Blog

What stronger way to use globally recognized branding than to make it disappear? In another example of brands tapping into the growing consumer trend of social and environmental activism, Lacoste has created a bold social brand campaign to raise awareness and funds to help threatened…

The dual benefits of brands behaving responsibly. It’s not by good fortune that Uber has become one of the world’s most recognizable brands. From it’s earliest days, Uber and UberEats have demonstrated an effortless ability to weave branding gold whilst retaining the edge of a…

Consumer trend breathes new life into the Servo pie. Anyone who owns or manages a cafe, restaurant or fast food business knows how tough the market is. Over the last decade the way people eat has changed dramatically with out of home eating (including delivery)…

Spot the difference: Neither of the leaders has an engaging or distinctive personal brand. While the polls have consistently pointed towards a narrow win for Labor, they also highlighted very small differences in whom Australians prefer as their PM. The last Newspoll before the election…

Our first catalogue design for Cammino marries product with brand story telling. Cammino is a local footwear brand who marries Italian artisan shoe making with contemporary design to create their signature ballet flats. Camminos are an everyday luxury for tired feet, to suit every mood,…

Marketing Strategy Madness or Branding Genius. In a marketing strategy that sounds lifted from a Vegas comedy about three guys on a bachelor party, Australian corporate AV company Scene Change invested their entire marketing budget for two years to buy and run a private jet.…

The latest branding trend for fashion takes to the streets. As the on again / off again relationship with fashion brands featuring their logos on their clothes continues, the latest trend is high fashion featuring their branding loud and proud on the feet of their…

How brand marks reflect social & cultural trends. Just like uncovering a time capsule or the remains of a petrified Mammoth, a collection of branding from any given period tells us much about that point in time. A case in point is this great snapshot…

No more sharing the love. In a move reflecting a growing frustration among brand owners and manager, global beauty brand Lush announced it will be shutting down its social media channels in the UK. For a brand as popular as Lush in a category where…

Brand Strategy provides clear direction for business growth Fonda Mexican is a group of eight restaurants located in Melbourne and Sydney. Fonda have redefined Mexican in Australia, shifting market awareness from unhealthy Tex Mex to a healthier, more contemporary Fresh Mexican. Fonda are seen as…

The argument for breaking the conventions of brand identity design. One of the strongest principles of branding is less is more. A simple brand proposition with a single clear point of difference expressed consistently through a brand mark and brand identity design have long been…

One small bite for man but one big bite for meat free mankind. Recently Burger King and Impossible foods announce the launch of the Impossible Whopper – a meat free twin to the global burger brand’s hero product. For those who’ve been watching the meat…

When it comes to branding – the approval process is a critical component. I was reading recently about a project to rebrand New York City’s privately owned public spaces (or POPS). The rebrand is being run by The New York City Department of City Planning,…

Measuring the positive impact of rebranding. One of the challenges for many businesses looking to rebrand is establishing hard metrics to measure impact and return on investment. We always like our clients to come to a branding project with clarity on what these metrics may…

Creating Positive Emotional Place Branding. There’s a reason why we think of place branding it is often the Northern European countries we think of as leaders in this space… it’s because they continually invest time, energy and an open mind in their place making brand…

In branding, doing is more important than saying. How do you build a unique and valued dimension to your brand proposition, one that connects your values with those of your core audience? You walk the talk, demonstrating your beliefs through remarkable brand gestures. It’s not…

The web is ablaze with ‘social commentary’ on Tiffany’s ‘Everyday Object Collection’. At first sight the US$1500 Tiffany 18k gold paperclip is a brilliant example of the power of brand. After-all, anyone can head down to the local stationery store and pick-up a regular gold…

Finding the hidden opportunities for retail branding. An interesting piece of the puzzle for retailers is managing the reluctant customer. So much focus goes in to setting up the store design and merchandising to cater to the customer whose interest brought them into the store.…

New study shows smashed avocados are not to blame for millennials struggling with housing affordability Our friends at the Millennial Report have once again highlighted the importance of not over-generalising this generation. The study highlights how millennials (or Gen Ys) are just as careful with…

The fast changing face of branding. The last eighteen years has seen a seismic shift in global brand rankings. It is almost impossible to believe that less than two decades ago brands such as Apple, Google and Amazon were barely a glint in the world’s…

Leading think-tank rebrand brings to life a new purpose and improves engagement with the broader community. The new brand is designed to strengthen, humanise and highlight the organisation’s practical approach.   Working with key stakeholders and the organisation’s board, we created a new strategic proposition…

Ouch! When brands crash to earth. This week Nike suffered a high profile wardrobe failure when the shoe of one of their star college athletes imploded mid-match, sending Zion Williamson tumbling, shortly after followed by the Nike share price. A challenge for all high profile…

Branding in the Virtual Experience Economy In the hullabaloo of last week’s Super Bowl you may have missed the news that DJ Marshmello played a gig to an audience of 10 million. Yep, not a typo. In a first (of many?) an estimated 10 million…

Redefining one of Australia’s favourite shoe brands to appeal to new generations. Truly Deeply builds on Homyped’s comfort heritage to reposition the brand as smart solutions for healthy feet. The new brand identity leverages the product’s technological and medical credibility to create a more aspirational…

Few brand purchase decisions we make are as strong a reflection of how we see ourselves as consumers and how we wish the world to see us as  choice of the car we drive. Even those who claim to not care what brand of car…

