Brands that see criticism as all bad are missing the message. For brand owners and managers it can be tough to receive critical feedback. However, behind the criticism is often an opportunity to transform a critic into a powerful advocate. As tempting as it is…
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The power of listening: Transforming brand critics into advocates One of my clients, Sally, called me yesterday to tell me that she had received some negative feedback about her brand imagery. The complaint came in the form of a harshly worded hand written note and…
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A Bold & Courageous Brand Identity One of my favorite branding projects of 2018 is this strategy and identity for the Susan McKinnon Foundation. Susan McKinnon Foundation is a non-partisan, not for profit organisation committed to working with all sides of politics to find common…
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The Future of Retail will continue to be impacted by eCommerce. New technologies and innovations are continuously changing and exponentially improving the user experience and safety which, which will drive continuous eCommerce growth. When we compare what brands were doing online just five years ago…
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Michael Hughes joins our Asian agency partners to discuss branding to Asian Millennials Truly Deeply is excited to be part of the Asia Pacific Conference on today and tomorow in Seoul, South Korea. The conference is the first from the Asia Pacific Branding Network (APBN). Organised by…
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Everyone in the design industry is aware of the Pantone name and most probably even have a Pantone swatch mug gifted to them one xmas. The perfect gift for their “designery” friend or partner. Pantone is the universal language of colour which steers the…
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Don’t try this with your branding at home Apple recently announced their upcoming event where the company is expected to announce their latest product developments. Stepping outside their standard invitation design for the event, Apple created 370 customised versions of their iconic brand symbol. For…
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Truly Deeply is proud to see Immediation, a brand we created, gain traction. Immediation is a brand that is set to redefine access to justice. A online platform, it brings together legal experts to help resolve commercial disputes and provide an alternative to courts. Simple,…
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Although it’s still only October, Carnaby Street, located in the heart of London, has already unveiled its 2018 festive light display, with another amazing and creative design. It is always exciting to see what fashionable Carnaby Street will do. The theme tends to be …
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Fontstand front page. What is Fontstand? Fontstand is a Mac app that lets you try fonts for free and rent them by the month for desktop use for a fraction of their regular price. Typotheque developed this app in collaboration with Andrej Krátky. Conceived by independent…
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Last night we hosted our annual charity event, Art with Heart, with all proceeds going to StartOut, a local health promotion charity providing regional outreach and mentorship programmes for young people of diverse sexuality and gender (DSG). StartOut has developed a unique online mentoring program purely from…
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Two tough truths about selling your business. So you’ve spent years (often decades) building a business with your blood, sweat and tears and it’s finally time to sell and collect the reward for all your hard work, ingenuity and perseverance. There’s only two problems with…
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Truly Deeply’s annual charity art exhibition is on tomorrow, Wednesday 24th October, don’t miss it. Once again we’ll open up our studio to share local art and raise money for a local charity. The event showcases wonderful art from painters, sculptors, digital artists and others,…
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We’re always looking for inspiration on creativity as I enjoyed this talk from author Austin Kleon, writer of Steal like an Artist and Show your Work. It forms the basis for his new book Keep Going. He talks about 10 ways to keeping moving forward,…
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One week to go. Art with Heart is on next Wednesday. The Truly Deeply studio is starting to fill up with an amazing selection of artwork for our annual art show, Art with Heart. To give you a sense of what you can expect to…
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So the brand is done, the visual language nutted out and press applications approved. The one thing left to finish is the website, a beast, a force to be reckon with and will take no prisoners. Sometimes you find yourself stuck at where to begin,…
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Today’s post is a thought piece written by Zander Nethercutt, a really interesting brand thinker from Chicago Il. with a brilliant grasp on how brands work and the role they’ve come to play in our lives. What Apple, Samsung and Starbucks learned from Pepsi The…
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When it comes to rebranding, all agencies aren’t equal. After more than 25 years of running a branding agency, it’s not every day a conversation with a client re-frames my perspective on our business. But recently, that happened. I was talking to the founder of…
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Having recently returned from living and working in London for 3 years I’ve been keeping up to date with the happenings, particularly in one of my favourite areas, around London Bridge. Working almost next to The Shard, I was able to spend many lunch…
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The iconic Mailchimp brand was already lovely with its scripted font evolved from the original design by the talented lettering artist Jessica Hische. You can see the logo revision process here, jessicahische.is/monkeyingaround. The new rebrand created by Collins, evolves Mailchimp yet again to be a…
