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The Power of Creative Image Making The other day I came across the amusing creative doodling of Vincent Bal, a filmmaker, doodler and procrastinator from Belgium. One of the most inspiring things about creative image makers is the way they see the world differently to…

The trend of minimalist branding We’ve had some recent discussion with clients and in turn in the studio about the relevance of minimalism in brand identity or logo design. Some point to a trend of recent rebrands like Pentegram’s work for Mastrcard, wondering if there’s…

Optus is the second largest telecommunications provider in Australia offering mobile, fixed, and broadband services to consumer and business customers. It has repositioned itself in the market with a flexible rebrand. You may remember their recent rebrand back in 2013 that received many mixed reviews and…

The ‘most important’ fashion photographer in the world. Bill Cunningham has passed away at age 87. A sad time for the fashion industry.  Bill Cunningham is regarded as one of the most important fashion photographers who ever lived. He began working as a hat maker and…

Does this amusing parody of brand story telling diminish the effectiveness of this branding approach? OK, so we’re the first ones to rave about the virtues of authentic brand story telling. We love to discover a passionate, artisan craftsman sitting at the heart of a…

Is the dire state of Australian political party brand identity a reflection of the state of Australian politics? We’re the first to admit we have an unreasonably high expectation of brand identity standards. We set the bar pretty high and expect everyone else should follow…

  Instagram made waves last week in the design and social media world by launching their much anticipated brand identity refresh, and UI overhaul to their loyal band of insta-obsessed-followers. The reason for the tech update is to create a better UI experience for users, paring back brand…

The Brand Strategy of Stand Out Personality In the world of retail and hospitality, so many businesses get caught-up in the operational whirlwind of attracting, serving and delivering product to their customers that they find it challenging to take a breath, step back and assert…

Loved brands are profitable brands Is the whole ‘Loved Brands’ thing a fluffy piece of feelgood PR from the branding community or a commercially savvy strategy? That so much cynicism surrounds the brand industry must be a reflection of the inability of the industry to…

Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.  Anthony Bourdain is a reality TV personality, chef and author who has been exploring the world and sharing his travels with us all on his series No Reservations, The Layover, and Part’s Unknown. Bourdain has been in…

Sponsors using Sharapova’s news to kill two birds with one stone. Choosing not to stand by Sharapova because of recent events? Or was it just the perfect excuse to move on without facing public backlash? Nike, the same company that stood by Tiger Woods and…

Not-for-profit providers pushed to market The National Disability Insurance Scheme, NDIS, was designed to support a better life for Australians with a significant and permanent disability, and also their families and carers. But the implementation of it, is having far reaching and costly implications for the not-for-profit…

If you’ve got a positive brand association, flaunt it! Brand placements in feature films is big business. Brand owners like auto maker FCA who own Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and FIAT brands in the US market clearly see a Hollywood blockbusters as an A grade engagement…

Like many others, I have eagerly been following Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman’s most recent side project: 12 Kinds of Kindness. (…yes #squadgoals!) Now aside from wishing I had come up with such an intelligent project myself, I do believe it has the power to create some…

Brand engagement remains critical for challenger brands. We love when one of our brands takes flight. The task for any brand that seeks to challenge their market is how to stand apart when engaging through mainstream media. TVCs for example are a high cost/high risk/high…

Calvin Klein has launched its latest Spring 2016 collection with another viral social media campaign. This time there was no need for large scale advertisements; but simply the profile of some big name celebrities and the hashtag #MyCalvins to capture the worlds attention. This digital…

New social media trend for brands amps-up brand engagement. Facebook is now promoting the use of cinemagraph profile photos in the form of short loop videos. A cinemagraph is a mix of a photograph and a video. It creates a visual where one or a…

  (Brand) names have baggage When creating a new name or identity for something there’s always the challenge of seconding guessing due to current associations. But by knowing you’re following a plan, backing yourself and a little patience it can all work out. Names are an…

The hidden code All brands project an image through the visual language of their brand identity. Customers and markets use the code contained within their visual language to make logical and emotional associations that drive their responses to trust, lust, aspire and desire the brand……

We recently sold our house through Marshall White, hiring an off-site self-storage unit in the process. We not only invested a reasonable sum in doing that, but also hours of weekend time carting our much loved (if little needed) household junk over to the storage…

Like all new frontiers, social media is a lawless place where anything goes, especially when it comes to brand. Everyone seems to have moved into these boom towns with a population of more than 12 million people projected for Twitterville alone this year. It’s a on-line,…