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The Future of Retail Branding for 2020 & Beyond

The changing face of consumer behavior raises a red flag for retail brands. When I think back even just a decade ago, the demands of retail customers were not so different from the decades before. Essentially most retailers could add a functional web site and…

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Overheard blurs the line between social content and traditional print.

Instagram brand; Overheard launches physical newspaper stands. In the latest demonstration of the blurring between new digital and traditional business and brand models, Overheard launched a physical parody paper (think The Onion) along with a pop-up newsstand at Union Square in San Francisco. Overheard was…

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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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Microcations – the latest trend hitting the travel category.

The Microcation is officially a trend Being driven predominantly by millennials, the microcation is a short getaway that is gaining popularity fast. Research from the U.S. (The 2019 Vacation Confidence Index* released by Allianz Global Assistance) has shown that 72% of millennials, 69% of Gen…

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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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The Future of eCommerce – An Infographic

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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Is the Old-Fashioned Flyer Doing a Steven Bradbury?

Today’s post is an article written by Brandhook, good friends of ours and the sharpest brand research and insights agency around. Two mornings in a row, I have been handed direct advertising materials at Richmond station.  One for Uber Eats and another for Pet Circle;…

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Food Delivery Vs Supermarkets – Woolworths CEO first to get the UberEats threat in Australia.

The Ultra-Convenience Consumer Trend Disrupting… Everything. So much has been written about Amazon’s launch into the Australian retail market (we wrote about it ourselves recently) that it has created its own ecosystem of disruptive buzz. There’s no doubt a business the size of Amazon with…

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5 Strategies for brands marketing to Gen Z

Is Gen Z the toughest consumer group to market to yet? The answer to that question depends on the brand, it’s product and mindset. With each new generation of consumers, established brands find themselves challenged to connect with a new collective mindset. However, there are…

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Death of the Shopping Mall – The changing landscape of retail

The world of retail has changed. Online shopping, online product and brand comparison, and the new shopping habits of consumers have significantly changed the retail landscape. Retailers, shopping strips and shopping centres have had to get agile in evolving the way they connect with and…

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The Experience Economy – Airbnb trips available on Zola wedding registry

The days of the casserole dish wedding gift are done. Global wedding registry site Zola has partnered-up with Airbnb to offer Airbnb gift cards as part of their offering. The move makes perfect sense to me. The experience economy shows no sign of weakening with the…

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The 7 Golden Rules for Marketing to Chinese tourists in Australia

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.…

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Meet Hygge, the Cosy New Consumer Trend.

Feel like staying home this weekend? curling-up on the couch under a cozy rug in your PJs with candles burning, a glass of red from Vino Mofo, dinner from UberEats and a movie on Netflix?  Turns-out you’re not alone, but part of the global consumer…

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Data overtakes oil as the world’s most valuable resource

Data is the new black – an interesting thought for the week. For the 20th century, oil was the most lucrative industry in the world spawning billionaires, creating wealthy nations from sand, and keeping antitrust regulators on their game. After fleetingly handing the mantle over…

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Three Ways Retailers Are Scaring Away Ready-to-Buy Customers

The way customers buy has changed I recently read a great article on Curalate by Jarred Shelley, Head of Content Strategy that captured one of the great challenges fro retail brands in today’s ever-changed marketplace. The article talks through a shopping experience that is reflective…

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Marketing with meaning: Creating brand connections

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…

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Is your male marketing off pitch?

Linx brand connects with the 21st Century Man One of the most significant trends for any brand marketing to males under 30 is the blurring and fragmentation of what it means to be a man in the 21st Century. Long held stereotypes of muscular, masculine,…

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Why Craft Brands are genuinely challenging the Goliaths

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…

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Top 3 social marketing trends for brands

Drive your brand’s social marketing to the next level As social media matures and the dust begins to settle we’re getting a better sight-line on the role it plays for brands. Regardless of the size of your business and the category you play in, online…

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Is it time for Brands to revisit Augmented Reality?

Today’s post is an article written by Brandhook, good friends of ours and the sharpest brand research and insights agency around. If you didn’t know what Augmented Reality (AR) was a couple of weeks ago, chances are you do now. After reading our blog last…

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A sneak peek at a virtual reality fueled future for brands

Does virtual reality present the next big challenge for brands? Could life get any busier? We’re already bombarded by thousands of messages – brand/news/social every hour. Will the brave new world of hyper, virtual reality make our life simpler, or even more cluttered? The promise…

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The big news on influencer marketing is; think small

Influencer marketing is a powerful way to share your brand’s message with a targeted audience. One of the strongest marketing trends to emerge in recent times is influencer marketing, which involves recruiting influential social media people to promote you through their blogs, Youtube channels and…

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Fashion brand Dolce&Gabbana courts Muslim Women with new Hijabs & Abayas range

D&G engages the valuable Muslim market You can count on a single finger the number of audiences with a US$300 billion annual spend ignored by major brands globally… that is up until now. With few exceptions the world’s major fashion brands have largely ignored the…

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Search, Mobile and the top 8 marketing trends for 2016

  The Top Marketing Trends for 2016 and what they mean in particular for small business Much is written each year on the key marketing trends we see playing out, usually most relevant for our larger clients. So when this week I came across a…

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