Blog

Standing out from the crowd in a summer of sport. So what’s notable about a bank choosing an Olympic gold medalist basketballer and an Australian Open tennis Champion to represent their brand across an integrated campaign this summer. Well for starters, it’s the one athlete…

Taking a stand to stand out. The New York Times’ recent campaign has created something of a storm on social media where this clip has had more than 37 million views alone. A newspaper taking the high moral ground for truth in such a complex…

Are banking brands finally getting ahead of the consumer curve? Reading an article this week about Chase Bank in the US, I noted for the second time in a week a services brand seeking to be “the apple genius bar” for their category. Not surprisingly,…

Truly Deeply is proud to introduce our brand strategy, identity and packaging work for How Now. An exciting new dairy brand, How Now not only stands up for cows, it stands out from the herd with a powerful purpose to provide kind milk products for…

The differentiating power of brand authenticity When best-selling author, entrepreneur and marketing guru Seth Godin spoke with Brandchannel editor Shirley Brady about what brands need to do to stay relevant, authentic and innovative at the Brandemonium 2017 conference in Cincinnati, his view on the role…

Celebrating a truly visionary organisation (with a brand to match). We’re so incredibly proud of our client The Susan McKinnon Foundation with the launch of the McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday. The McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership is a…

Amazon Builds their House of Brands. New’s this week that Amazon has been advertising for brand managers to create  a private label of Sportswear Apparel is another indicator of the online retail giants ambition to become an owner as well as a seller of brands.…

Today’s post is an article written by Brandhook, good friends of ours and the sharpest brand research and insights agency around. This latest opinion piece by BrandHook CEO Pip Stocks was originally published in CEO Magazine. We intuitively know that customer experience is what keeps clients…

The Power of a Brand Apology There’s something about politics and brand management that creates a powerful aversion to apologising. There may have been a time when if a company did something wrong, the best policy was denial and steamroll at full speed until the…

Poor Government brand policy will prove costly. With the exception of creating a brand to attract tourism to our shores, the various layers of Government in Australia have never shown an understanding of the value of brand. When compared to the Governments of Europe and…

More disruptive thinking from Uber differentiates their brand offering. Ride sharing brand Uber and retail center behemoth Westfield have partnered to create waiting lounges for shoppers. Uber continue to think and act in a manner that is anything like their taxi brand competitors. When talking…

New brand proposition, identity and packaging taps into market gap for a premium Australian made brand specifically designed for the Chinese market. Everything from the positioning, messaging and personality was designed to connect with affluent Chinese mums. The proposition reinforces their beliefs in the benefits…

A growing tourism market with rich potential. There’s never been a better time to dust off your Mandarin textbook and shake the dust off of your Chinese New Year Dragon, because the number of Chinese visitors to Australia continues to grow rapidly and opportunities abound.…

How Australia’s largest home entertainment brand is preparing for Amazon’s arrival in Australian. Recently ranked the 9th strongest brand in Australia, JB Hi-Fi is an Aussie success story but is this all about to change for the retail giant? Last week JB Hi-Fi’s Group Chief…

Introducing a brand called Brandless™ (yes, trademark is noted). A start-up riding the unbranded trend and set to shake-up everyday retail in the USA and they’ve raised $50 million to get going. Way back when, our ancestors bought basics supplies from their local store. They…

Brand values form an integral part of your brand. Drawing on the very soul of your organisation, they are designed to unite, inspire and guide brand-led behaviour, enabling employees and customers to emotionally connect with your brand. They also empower your people to deliver memorable…

It was interesting last week to see Coca-Cola get some local blowback from Woolworths on their new No Sugar Coke. Coke, a cornerstone in most supermarkets has been attacked over the years from many angles: constantly by perennial #2 Pepsi with the taste challenge; for…

All Beer Brands Are Not Born Equal. Researching this new craft beer brand from the UK I came across an interesting stat. The fresh bread consumer trend that has swept the globe has led to more than 40% of the bread baked daily around the…

Brand proposition and identity design creates powerful differentiation for specialist RTO advisory firm Truly Deeply developed a brand proposition and identity that brings to life the idea of ‘where success breeds success’. This is a powerful brand promise highlights a compelling and differentiated offer supported…

  Building on a tradition to create a vibrant aged care brand for future The new brand identity builds on Fronditha Care’s strong reputation within the Australian Greek community to create a leader in the provision of aged care services for a multicultural audience. Zoe…

Of Show Business & Branding A good mate of mine sent me an email this morning with a link to the trailer of The Greatest Showman, the first feature film of her great friend Michael Gracey. She was proud as punch and so she should…

No More Late Night Trips to the Pharmacy Coined a ‘digital pharmacy’ Capsule’s brand strategy is about adding simplicity and convenience to their category. Capsule launched in New York last year and  although only based in NYC currently, the business model provides an insight into…

It doesn’t matter how much you spend on strategy, branding, creative, media or reputation if there’s something wrong with your culture. As Uber is currently proving. It’s impossible in today’s society to mask an internal culture with brand. Sooner or later the truth will out…

Today’s guest article has been penned by the very smart people at eatbigfish. eatbigfish is a strategic brand consultancy with a single focus: challenger thinking and behaviour. Founded by Adam Morgan after he wrote Eating the Big Fish – the book that popularised the term ‘challenger…

Our Digitally Connected World Captured If you’re looking for evidence that the world of commerce has changed, just spend a minute mesmerized by a real time  representation of some of what’s happening on the web. In the time it takes to read this post there…

