A big, bold brand for an event for big ideas IPAA Victoria Public Sector Week 2017 is the only event that brings together the entire Victorian public sector in one location to drive fresh thinking and a create a better future for all Victorians. The…
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New look, new name with a contradictory sales pitch. Next month Victorian Teachers Mutual Bank will relaunch as Bank First. The new name and identity gives the bank a much simpler and stronger name to compete with other mutual banks. It also shifts the brand…
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A Unique Brand Soundtrack. I was out for a run recently (paying for it today) and as my path took me through a beautiful patch of suburban Melbourne I was greeted by the faint strain of bagpipes. The sound was at once foreign and charmingly…
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Six Tips for Shopping Center Brand Activation. Westfield London created this brand activation with Lindt Chocolates in the UK. The magic meadow and maze enchanted children and families who engaged with several giant, iconic gold Lindt bunnies and Master Chocolatiers. Designed to drive sales throughout…
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I have to admit I love this time of year. As the Spring Racing Carnival hits full swing, Melbourne turns into a town of glamour and excitement where it seems everyone is a racing aficionado, and dressed accordingly. As the center of the Carnival universe,…
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KFC Creates a Halloween Costume of their Iconic Colonel Sanders. Over the last two decades, fast food retail brand KFC have invested in an increasingly focused manner on bringing their founder Colonel Harland Sanders into the branding spotlight. They have reprised his image and locked-it…
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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.…
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If there’s one brand trend we’ve seen explode over the last five years it’s the role of micro-influencers. Typically bloggers (but also instagrammers, facebookers and Twitterers), micro influencers stand at the center of a community, attracted and bound by a shared interest. These influencers produce…
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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…
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Experiential Marketing for Brands There’s as much mystery around experiential marketing for brands as there is interest and curiosity. Whether you’re planning a pop-up or a mobile brand taste, experiential can be a very effective way to engage consumers with your brand. How much will…
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A health insurer deliberately catering toward digital natives. New US health insurance company Oscar has been called the Warby Parker for health insurance. Warby Parker is a Silicon Valley darling, an online glasses retailer who came out of left field in the US to disrupt their…
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The Greatest Barrier to Creativity. I recently read a great short article on Creative Review where three of the UK’s creative pioneers were asked their view on the greatest barriers to producing creative work. The article interviewed Caroline Pay, Joint Chief Creative Officer of Grey…
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Brand Identity Design I Love. Located in London, The Bridge Theatre will be the official home of the London Theatre Company, an independent producing company focusing on new shows, as well as staging the occasional classic. This simple but powerful identity for the new theater…
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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…
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In a category devoid of innovation and brand engagement, this supermarket concept in China breaks the mold. Located in the city of Harbin, China, Home Park Food Store is a high-end retail food concept spread over 7200 square metres. Similar in concept to the Eataly…
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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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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…
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AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) is set to launch their 2017 Mentoring Program. The AGDA Mentoring Program is dedicated to bringing together experienced designers with those that are seeking help, advice, and/or experience. The program aims to promote and nurture the sharing of real-world skills…
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So you build an amazing company… You invest in branding to grow awareness and value in your brand over many years – Congrats, you’ve made the grade. But after all your hard work comes brand fatigue. Consumers start turning to the newest brand on the…
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The Big Changes in Branding. In my time working in the design and branding industry (some 25 years) the internet has been the single greatest thing we’ve seen. At the start of my career Apple launched their first Mac computer, the first step in a…
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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…
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Building Broader Brand Relationships is Good for Business. Many years ago, back when Apple was a personal computer business, Steve Jobs had a vision for Apple to play a valued part in more of the 1440 minutes in every person’s day than any other brand.…
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Much more than brand spin – hopefully. Air France have announced to launch of Joon, an airline positioned for the European Millenial market. So what does that mean exactly and why should we believe this is more than just another low-cost airline brand entering the…
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A Masterclass in New Retail Brand Mindset Following-on from their first collaboration in 2016, Alexander Wang and adidas have again steered clear of a standard retail approach. Last year’s collaboration was released through pop-up trucks in New York, London and Tokyo. Staying true to their…
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The cost of a poorly designed brand identity. Parked at the traffic lights last week my attention settled on the kerbside branding for a new Snap Fitness gym that had recently opened in our neighborhood. I was immediately struck by the poor quality of their…
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The power of design to beautifully deliver branding. Compared to most staff uniforms, flight attendants typically look pretty stylish, but with the bar being set at a high level, Chinese airline; Hainan is differentiating with haute courture. The airline brand’s new uniforms by designer Laurence…
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Head of Salmat eCommerce, Ben Popplestone recently attended the Magento Imagine 2017 event in Las Vegas which brought together 2500 eCommerce experts from 45 countries to discuss the latest in online retail. A hot topic at the event was the expansion of Amazon into new…
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From the same crew who brought us Wheely’s bike cafes, comes Moby Mart. A few years back we wrote about Wheely’s an organisation looking to disrupt the cafe market with their new model of pedal powered, solar powered, low on carbon footprint, high on smarts…
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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…
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E for Excitement… and Brand Extension. Brand Extension isn’t always about launching more products with great sales potential in themselves. Sometimes the smartest brand extension plays are those that reinforce brand excitement and the values that made the brand loved in the first place. Uber…
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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…
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Global Retailer Aldo – Bricks & Mortar Believers Global footwear retailer Aldo has seen amazing growth to more than 2,600 stores in 100 countries. Senior Vice President of Aldo Group, Nick Martire co-founded the Aldo Product Services division which generated $1 billion in retail sales…
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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…
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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…
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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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Australia’s national carrier just launched its refreshed brand identity. It’s being positioned as “a new era, same spirit”. The Qantas rebrand is being linked to the airline’s new fleet of Dreamliner aircraft. It follows a series of service and product improvements. “This is not just…
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