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Truly Deeply rebrands Midland trailers

Stunning new brand for iconic Australian trailer manufacturer.

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2020 Trends in Brand Identity Design

The power of understanding branding trends. As with all aspects of brand and marketing, consumers and businesses over time build firm associations between how a category of brands look and what that means for the way they associate the positioning of those businesses. As categories…

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The online review tide is turning for business owners and their brands

Online reviews aren’t always what they appear to be. If  I had a dollar for every conversation I’ve had with a business owner wringing their hands in despair of the impact of online reviews I’d be writing this from an island in the Bahamas. Even…

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You’ve come a long way Barbie

The 2020 Barbie range steps-out with inclusiveness. Loving the way the Barbie brand has kept pace with society and arguably takes a leadership role in diversity and inclusiveness. The range of Barbie dolls includes35 skin tones, 9 body types, a Barbie in a wheel chair,…

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Recognizing the World’s Best Type Design for Branding.

Celebrating typography as a valuable branding asset. Type foundry Monotype have this year launched the Type Champions Award, to recognize brands for their creative, innovative, and memorable use of typography in developing and maintaining their brand identities. A panel of branding experts selected 12 companies…

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The power of customer-centric brand thinking.

Now that seems like a valuable brand proposition. All to often we find brands working in a market driven paradigm. That-is, their mindset of how they go to market is based upon the collective history of how the category has always operated. What was will…

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Apple’s store design beautifully integrates branding and product.

The power of a beautiful design idea. Wander round Apple’s iconic 5th Avenue store in NY and you’ll come across this brilliant piece of retail brand design. Whilst the easy solution would have been a wall full of product (after all the beautifully simple Apple…

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Is supporting a competitor the most noble brand gesture of all?

The Power of Brands Behaving Admirably. It’s not every day that the second biggest global brand in a category stops selling their number one product for a day and runs an ad campaign asking their customers to buy from their competitor instead – but that’s…

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Make America Greta Again – A brilliant brand parody.

We love a good brand parody. OK, so I have to admit I’m a fan of brand piss-takes of any variety, but when they come to political branding parodies, my appreciation goes up-ten fold. When I first spotted the ‘Make America Great Again’ brand positioning…

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Pantone announces the colours set to dominate in 2020.

‘Trecking’ is the colour theme for brands to pay attention to. Each year PANTONE Colour Institute announces the colour or colours set to influence the way brands go to market in the year ahead. Driven by consumer psychology, these colours are often reflected through fashion,…

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The psychology that drives resistance to branding change.

A Critical Step in Rebranding Strategy. Over recent months (and maybe years) we’ve tracked a growing consumer activism speaking out against changes to brand identity. Whether it’s global fashion retailer Zara, U.S. grocery chain Giant Eagle,  The City of Frederick in Maryland or most recently,…

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Why heuristic bias is bad for your brand

A highbrow challenge for brands of every description. As defined by Wikipedia; A heuristic technique is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method, not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but instead sufficient for reaching an immediate goal. When…

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French’s Mustard reminds us of the power of crazy.

When it comes to branding, standing out is tougher than it ever has been. Compared to a decade ago, there are many more brands doing more things to differentiate and stand out in the market. The challenge for brand managers, owners and marketers is to…

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The true story behind BMWs iconic branding

The History of BMW’s brand mark. As brands evolve and mature the rationale behind the design of their logo often becomes folklore, coloured as much by popular myth than historical fact. Recently global automaker BMW published an article clearing-up the story behind their iconic brandmark.…

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Truly Deeply Creates a brand for Social Impact Enterprise; Change Coffee.

A branding project to change the world. Every so often we come across a project that seems like our destiny to work on. It’s not every day that we get to create a brand with the potential to have a significant and enduring impact on…

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Solving the Branding Challenge for Startups

Branding for Start-Ups – A critical challenge. There are few things I enjoy more than sitting across the table with a founder of a start-up. The energy, excitement, vision and optimism are often at their peak in the excitement of launching a new enterprise. Over…

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Branding – Has the consumer empowerment pendulum swung too far?

Brand Backlash – Important feedback of ill-informed hot air? I read with interest this week of a city in the US State of Maryland who launched a new brand identity for the town, only to backtrack in the face of resident dissatisfaction. Having worked on…

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Inspiring branding – Apple’s latest TVC

More brand building mastery from Apple. Whenever I spot a new piece of inspiring branding from Apple I find myself vexed. As a consumer I’m enraptured, immediately engaged and continue to build-on the loyalty and enthusiasm I hold for the brand. As a writer of…

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A Lesson in Retail from Hanoi’s Shoe Street

Is this the toughest retail environment on the planet? On a trip to Vietnam this month I spent a couple of days sweltering through the streets of Hanoi Old Town. The mercury hit 37 degrees and the humidity was thick enough to cut with a…

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Which global cities have built the best brand for business?