Truly Deeply repositions commercial tower to create a new place brand in the heart of Melbourne’s Southbank. Working together with GPT and Frasers Property, Truly Deeply created a fresh and compelling new brand that stands out and connects with premium tenants in the highly competitive…

Can Political Incorrectness ever be a valid brand communication strategy? OK, so this may be skirting the boundaries of sensitivity and taste, but sometimes the most interesting strategies are found where others fear to tread. When it comes to political correctness, most clients want to…

With Amazon’s launch into the Australian market around the corner, the picture of what that means for Australian consumers and retailers is becoming clearer. For Australian consumers, Amazon is likely to wind-up offering everything from fresh and non perishable groceries, beauty products, wine, clothing and…

How do you lead, when everyone’s their own leader? Recently I read an article on the Design Business Council blog by Greg Branson about how CEOs are adapting to changing employee attitudes. In the article Greg talks about a Wolff Olins report that revealed a…

The bumpy road for brands launching into China Recently Airbnb Co-Founder Brian Chesky announced via Twitter that his company has a new Chinese name; ‘Aibiying’. Aibiying is a clever localized brand name which sounds like the Western original, but translates in Mandarin to “to welcome…

As a marketeer I have recently started to notice the increase in meaningful marketing and the extent to which brands are seeking to create meaningful experiences that consumers can connect with and move people emotionally. Thank goodness, a change has been in the air for…

Understanding the Brand Value Equation We work on a daily basis guiding the brands for businesses of all shapes and sizes across almost every conceivable category. The thing they all have in common is an understanding of brand value and how to leverage it to…

Reading through the articles about the upcoming ALDI rebrand I’m struck by what seems to be an inability for people to grasp some of the strategic rational behind this rebrand and rebranding in general. Everywhere ALDI has opened, they taken on established supermarket brands and…

Today’s guest article has been penned by the very smart people at eatbigfish. eatbigfish is a strategic brand consultancy with a single focus: challenger thinking and behaviour. Founded by Adam Morgan after he wrote Eating the Big Fish – the book that popularised the term ‘challenger…

Fragrance brand bucks category norms to standout in highly competitive fragrance category. Demeter continues to defy the age old art of using sex, glamour and mystique to sell fragrance. Instead, the brand uses everyday experiences as their inspiration. The US fragrance company has just released…

Samsung’s new ad in India is a masterclass in localization for global brands. As more brands look to the huge markets in China and India with a mix of enthusiasm and consternation, Samsung’s latest ad campaign created for the Indian market is hitting the mark.…

Today’s post is an article written by Brandhook, good friends of ours and the sharpest brand research and insights agency around. At BrandHook we talk about the 7 ways consumer behaviour has changed but after attending last week’s Mumbrella Retail & Marketing Summit it was…

Unbelievable Brand Messaging. It’s a Sunday night at our place and the new Samsung ad comes-onto the TV, kicking off with the statement: “At Samsung, safety has always been our priority”. It’s not often an ad is met with the instant derision to the extent…

I recently had the once in a lifetime experience of seeing David Attenborough in Melbourne and hearing him the has left me feeling touched, moved and inspired and wondering what role brands can play in protecting the natural world for generations to come. David Attenborough…

I recently came across this pic in my Facebook feed; it’s of a label sown into garments produced by a small U.S. brand for sale in the French market. The translation from French says: Wash with warm water Use mild soap Dry flat Do not…

Multinational soft drink giant introduces its new brand architecture strategy to Australia. After decades of establishing more niche brands, Coca Cola has shifted back to what they call the ‘one brand’ design. Essentially, they are now refocusing on creating a stronger master brand, with more…

Swedish home furniture giant Ikea’s commuter bike, ‘Sladda’ is another brand reputation proof point. Ikea has built their reputation on providing affordable stylish urban living. However, in the past couple of years, the brand has stepped up its product development to extend its dominance in…

Is the age of the Goliath brand over? Author Ben Zifkin’s book The Rise of the Craft Brand, set’s out a compelling case for why smaller, craft-focused brands are set to become a force in the changing world of commerce. The world of brands and…

D-Day approaches as Southern Cross Austereo (SCN) rebrands regional radio as Triple M or Hit. Next week, most of SCNs regional stations will get a new name and identity to align with the company’s city stations. This is largely a corporate brand architecture approach to…

  Meaningful branding builds deeper customer loyalty An unwritten law of commerce is that we do business with those we like. This applies equally to B2B sales as it does to B2C where it’s often about how much we like the brand rather than the…

There’s more to branding than meets the eye Recently a small, independent supermarket opened at our local shopping strip. I was immediately drawn to the name and brand identity which are  naively unethical and amusing in equal measures. It turns out this is the fifth…

Exclusivity has always been an important differentiator for luxury brands. Quality, price and aspiration are the other key dimensions for brands wishing to be positioned in the luxury end of their category. As a category becomes more competitive (such as the craft end of the…

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…

How much are consumers really noticing your brand? In 2004 Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons shared the Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology, awarded for ‘achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think’, for the experiment they completed at Harvard that inspired The…

When mega brands go organic Gatorade is introducing an organic version of it’s brightly coloured sugar water for ‘athletes’. While the new product will be tested in select markets it seams Pepsi Co., the parent brand, sees the threat to the market dominant sports drink from more…

BONDS introduces their first ever cross-category sports range – led by a perfectly on brand campaign. BONDS have recently announced the introduction of their first ever cross-category sports range. The collection features BodyCool technology, which boasts moisture absorbing and quick dry properties, and marks a…