Posts Tagged ‘Value of Design’

Following on from our post ‘Coffee Avenue – A Great Brand Experience on Wheels’Kelvin Natural Slush Co., the brainchild of yet another corporate refugee turned foodie entrepreneur, just recently hit the streets
in NYC, offering a more sophisticated version of a childhood favorite — the slushie.

In an effort to adultify the slushie experience, this premium, all natural brand offers “more sophisticated,
less sweet” flavours like Spicy Ginger, Tangy Citrus, and Green & Black Tea, to which you add any number of fresh-fruit purées…and to really take it to a dessert-worthy beverage add a scoop of ice cream for a slushie float.
They also apparently make good mixers, but you’ll have to supply your own booze.

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I like a beer, there’s no point hiding it, it comes hand in hand with the Irish Brogue. So naturally, I pay a little bit more attention when new beer brands are born. So I was somewhat intrigued when I noticed the huge billboards on the end of Punt Road with colourful DNA graphics and a fancy boutique bottled beer. It was a new brand, 62 with the tag line ‘You know who you are’ and a descriptor ‘the perfectly individual pilsner’

I wasn’t intrigued enough to seek it out or try it, it didn’t seem like my kinda beer, a bit flash, for a fella like me. It wasn’t till stuck at the lights one day, I noticed the Coopers logo in the corner of the Ad and felt a thrill. Maybe this beer is worth my attention. Coopers are brewers I trust. They make great grog.

Coopers 62 Pilsner

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A Packaging Icon
Few brands boast packaging that has gained iconic status – the ability for cultures all around the world to identify the product purely from the form of its bottle. Coke has long understood the brand equity within the proprietary bottle shape, maintaining the authenticity of their packaging as it has evolved over the years.

Here’s a photo that shows the evolution from Coke’s first bottle, through to their current packaging – a snapshot of the fascinating visual history of this most valuable brand property.

CokeBottleEvolution

If you’d like some help with identifying and developing unique properties for your brand, why not give us a call.

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

Uninspired Living
The home building market in Australia is typified by a bland range of home designs, brought to you by a range of equally undifferentiated businesses. Having worked in the space for a number of clients over the past five years, I would define the market offer as affordable = uninspiring. Whilst there is no cheaper way, and perhaps even no easier way to build your own home,the price you pay is a lack of individuality, and poor and dated design quality. A walk through any display village will reinforce the message, as each house you enter feels almost identical from the one before, down to the last display vase featuring splayed bamboo.

These home builders all have their own brands, we have helped some to define them. But when it comes to product – which is surely one of the most defining expressions of their brand – there is no differentiation or translation of their brand into the homes they build and display. It ‘s as though they’ve all use the same architect to design their homes and the same stylist to prepare them for display.

But times are changing, or at least the industry is catching up with the times.

Inspiration built-in
Recently the offerings of at least two Australian home building companies have begun to deliver on the often heard brand promise of ‘contemporary living’. Working with architects of note and ability, InForm Homes and Intermode Homes have both produced some great looking houses that feel ‘architect designed’ both inside and out, creating a strong sense of differentiation, positioning their new product at the premium end of their market.

The Pod House from InForm

The Pod House from InForm

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wicked

Hindsight is a funny thing. Travelling thousands of miles by road is not a new idea – campervan hire has been around for decades.

However, a campervan hire company that caters specifically to the backpacker market – under 30’s – is a new concept, and in hindsight, common sense. Wicked Campers, established in 2005, does just that. They do not skimp on safety, equipment or van fittings; the experience at Wicked is as much visual as it is made to feel fun. They have made something uncool, really cool!

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