A place branding guide for the worlds greatest business cities. Brand agency Saffron have just released their City Brand Barometer for 2019 which explores which cities around the world have built the strongest brands to attract businesses and investors. The report gives an insight into…

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The branding data behind Social Influencers

  84 facts every brand owner and manager should know about Social Influencers. Arguably this decade’s greatest disruptor to the way brands go-to-market has been the emerging force of social influencers. In a conversation recently with the founder of Australia’s leading cosmetic retail brands when…

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Viral cinematic brand ad fails to convince.

Never make a brand promise you can’t keep. A three-year-old TVC has gone viral recently, as social media users have enthusiastically shared it as much for its beauty as for the disconnect between the ad and the brand it represents. The stunning film was made…

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Truly Deeply & THE:5th Present at Platinum Partners Conference.

A collaboration of client and agency with a shared view on the value of brand. Truly Deeply Founder; David Ansett and Alex McBride founder of THE:5th were recently invited to present at a conference run by Reliable Education for their platinum partners. The conference delegates…

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Sexist brand icon Playboy gets with the program

The power of re-imagining a brand icon. In a shift that has even me surprised, iconic global brand Playboy has moved with the times, evolving from a ‘sexist and proud of it’ brand proposition to one of understanding and tolerance. Playboy CMO and Rachel Webber…

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Say “hi” to our branding for StartOut

StartOut is an inspiring not-for-profit organisation who match young people with role models to help build resilience, self-acceptance, help break negative self-image and to help navigate their sexuality. We worked with StartOut to create a brand that was inclusive of all diverse sex, sexuality and gender…

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Convenience stores; The hidden fast food player.

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)…

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Say ‘hi’ to our catalogue design for Cammino.

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,…

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Why AV business Scene Change spent their entire marketing budget on a private jet (and why it was a good decision).

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.…

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High fashion footwear – The latest branding billboard

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…

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Did brand mark design predict Trump’s rise to power?

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…

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Social Media platforms are disconnecting from Brands.

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…

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The surprising case for multiple brand mark identities.

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…

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The Impossible Whopper – A brave new fast food frontier.

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…

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Retail Brand Whole Foods Trials Convenience Format in NYC.

Retail Leader Tweaks Brand to Stay in Front. Recently US retail brand Whole Foods launched a new convenience format of their grocery store model. Since Amazon bought the business the upmarket grocery retailer has been active in trialing new formats aimed at different niches to…

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When it comes to Branding Popular ≠ Best

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,…

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How Rebranding Transforms Retail Street Appeal to Drive Increased Sales

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…

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Volvo Brand Walks the Talk on Sustainability.

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…

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Tiffany Co shows the value of brand – and then take it too far.

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…

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A Guide to marketing to Gen Z

For as long as I’ve been working in branding, I can’t remember a target audience our clients felt they knew as little about as Gen Z. To be fair, part of this confusion comes from a lack of clarity around the age bracket Gen Z…

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Global Brand rankings turned on their head.

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…

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DJ Marshmello + Fortnite. The biggest concert to never happen.

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…

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Retail Brand Innovation – Self Select Customer Service

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…

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B2B Brands tap into the Experience Economy with Pop-Up Offices

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…

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Employee Branding – The Power of Thanks

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.  

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Tasty Brand Identities & Delicious Business Card Design

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…

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Mastercard drops their logotype

The Power of Brand Recognition. Global credit card brand Mastercard have announced they’ll be dropping the wordmark from their brand identity. For brands this is the holy grail of recognition and the equivalent of celebrities like Madonna or Kylie being referred-to by their first name…

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The 5 Most Interesting Consumer Trends for 2019

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…

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A Passionate & Unapologetic Defense of Brand Marketing for B2B Growth

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…

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2018 – A Year of Truly Brilliant Branding

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.…

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Click here to enjoy a little Truly Deeply Christmas Cheer

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.

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Pantone have announced the colour for 2019

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,…

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Truly Deeply’s Michael Hughes presents on Branding for Millennials at APBN in Seoul

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…

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Study finds branding drives increase in business value (Spoiler)

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…

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Why engaging your harshest critics makes good brand sense.

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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Susan McKinnon Foundation Branding by Truly Deeply

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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Apple demonstrates the power of an iconic brand identity

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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Selling your business? Why you should rebrand first.

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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People Don’t Buy Products, They Buy Better Versions of Themselves

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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Why an ad agency isn’t the right agency for your rebrand

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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Brand fails – 5 tips for managing brand mishaps.

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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