Retail Magic in the Hood
Recently I came across a great example of retail driven urban renewal. As a branding agency we have a particular soft spot for retail brands and the role they play (good and bad) in the lives of community. For me POPUPHOOD reflects the very best of the role retail can play in re-invigorating urban communities.
Has The battle for Brand Differentiation Gone Too Far?
As brands and branders struggle to cut through the information-flooded lives of their customers, the search for new and different ways to connect with markets is becoming more and more extreme. Automotive brand Mini recently took the innovative step of sponsoring the weather – a cold front in Europe to be exact – with disastrous consequences.
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.
Design is the Secret Ingredient in Successful Green brands of the Future
My attention was hijacked recently by marketing images of this new concept car from VW. Concept cars pop-up at every motor show, and alone the sleek lines of the next big auto-thing is not usually enough to tickle my fancy, but this one hit my sweet spot. The new ‘e-bugster’ from VW is not just the beautifully designed evolution of the famous ‘VW beetle’ – but it’s also ‘green’.
A feel-good Burger Brand
South African fast food brand Wimpy Burgers have come-up with a promotional brand gesture that has both underscored their inclusive positioning and created a real buzz. The story goes that Wimpy wanted to let visually impaired people know they offered braille menus. So to spread the word they created braille burgers that blind people could actually read.
Baked-in Brand Differentiation
I was having lunch before Christmas with a bunch of Australia’s best young business dynamos and conversation turned to our latest and most interesting projects – as it often does. One of the lunchers was Brendan McKeegan, a serial entrepreneur based-out of Melbourne, Australia. Brendan was filling us-in on a business he’s involved-in called Emue Technologies and a great piece of innovative technology they have created and sold into global finance behemoth, Visa. We love nothing better than brand innovation – and even more-so when the differentiation is built into the product.
The ever-changing digital reality for Brand Communications – 60 Seconds on the Net
Recently a friend emailed me this iconographic of what’s happening every 60 seconds in the online world. The numbers are seriously noteworthy, especially for someone who works in the brand space day-in and day-out. What was equally of interest was how these numbers have changed since we last looked at them just six months ago.
Boxed and labelled Two – New Approaches to Packaging Design
Our packaging design work for Gelati Sky and for EO Melbourne’s Easter event invitation have been featured in the latest publication from international design book publishers, Gestalten.
The Pulling Power of Brand Rituals
To be successful, all brands must develop a culture that builds-upon their differentiated proposition with all they do each and every day. Brands able to create unique and engaging ‘rituals’ performed by their people create an indisputable brand property to leverage in the battle to win customers and their loyalty.
Our Brand Design work featured in Big Brand Theory
Our brand identity project for Spudbar has been featured in the recently published Big Brand Theory, an international publication of inspiring brand design from around the world, by Chinese publisher of international design books; Sandu.
