands hold associated meanings in the market place. Well considered brands establish a competitive brand proposition (their brand strategy) with layers of meaning to both differentiate themselves from their competitors and to connect with their audience. These brand reinforce their meaning through all of their actions or brand touch points. As a brand agency we help brands to define their meaning and create the brand design for all their communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers.

A Snapshot of Brand Association
The clever people at Brand Tags have been busy collecting a comprehensive  list of more than 1.7 million associations that people have with brands. The result is a unique opportunity for those brands to compare the meaning and messages of their brand communication strategy with the brand associations of a cross section of the market.

Audi Vs BMW
Today we compare the brand associations of German Luxury, Automotive brands Audi & BMW.

A Comparison of Brand Association
As expected, both car brands have a high level of association with German-made, expensive, luxury and quality. When comparing either of these brands with cars manufactured in Japan, the US or Korea, these brand attributes would be seen as an advantage. However, when comparing these two brands to each other, German-made, expensive, luxury and quality as brand attributes are no more than table-stakes – they merely represent what is expected. The real differentiation comes with the other strong attributes.

The Audi Brand
Audi’s investment in aligning their brand with the values of the Olympic games continues to pay-off. Through their sponsorship of the 2010 US Alpine Olympic Team and smart campaign placements deliver a remarkably high level of association with this pinnacle of sporting events. The shared symbol of interconnecting rings provides a powerful visual link that reinforces the brand relationship. As a brand it is closely associated with an image of ‘cool, nice and classy.’ The appearance of individual Audi models in the list of top brand associations including the Quatro, tt and A4 suggests the brand has successfully built differentiated market propositions for the brands in its product portfolio. Further, the description of the ‘Audi rings’ reflects a high level of awareness and association of the visual properties in Audi’s brand identity.

The BMW Brand
BMW shares further brand associations with Audi including ‘fast, nice, class & cool.’ The concern for BMW is the combination of other associations that play out distinctly in the list creating a less than aspirational image of ‘rich, yuppie, asshole snob.’ Whilst no brand should wish to be all things to all people, Automotive brands are very conscious of the role cars play in the image their customers project of themselves to the market. I would imagine these negative brand associations would be a cause for concern for BMW. Interestingly, BMW the brand is associated with being ‘overpriced’ where the Audi brand is not. With no substantial brand association for their brand identity or range of models there is plenty of scope for BMW to improve their brands image and its associations.

If you’d like some help to define the meaning for your brand and create your communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers, why not drop us a line?

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
If you’d like daily updates of our brand thinking, you can follow me on Twitter here.
Corporate Image

All Brands Have Meaning
Whether carefully and strategically considered or by default, all brands hold associated meanings in the market place. Well considered brands establish a competitive brand proposition (their brand strategy) with layers of meaning to both differentiate themselves from their competitors and to connect with their audience. These brand reinforce their meaning through all of their actions or brand touch points. As a brand agency we help brands to define their meaning and create the brand design for all their communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers.

A Snapshot of Brand Association
The clever people at Brand Tags have been busy collecting the associations that people have with brands. The result is a unique opportunity for those brands to compare the meaning and messages of their brand communication strategy with the brand associations of a cross section of the market.

Today’s snapshot is of fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch
As we might expect, the greatest level of association is with their brand-mark – the A&F Moose – but from there it gets pretty interesting.

If you’d like some help to define the meaning for your brand and create your communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers, why not drop us a line?

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
If you’d like daily updates of our brand thinking, you can follow me on Twitter here.
Corporate Image

When brands appear in mainstream media associated with an individual or an event, it can take the brand into new territory they’d never anticipated.
I’ve never agreed with the old adage; ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity.’ All brand expressions have the potential to enhance or detract from a brand’s reputation. The higher the profile of the brand expression, the more powerful its ability to have a positive or negative impact.

When the mainstream media captures events, sometimes brands are unintentionally caught-up at the same time by association with the people involved in those events. Brand owners themselves have no control over either the situation or the association it creates with their valuable brands.

During the recent unrest in Iran, the Adidas brand got caught-up in the violence when this image was published all-around the globe. And recently, Melbourne crime matriarch; Judy Moran sported Dolce & Gabbana shades on the front pages of the national press as she was arrested for being an accessory to the murder of her brother-in-law Desmond Tuppence Moran

When brands become ‘iconic’, they begin to pervade our lives to such an extent that it’ only a matter of time until they appear in the mass-media in an association that’s not to their making. Whilst they are powerless to influence this manner of brand association, the way brand owners choose to manage negative associations is entirely within their control .

If you’d like to discuss how to manage positive brand associations for your business, drop us a line.

Dave.