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Poland Springs brand authenticity and reason for being under attack Nestle is facing a lawsuit in the USA that claims they have misled their consumers into paying a premium for normal ground water. For a brand that’s positioning and differentiation is all about the purity…

Friday Funny – Signs with a sense of humour. The business of business is enough to make most people lose their sense of humour, but there are some wonderful souls who keep their smiles-up through the rough and tumble, and when that humour is allowed…

The Wall Street Journal compared Apple’s iPhone to other iconic consumer brands and the results are staggering. The iPhone has eclipsed the sales of Barbie, Zippo, Rubik’s Cube, Nintento Game Boy, Sony Playstation and Walkman. What’s even more mind blowing is how quickly it’s done…

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…

Recently we wrote about the healthiest brands in Australia and Pay Pal came in at number two on the list. This infographic by Play and Pay illustrates their  journey to becoming one of the worlds largest brands. PayPal is a Revolutionary platform transformed the world…

With the steady increase in readily available free stock imagery, I often wonder about illustrators and how they are staying afloat in the growing pool of image libraries. Are illustrators being put on the back burner because stock imagery is so easily obtainable? Or is…

Capturing the spirit of the KFC brand personality. KFC recently launched H.A.R.L.A.N.D. (Human Assisted Robotic Linguistic Animatronic Networked Device) He is a robot created to take drive-thru orders in order to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day. So firstly – yes; National Fried Chicken Day is…

Brand slogans/taglines are an essential element of advertising; typically short their job is to encapsulate what a brand is all about. Occasionally an advertising slogan/tagline comes along with that extra something special, it jumps out of the ad and takes on a life of its…

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…

I’m sure we have all been there, sitting in front of the computer hoping for some divine creative inspiration to get the design juices flowing. You have trawled through your normal go-to inspiration sites but came up empty. You have made plenty of excuses to…

The casting of Jodie Whittaker as the thirteenth doctor gives BBC sci-fi show a much needed brand jolt After 50 years, iconic British Sci-fi show finally gets female lead. The Time Lord from Gallifrey will regenerate later this year and history will be made. With…

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…

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…

  Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and now the world’s second wealthiest man once said; “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff’s clearly a visionary business leader who gets brand. But for most CEOs re-branding is…

  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…

In a fast changing digital world, we often get asked if business cards are still a necessity for your brand. While some people may see them as old fashioned, you would be surprised at how many people still like to carry cards and how important…

Diageo Plc to acquire Casamingos brand for $US 1 Billion. In four years, Clooney and Co have managed to create impressive brand value. Sure, they’ve achieved massive sales growth but take the people out of the brand and what are you left with? Diageo might…

Swedish home furniture brand Ikea continues to be at the heart of affordable stylish urban living. We always solute brands who continually look for interesting ways to engage and add value for the lives of their customers. That’s why we love this clever idea from…

What is it about motorcycle brands? Harley Davidson has long been held-up as an example of branding at its finest. There’s something about the emotional connection between people who love to ride motorbikes and the brands who effectively tap into that emotion that adds a…

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…

Following Australia’s lead, the UK introduces plain packaging laws for tobacco All advertising and branding of cigarettes is now banned in the UK. This follows similar laws introduced in Australia in 2012. For big tobacco brands, this is a massive challenge. They’ve effectively had almost…

So you want a website and you want it now. There are alot of easy ‘web page builders’ out there these days which allow you to create your website using the drag and drop method. That’s fine if you need to launch your site in…

A brand narrative that’s built around Orchard Thieves’ simple worldview that if you start bold, you’ll end bold. Heineken’s cider brand, Orchard Thieves keeps true to the brand’s mantra of ‘Be bold’ with it’s latest ad. The story follows a group of friends on their…

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…

Simple Personal Branding is great for Brand Building Recently I bumped-into a friend of mine; Graeme Goldman at a business event. Graeme is one of Australia’s brilliant entrepreneurs quietly going about growing impressive businesses and brands. His retail watch business, 8th Avenue Watch Co is…

Last week we shared a report on the impact of brand boycotts. The same day, United Airlines had a PR crisis unfold after they forcibly removed a paid-up passenger from their plane. What impact is this latest boycott having on the United brand? It was…

YouGov’s ‘Inside the Mindset of a Brand Boycotter report’ gives us some insight into consumers who boycott brands and why they can’t be ignored. Just about every week a major brand is under attack from consumers. Last week it was Pepsi, the other week it…

