Good Morning Brand Loyalty.
This morning I spent 20 minutes of my valuable time filling out an online survey for Apple — and I did it quite happily. On a day in a week when my time feels in particularly short supply, I surprised even myself with how easily I succumbed to Apples request for feedback on a recent purchase from their site — no promise of any reward required.
A Dirty Little Brand identity Obsession.
OK, I admit I spend waaay too much of my life eating, sleeping and thinking about brands and branding. A sure sign of brand obsession is when you find yourself seeing branding opportunities where the rest of the world see every-day life. And for me, painter Scott Wade’s dirty car art has provided today’s outlet for my obsession (that feels so much better…)
Truly Deeply Director of Brand Strategy, Michael Hughes was quoted in the press this week regarding his views on the impact to the News Corp. brand of the current media hacking scandal in the UK.
News Corporation’s brand is likely to be tarnished by the findings of the British hacking report but brand experts say the breadth of the business will buffer it against the impact outside Britain.
Christopher Wallace of Bolitmore in the States (not to be mistaken for The Notorious B.I.G aka Biggy Smalls born of the same name), has been cycling routes based on fun, quirky characters that he shapes using the city’s maps and existing roads and bike paths. He predetermines the route and then sets out on his ride, tracking the pattern on his GPS unit.
Consumers have always made brands accountable for their promises. Now, more than ever, they are also being made to pay for misleading claims.
Nutella is latest brand being forced to compensate those it deceived into believing their product was healthy.
Brand Folklore and the Power of Brand Storytelling
For many years we worked with one of Australia’s most loved food brands; King Island Dairy. King Island is a speck of land in the middle of Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. Bass Strait is renowned for huge seas and blustering winds, just as King Island is known for producing some of the best traditional cheeses in the world. Over more than fifteen years we carried out consumer research on behalf of the brand, and each year without exception we heard the same brand story; The reason why the quality of King Island cheese is so good goes back to the ships wrecked upon the island a hundred years and more ago. The ships were from England, carrying early settlers and convicts to Australia, and the cabins contained mattresses filled with grass seeds from the green pastures of the Mother Land. As the ships were thrown upon the rocks of King Island, the seeds from the mattresses were washed overboard and by natures own hand sown across the island, creating the best grass anywhere in the country, which when consumed by the King Island cows produced milk of the highest quality, leading to the rich and creamy cheeses of King Island which know no peer.
A great story to be sure — but one without any basis of fact, and created entirely in the minds of the market by the spirit of the brand — much like all great brand folklore.
Truly Delicious Brand Design
Yep, there’s no secret we love our food here at Truly Deeply, so cook books hold a dear place in our heart — especially when they’re well designed. Previously we’ve written about a beauty designed for Ikea, and this one created for the culinary and art focused publishing company, Gerstenberg Publishing House as a limited edition series might have just topped our list.
Reversing stereotypes through personal brand story telling is how four Kenyan men, Gabriel, Benard, Brian and Derrik turned a simple idea into a viral campaign for charity. After watching Alex Presents Commando they wanted to tell their own story about African stereotypes in Hollywood movies. The video gives us a sneak peak into the lives of the Kenyan men, humanising their world and showing a different Africa, one that is filled with hope, laughter and kindness. It has been produced for Mama Hope who have released a series of personal stories from African nations to raise money for education and much needed community development.
This weeks inflation figures show that March quarter’s inflation fell to 1.6%, the lowest annual rate since late 2009. Most of our economic commentators are now predicting an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank as a forgone conclusion. But if brand owners are expecting that a cut in interest rates may do something to awaken Australia’s consumers from hibernation, then they need to have a re-think. We seem to be moving to a low inflation, low interest rate and low growth world – brands will need to therefore adapt.
ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day we remember all Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The spirit of ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity. Today, ceremonies will be held in towns and cities across the nation to acknowledge the service of our veterans. As arguably one of the most sacred days on the Australian calendar, surely the day speaks for itself and yet earlier this year, the Federal Government caused a furore with potential plans to brand the day in preparation for the 100th Anniversary.