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Even the big boys can have a bad day… Recently a pic of a livery mistake on a Cathay Pacific jet went viral on social media – well viral in the world of plane and brand watchers at least. Somehow, someone in the chain from…
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Applestone Meat Co. turns old tech into a new convenience brand proposition. Applestone Meat Co. is a butcher brand with two outlets in NYC. They are butchers who use their philosophy as a brand differentiator. As they say on their web site: The meat industry…
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Patchewollock, Fintan Magee Considered one of the world’s top places to road trip due to the never-ending open stretches of road, outback Australia is a dream come true for those wanting to venture off the beaten track. Now there is another reason which combines both…
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Wonderful Brand Story-telling. The UK retail landscape has recently welcomed a notable rebranding with launch of the new John Lewis & partners and Waitrose & Partners. Complex architecture and relationship between the two brands aside, the brand design work and typography are stunningly elegant in…
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Our annual art exhibition Art with Heart, which will take place on the 24th of October, is now open for entries from the design community. This year’s theme is ‘True’ in recognition of our selected charity StartOut, a local health promotion charity providing regional outreach…
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The folks over at Method Action have created some nifty little games to help you learn, refine or test your design skills. Method of Action was born in 2011 and was a collaboration between María Munuera and Mark MacKay. Kerning Game Think you’re the kern master? Test…
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Maker Park is a proposed adaptive reuse park that will revitalize an unused industrial site on the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Conceived by a group of community activists, the initiative will transform the seven-acre site formerly known as the Bayside Fuel Terminal into a hub for…
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The Value of Good Advice. Recently I re-read Confessions of the Pricing Man by Hermann Simon, arguably the best book ever written on the subject of pricing. I’ve always seen the subject of pricing as directly connected to branding. As Simon says: “People have asked…
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No longer true blue, Aussie pollies are being shaped to ‘fit’ the party image and narrative. The role of personal branding has been impacted significantly by the shift towards more populist politics. In the past, political leaders like Whitlam, Hawke, Menzies and even Howard stood…
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The strategic brand thinking at the heart of every successful brand. Over the weekend I was having a conversation for the thousandth time with the owner of a relatively new, fast growth business who I realized was hearing it for the first time. The conversation…
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Are brand values are more important than brand value? Nike this week rolled out their 30th anniversary ‘Just do it’ campaign featuring the ex 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. In a move that will define the brand for the future, Nike have made an incredible brave move.…
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The new brand identity for the U.S. Open fails to impress. Watching the U.S. Open tennis on the weekend I copped an eyeful of the tournament’s re-branding for the first time. Somehow I’d missed the commentary on the rebrand in the lead-up to the event’s…
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New proposition, name and identity for leading ultrasound educator and trainer. The new brand proposition provides Zedu with a compelling new brand story, messaging, personality and a new inviting tagline that encourages their learners to “see the difference, be the difference”. This was further reinforced…
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The UltraBoost sneaker from Adidas’ Parley ocean plastic collection After the recent controversy with Coles supermarkets back flipping twice on providing single use plastic bags for free, here’s some good news stories on brands getting it right when it comes to the issue of sustainability.…
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Each year us folks here at Truly Deeply hold an annual art exhibition known as Art with Heart which raises money for a wonderful local charity. Last year we had the privilege of donating over $21,000 to the amazing team at Tomorrow Man, an incredible…
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fix ur **bleep**ing logo. If I had a dollar for every time a business owner or marketing director has told me their clients and customers don’t care how their branding looks over the years, I’d be writing this article from my private island in the…
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Bright idea highlights incredible women and rewrites history After a disgraceful week of politics, we’ve lost another Prime Minister but perhaps the real loss in the fallout is Julie Bishop. So it’s quite fitting that I came across this campaign from Stabilo Boss. Created by…
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Jack Howl’s illustrations suggest he’s visited a futuristic world fraught with semi-surrealist demons and characters inspired by Japanese folklore and pop culture. The longer you look at the meticulously hand drawn artworks, the more quirky details you find, adding to the narrative of each…
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Aston Martin has announced the ultimate collectors toy with the news they are going to make 28 Goldfinger DB5 reproductions. Aston Martin is working with EON Productions and Chris Corbould the special effects wizard whose resume includes Star Wars, Batman and all the Bond movies…
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Brand ambassadors hidden in plain sight. Influencers have become the newest weapon in the super competitive battle for brands to stand-out. Finding the right celeb or online tribal leader to espouse the benefits of your product has become the new holy grail for brand marketers…
