FutureBrand news, views & insights: April 2023
Just do it.
Not only is this one of the most recognised taglines ever, it also happens to be good advice for many a brand.
Because strategy doesn’t differentiate you. Execution does.
And while any successful brand is created with purpose, it’s ultimately defined by the experience.
Over the past couple of years, I have seen a growing trend towards an increased focus on implementation. I don’t mean simply launching the new brand or updating the brand guidelines, I mean brand management for the long term.
Delivered via brand management systems.
Enabled by brand management tools.
Supported with training. Monitored through metrics.
All the way back in 2015 – on the day that David Thodey announced his retirement as Telstra CEO – I wrote this op-ed reflecting on his time at the helm of the Telstra brand and recalled this comment made to me.
“Didn’t we do the brand last year?”
That’s how one Telstra executive had put it, somewhat taken aback by the idea that the Telstra brand might not be tethered to a moment in time but rather live and breathe, evolve and grow.
Given what I’ve seen over the past couple of years, it’s no coincidence that I wrote this article for CMO in March 2021: Why does brand execution often kill creativity?
Launching a new or reimagined brand no longer marks the end of the process.
It’s just the beginning, just do it.
More diversity, more creativity
Since kick-starting our paid internship program last year, we’ve now launched the 2023 intake with the support of Deakin University at their Geelong campus.
This is an internship program designed exclusively for regional and rural students in order to encourage greater diversity in the creative sector. It’s founded in an understanding that diversity plays a pivotal role in fostering creativity and a belief that we can improve the creative industry by extending the pathways for more diverse emerging talent.
That’s why we offer paid internships exclusively to students from regional and rural areas, including free travel and accommodation, in order to help remove the hurdles – geographical, financial, and so on – and therefore make it easier for those people to find their way into our industry.
To quote Tonya Merrick, Senior Lecturer in Communication Design:
“We’re thrilled that FutureBrand selected Deakin University in Geelong to launch its 2023 internship intake. Our Bachelor of Design students, via this important program, gain access to learning from one of Australia’s leading creative companies as part of their degree. These are students who may not have this opportunity otherwise – it’s a first for us – and we’re hoping that many of our students can gain access to this fantastic program for years to come.”
All of us looking forward to welcoming this year’s interns, I daresay we’ll all learn something new.
Small business, big brand
Small businesses can sometimes have their big brand ambitions challenged by limited marketing resources. But there are strategies that mean limited resources don’t have to limit your brand’s potential – as I wrote in a recent article for SmartCompany.
I wrote about five simple, practical ways to leverage your brand and create meaningful habits for competitive advantage against the bigger players. (Truth be told, they’re equally effective for all businesses and brands, big and small.)
TLDR? Here are the highlights:
Be clear
Know how it feels to be a customer
Be distinctive
Move your brand beyond your marketing team
A brand is what a brand does
To read the full article and all the details, feel free to follow this link.
From A to B Corp
As I’ve written here before since taking ownership of FutureBrand in Australia, there’s only ever been one fundamental objective: to make it better than it was before.
It’s this mindset that naturally led us to B Corp and its vision of a global economy that uses business as a force for good.
B Corp is shorthand for ‘benefit corporation’ and it describes the kind of company that wants to make a profit at the same time as addressing social and environmental needs.
Since we first started thinking about becoming a B Corp back in October 2021, and subsequently submitting our application in April 2022, we have indeed been working harder at making our business better.
Because we believe incorporating social and environmental impact into our decision-making is important to the success and profitability of our business – whether through our Not-For-Profit program that means we offer our brand transformation services pro bono, our internship program as I mentioned above, the calibre of our client experience as measured by NPS, the employee experience we have nurtured in order to ensure our own people feel supported to learn and grow, or the various other initiatives designed to embed accountability, transparency and continuous improvement into our ways of working.
Twelve months later, we’ve been ‘evaluated’ and, more importantly, we’ve now been ‘verified’. It’s been something of a learning curve at each step and now we’re waiting on our ‘final assessment check’ – hopefully the name of this step speaks for itself and B Corp certification is just around the corner.
A wise owl once told me
Surrounding ourselves with a diverse range of perspectives has always been a focus of ours in the work that we do.
It’s this kind of approach that also enables our own people to grow and evolve, and I’m happy to share that we’re adding another new perspective.
David Cairns has re-joined the team in a new role – as a strategic advisor to the leadership team, and as a coach for the team more broadly.
To be honest, we’re still working on what his title will be. If I could simply call him our ‘Wise Owl’, then I would. He’s someone who helps us – myself included! – listen and learn, and those are incredibly valuable skills that David brings to our business.
That’s it for another month! Hope you enjoy reading and find some useful insights for your own businesses and brands. As ever, happy to hear all and any feedback – please subscribe, comment and share.