FutureBrand news, views & insights: December 2021
Welcome back
It’s the first of the month, the last month of the year, and the holiday season is now very much upon us. It’s a chance to reflect, recharge and an all-important chance to reconnect with the people and places we love and cherish.
Over the past few weeks, it’s been a welcome change to be meeting in person once again and just yesterday I landed in Melbourne for a week of client meetings and festive greetings – starting with a fun night out at Holey Moley last night, courtesy of our friends at Funlab.
Back in business
It’s not only social events that are back on the calendar but business events too, and so it was great to play our part in MCEC’s first event back in business, Defy All Conventions.
MCEC staged a great hybrid showcase experience, demonstrating the kind of innovative ideas and immersive experiences that have not only built their reputation but also bolstered the link between their brand’s purpose and everyday experience that gives them their competitive advantage.
Hybrid experiences are very much on the agenda across the board and it’s equally rewarding both to be able to meet in person and to be able to take advantage of technology in ways that enable greater inclusivity – whether it’s diverse modes of connection or simply wider access to a more diverse range of people.
When friction can be a brand’s best friend
I always enjoy those oft-forgotten, in-between moments in any experience.
They’re some of the things that we temporarily lost in lockdown but seem more permanently at risk in a world in which speed and efficiency are all too often prized above all else.
In my latest contribution to CMO, I write about customer experience and those magical moments when friction can in fact be a brand's best friend.
One of my favourite stories reveals the emotional connection at the heart of Air Tahiti Nui's brand. For this national airline, the tiare flower is an enduring and powerful symbol of the brand, used by employees to tell the story of the airline and the Islands of Tahiti through the customer experience.
When you board your flight, customers receive a closed tiare flower as a gift. Over the course of the journey, the flower slowly opens to reveal its inner beauty, ready to be worn on disembarking at your holiday destination. It’s an immersive experience and one in which the tiare flower lives and breathes beyond the logo on the tailfin and tells the emotional story of the heart of the brand, each and every time you travel.
You can read more here and, as ever, feel free to share and comment with any thoughts or indeed other great examples of brand-friendly friction.
Finance in flux?
The finance sector is rarely far from the front pages, not least of all for the challenges heralded by the Royal Commission. During the pandemic, the banks seem to have rallied but judging by this long read recently published as part of Mumbrella Finance Marketing Week, the marketing battle has only just begun.
I was interviewed for the story and shared my own thoughts on everything from customer-first fintechs to the friendly faces of the regional banks. Whatever your perspective, the drive for ‘authenticity’ seems to continue apace and serves as a timely reminder of its role as the the number one driver for the finance sector in this year’s FutureBrand Index.
New year, new team members
Anyone who knows me is also likely to know how much I love language and how important I believe words are to the brands we help create and transform.
Lorem ipsum are still the two most popular words in branding (much to my disappointment), but I’m very excited to have announced that Michael Thebridge has joined the FutureBrand team to help us continue to build brands that use language to guide their voice, identity and experience.
In addition to Michael, I’m equally excited to announce that we have two more new people joining the team, ready for the new year.
Firstly, we’ve been re-thinking the conventional ‘account management’ role and looking for the right person to fill it. At its core, we’re to help our clients manage and grow their brands, hence the role is Brand Manager and we’ve recruited Ashish Adsul to fill it with his fusion of an engineering degree with a marketing mind.
Secondly, customer experience plays a pivotal role in helping our clients build their brands. Service design is a key capability within this and so it’s great to have recruited Sam Hughes into the role of Brand Experience Director with all his service design experience to help us build brands that can transform the experience for customers and employees in those moments that matter.
Welcome Michael, Ashish and Sam :)
Acknowledge This!
Last but by no means least, we have been learning more about our connection to Country – whether through our work building brands with the help organisations like Bangawarra and Balarinji, or indeed through training offered by Acknowledge This! Not simply so that we can better connect with people and place, but also create a sense of presence or at least moments to pause and reflect.
Where I live – and now often work – it’s Darkinjung Country. Living by the beach, going to sleep every night to the sound of the waves, it’s an incredible place whose natural beauty inspires me each and every day. For that, I'd like to pay respects to our elders past and present, and to our young people growing. For me, better understanding our connection to Country is simply a first step towards learning more about our shared experience and embracing the creativity that comes with diversity.
Whatever your perspective, if you’re interested to learn more, I can happily recommend Acknowledge This! – what’s more their public sessions make it easy to connect and learn more.
That’s it for another month! Hope you enjoyed reading and found some useful insights for own brands. Please subscribe, comment and share – and, as ever, happy to hear all and any feedback.