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A recent study for Adobe shows that investing in experience transformation across people, process and technology delivers superior business performance. Experience-driven businesses (EDBs), as defined by Forrester Consulting, consistently deliver on metrics that align to their revenue growth, customer acquisition, and customer retention goals. The…
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A brand with extraordinary category extension discipline. Arguably no brand has stretched into new categories like Richard Branson’s Virgin has. Capturing the personality of Branson’s own brand, Virgin has come to represent a brand that challenges the paradigm of the categories it enters, usually looking…
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Today’s post is an article written by Brandhook, good friends of ours and the sharpest brand research and insights agency around. Apple recently announced the introduction of a new software tool to help wean people off their devices, offering users a ‘digital detox’. There’s a…
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Another week, another mindfulness session here at Truly Deeply… time out as a team from the deadlines, phone calls, and busyness, to take a breather and reconnect. A chance to try something different, see into another world, maybe stretch ourselves out of our comfort zone.…
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Beautiful lettering created by Pellisco An art form that was heavily used during the early centuries in illuminated manuscripts, hand lettering is still strong on the design scene and hopefully here to stay. You probably walk past hand lettering on a daily basis, from artisan chalkboards…
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Toy brand introduces first sustainable pieces It’s the only plastic toy that gets a thumbs up from most sustainably minded parents I know. It’s great to see it making a move to becoming a sustainable brand. Lego has introduced it’s first sustainable pieces as the…
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Strange But True Packaging Design. Lyle’s in one of the UK’s leading brands of golden syrup, much loved throughout the British Isles. At first glance the visual language of the packaging design captures the heritage and tradition of both the product and the brand. Traditional…
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Harley focuses on product development and growth but disregards its long held brand beliefs As a brand strategist I have often admired and held up Harley Davidson as great example of a powerful brand. Not because I own or want to own a Harley (so…
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Wakino Ad Company is taking advertising space to a whole new level by promoting armpits
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A branding article filled with good intent. I was initially thrilled to see an article on the CPA’s blog titled; ‘Why your accounting practice brand is more than a logo’. The CPA is one of our countries most trusted and respected associations, representing an industry…
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Key insights to help you with your SEO strategy. The rules for SEO are constantly changing. Thanks to our friends at seotribunal.com this handy infographic will help you stay abreast of some of the most important facts about SEO. Key insights from the infographic; Google…
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New Bonds ‘Originals’ brand messaging on female stereotype’s in their recent ad campaign ‘The Queendom’ is an inspiring piece of brand communication strategy and a refreshing change in women’s underwear marketing. Powerful and playful, the ad is set in remote Australian ‘bushland’ known as ‘The…
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Where has all the brand personality gone? Call me old and grumpy, but there’s an emerging trend in brand identity design that has got my goat – the growing popularity of simple, type only brand marks. As a branding agency that breathes, eats and sleeps…
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Finally, there’s movement on plastic bags We’ve been entertained by the carry on over plastic bags by the giant retail brands Coles and Woolworths over the last few months. While the brands themselves may see this as them taking a leadership roll in an overdue change…
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The Founder-Led Branding Dilemma. I recently caught up with the news that global pizza chain Papa John’s is set to remove the image of their founder from company branding. Papa John’s Chairman and founder, John Schnatter made a racist remark during an internal training session…
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Study suggests most Australian businesses are not recognising the value of brand. A new Deloitte study of 300 marketing professionals found that most believe that digital and social media are the best channels for building a brand. This is despite strong evidence that shows brands…
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I’m a self-confessed chocoholic. Like most sane people I love chocolate. In Melbourne, we are spoilt with chocolate shops, chocolatiers and chocolate cafés just as common as bakeries. Even the shopping strip near my home in the suburbs contains a chocolate café amongst only a…
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As a designer, I’m constantly on the lookout for websites that don’t fit the mould of a stock standard template design. If a site is intriguing, invites me to explore various elements on the page, and looks unique, it goes straight to my bookmarks bar.…
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More than just luck. The coffee unicorn brand that’s the talk of China. China’s thirst for their own ‘new retail’ brands continues to fuel investor and consumer frenzy and coffee is the latest battleground. Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi now dominate over Apple in…
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‘Type With Pride’ is a wonderful design project created by NewFest and NYC Pride in partnership with Fontself to commemorate the late artist, designer, and activist Gilbert Baker. Baker was responsible for creating the very first Rainbow Flag in the top-floor attic gallery of the…
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