A Guide to Choosing the Right Branding Agency. So you’ve worked-out the business benefits from branding, re-branding or designing new packaging for your business, products or services. You’ve worked through the business imperative, budgets and brief, now comes the tough task of sorting through all…

Global beer brand forced to defend its iconic red star and perceptions of it promoting communism. Dutch brand Heineken is recognised globally for its green cans and bottles. Another core brand asset is the red star. Unfortunately for Heineken, the red star is also seen…

We’ve recently been working with VicSuper, a 16 billion strong profit to member superannuation fund who has over 240,000 members and – 22,000 participating employers. Over the last 6 months we’ve been working with the brand on some development work, nothing nothing that we can…

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…

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…

Game Changers branded content perpetuates the perception that the government is out of touch with most Australians During the past few days, The Australian Government’s Department of Finance has managed to create their place in history with a stunning fail in government advertising. In an…

For those yet to see the footage, confusion hit the stage at this year’s Academy Awards when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the incorrect winner of the Best Picture award as ‘La La Land’, not ‘Moonlight’ after they were given the wrong envelope on…

  The NRL’s ongoing collaborative superhero campaign with comic brand Marvel continues with their new jerseys for 2017! Wether your a fanatic fan of Marvel AND/OR the NRL sport, you can’t deny it is a compelling campaign and shows the power of collaboration between two forceful brands…

AFL Women’s League An Untapped Brand Sponsorship Treasure Chest. If  last Friday night’s opening game of the AFLW is any indication, the belief that there’s no interest in women’s sport is fading fast. Even the AFL themselves were not prepared for the crowds that came…

Calvin Klein’s Instagram account announced over the weekend that the brand has decided to “return to the spirit of the original” and acknowledge “the founder and foundations of the fashion house” by launching their new logo to mixed reviews. With the new appointment of creative…

Yellow Tail uses Aussie humour and cliches to promote their wine brand to Americans. Aussie wine brand Yellow Tail is making headlines as an outsider buying up big on the US Super Bowl. It’s also the first wine brand to air a Super Bowl ad…

Interesting times for brands as the Chinese market evolves. Global sports brand adidas have launched a new and noteworthy ad campaign aimed at the Chinese market. The last two decades are choc-a-block with beautifully shot, inspiringly heart-racing ads from all of the brands in this…

Welcome home Vegemite – Back where you belong. With Australia Day around the corner, the recent announcement that publicly listed (and Australian owned) Bega Cheese is set to purchase Vegemite and a hand-full of other Kraft brands in a $460 million deal made my day.…

Grass Roots campaign clearly differentiates and revives the brand Iconic Australian footwear brand Volley’s ‘grassroots’ campaign is doing wonders for the brand. Until recently, Volley was perhaps one of those brands that you might have questioned whether it still existed. Not any more. Volley are…

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…

Custom Apple accessory maker 12 South has created a ‘New Mac Smell’ candle for this Christmas. While it’s got plenty of headlines for obvious reasons. For me it raises the question: What do sensory branding do you do? We’re all aware of brands that have…

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…

Meet #BrickPony, the love child of Lego auto brand Ford. #BrickPony is a life-size replica ‘1964½’ Ford Mustang V8 coupe made from Lego and Duplo bricks. Made out of 194,900 pieces of Lego and Duplo, it took around 1,200 hours to assemble by a team…

Can an image change brand perception? McDonald’s recently introduced a Nutella Burger in its Italy restaurants. However, among the excitement of the new burger was a one image that was souring the publicity. A picture of the Nutella jar showing what is actually inside, has…

Truly Deeply recently created a new online mattress brand from scratch. Sooma is well and truly in the market now so we thought we’d share our process of working with them to create a brand from scratch. Sooma is all about simplifying the mattress buying…

The power of sound in brand differentiation In the battle for customers, brands have long engaged the senses in order to create unique and identifiable properties  they can own in the minds of their customers. All brands strategically or otherwise set-out to own a concept…

How after sales contributes to brand reputation After sales is often non-existent, designed to minimise costs, or simply not a priority for many brands – but it should be. With more and more consumers reading reviews online before purchasing, after sales service is becoming an…

  Have you thought about switching to brand? For any account handler / client service person looking to scratch an itch in their career path, in particular those working in traditional advertising big agencies, I’d love to give some accounts of my perspective in my…