Delta Airlines and Coke apologise after napkins offend Delta and Coca Cola have canned their inflight match-matching brand gesture after many label it creepy. What was intended a bold and fun has potentially caused brand damage. Far from inspiring hook-ups, it has potentially also fractured…

An engaging way to deliver the service experience your customers want, when they want it. Understanding when to provide service to the contemporary consumer and when to leave them to shop under their own steam is a challenge for retailers. Bug them with unwanted offers…

Popular UK restaurant chain, Wahaca, has rebranded to appear more like its independent competitors. When I first visited London in 2005, I was shocked to find a chain café or restaurant on almost every corner, and struggled to find a local independent option. Fast forward…

Long the domain of retail and eComm brands, this new pop-up office from design is giving B2B businesses a entree into the experience economy. Consider a professional services firm (like say… a branding agency) popping-up an office at the beach, opposite the markets, at a…

Consulting brand creates value for company, customers, and the community. Building on Hugh’s personal reputation in shared value strategy, we created a strong and distinctive consulting brand to engage corporate, philanthropic and public sector leaders. “Getting some good thinking into the brand identity process right…

A Delicious Brand Partnership. A branding strategy that is underutilized yet regularly pays dividends is brand collaborations (especially when it comes to food). When co-branding is envisaged strategically and executed with brand sensitivity, the result can be an extraordinary brand experience – introducing new customers…

Polly Waffle chocolate bars set to return to Australian shelves Following a social campaign from nostalgic brand fans, the Polly Waffle is set to be revived. Fans of the Polly Waffle united on Facebook and achieved 55,000 likes. This helped convince Adelaide based manufacturer Robern Menz to…

We wanted to share a great pic from our client Yarra Trams. A part of their annual celebration to show their appreciation, our client had these delicious and beautifully branded cupcakes baked. A feast for the eyes, heart and tummy.  

We are delighted to announce that our annual charity event, Art with Heart 2018 raised $13,407.25 for StartOut, a local health promotion charity providing regional outreach and mentorship programmes for young people of diverse sexuality and gender (DSG). Through funds raised, StartOut will be able to pay for the…

Loving this smart business card design created for Pasta Boy Pete, an Italian cooking instructor in Canada. They say the medium is the message, and in this case the clever crew at Rethink Canada have taken that as their mantra, laser etching the branding and…

EU agreement standoff as Australian producers fight to keep using traditional and logical names to describe their products. As part of the $100 billion EU trade agreement, Greece and Italy are trying to extend Geographic Indicators to a range of common food styles including wines…

The very clever guys over at Trendwatching.com have released  an overview of the five most interesting consumer trends they’re seeing for the year ahead. This is part of a much deeper piece of thinking they produce each years for businesses across every category. You can…

A strong case for the growth power of B2B brand marketing. Over the summer break I caught up on some reading (the best part of six months worth of recommended articles sitting in my email Inbox). One of those articles was sent to me by…

Where did 2018 Go? We had a great year, working with businesses of all shapes and sizes to create new propositions, launch new products and refresh brands across more than fifty different categories. We captured just some of that activity in this 12 second vid.…

We want to say a big thanks to all our clients, friends and families. It’s been an amazing year! Have a wonderful break and we look forward to seeing you in the new year. Take care, The whole Truly Deeply Crew.

Check out if you’re naughty or nice this silly season Our friends at Milkwhale have put together a neat little checklist for your SEO over the Christmas break. Designed for the northern hemisphere, we’re sweating it out down under rather than bunkering down to avoid…

Yes, Colour of the Year is a thing, and an especially important thing for branding. For 20 years, Pantone’s Color of the Year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home furnishings, and industrial design, as well as product, packaging,…

Delicious New Packaging. Our good friends at Castelmaine Kitchen have created this short clip for their social feed showing the change from old brand to new. If you love your dips, these beauties are worth a try. Your taste buds will thank you for it.

You can now wear the iconic London Tube symbol on your shoes thanks to a new collaboration between Transport for London (TfL) and adidas: adidas x TfL Inspired by the design of the London Underground, there are now limited edition adidas trainers dedicated to each…

A long overdue brand design update. The last time Microsoft updated the Office icons was in 2013, when selfies were new enough to become Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year. In the half a decade since then the Microsoft product has undergone regular updates as…

The end of Instagram travel envy. The UK’s Easy Jet has launched a new booking app that takes their social media game to a new level. Look & Book is an app designed to turn Instagram travel inspiration into a reality. Look & Book identifies…

An accidental brand ambassador John Lewis is the name of big UK retailer but it’s also the name of a guy from Blacksburg, Virginia. Since 2007, the lecturer from Virginia Tech University has been using the twitter handle @johnlewis and he often receives tweets meant for…

Designers can’t help it. It’s not our fault. We like to judge. We are picky. We like to openly criticise design, even if no one asked us our opinion. It’s in our DNA. We seriously can’t help it, fact. We are a collective who are…

Insights from APBN, who are the Asian millennials? Following my trip to Seoul, South Korea for the Asia Branding Conference, here’s some insights on Asian Millennials. Each country presented insights about their millennials and it was interesting to learn about some of the differences and more…

Recently our Director of Brand Strategy, Michael Hughes presented at the APBN conference in Seoul, South Korea. The conference was exploring trends in marketing brands to Millennials and the similarities and differences throughout the Asia Pacific region. Michael was invited to present insights on the…

Branding‘s big pay-off. We often hear the sentiment that branding is a ‘soft’ business investment. It’s considered a ‘nice to have’ and ‘hard to measure its value’. Having spent the last 28 years working with clients to build their brands, our experience over hundreds of…