FutureBrand news, views & insights: February 2022
Welcome back, again!
Last I wrote our monthly newsletter in December, we were welcoming back one another to our old offices – now it’s welcome back once again, this time to a new year.
In some ways, it will indeed feel new. In others, eerily familiar as we contend with the same old challenges.
One of the natural benefits of working in an organisation like ours – and one that I’ve always enjoyed – is the simple fact that we get to start something new with each and every new client. Whether it’s learning a new industry sector, exploring a new product or service, or adopting a new perspective.
Fortunately for us, it happens most months and this month is no different. We’re questioning everything we thought we knew about the big wide world of insurance, courtesy of our new friends at Huddle. And, we’re discovering how Beca are engineering the future with a simple focus on making the everyday better.
Insurance designed as it should be (for the customer!)
Huddle is an insurance company and a B-corp and committed to getting back to what matters most – or rather who matters most, the customer. Given that their parent company Open is Australia’s 7th fastest growing company in AFR’s Fast 100 List, we’re very happy to be helping them do just that.
As Huddle continues to expand and grow globally, we’ll be working with them side by side to make sure that their brand – brand strategy, brand identity, brand experience – give their business a clear and compelling competitive advantage.
Making the everyday better
Beca is no ordinary engineering consultancy. It’s employee-owned structure has helped it grow to become New Zealand’s biggest engineering professional services company – and now the business is evolving its brand in the Australian market to match its growing scale and significance.
As an employee-owned business with high levels of employee engagement, we’re taking a highly collaborative approach to the evolution of Beca’s brand strategy and experience, and we're exploring the full range of perspectives through extensive research with employees, clients and partners to unlock the full potential of their brand’s competitive advantage.
Measuring what matters
Helping our clients measure the strength of their relationships with their customers is an essential part of any data-led approach to building brands that build businesses.
So it should come as no surprise that we apply the same empirical approach to our own business, measuring our own clients’ experience so that we can learn and grow from the feedback and insights we gain – so much so that Christina wrote this article for The Brandberries.
It’s Christina’s first article since being invited to join The Brandberries’ team of regular contributors, and hopefully the first of many on all things brand and marketing.
Mumbrella asks the CEOs
To start the year, Mumbrella invited me to contribute to a new series in which they ask CEOs for their take on everything from the big issues facing the industry to the advice they would give those in the industry today. Lots of interesting perspectives, here's mine.
Q. What big industry story are you following this year?
The Federal Election ought to be the biggest story of the year for all of us. What will be different about this year’s election will be the rising number of Independents challenging the incumbents in their local electorates – not only to win seats but also to disrupt the established conventions of party politics. How will the political mood mirror the business landscape? Will these ‘start-up’ politicians bring new ideas and positive energy to politics and win the hearts and minds of their communities? Or, will the ‘big brands’ of politics leverage their incumbency to their advantage? And will we the people be better for the experience, one way or the other?
Q. What are you reading at the moment?
Actual Air by David Berman – yes, poems! Originally published in 1999, long since out of print but then reprinted following his sad passing a couple of years ago. It’s one of those books where I might read a couple of pages at the start or the end of the day. So much more interesting than doomscrolling…that said, Berman’s never been a barrel of laughs if you happen to read his words or listen to his bands, Silver Jews or Purple Mountains.
Q. What advice can you offer those in your industry today?
Only take advice from people who take their own advice. If you do want to take advice, find at least two people to take it from. Assume that half the advice you will be given will be wrong.
Q. Who – or what – inspires you?
My dog, honestly. Unlike many of us, dogs (and indeed many other animals too) have the ability to sit and watch and sit and wait and watch and do absolutely nothing. Sometimes I find myself sitting and watching my dog sitting and watching. It’s not necessarily inspiring but it is relaxing, and it is a useful reminder on a daily basis that not everyone and everything is caught up in the crazed rush of modern (corporate) life that seems to sweep us along.
Q. What is your business’ main aim for 2022?
Stick with the same strategy that’s guided us for the past couple of years, one where we manage, monitor and measure both the client experience and the employee experience. Every quarter, every team member gets to see the metrics and reflect on our strategy openly, transparently – that way we can all together contribute to the shape of things to come.
If you’re interested to read the various perspectives offered by CEO from across the industry landscape, here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2.
Transform Award winners
Last but not least, the Transform Awards gave us all the more reason to celebrate the end of the 2021.
Together with our client colleagues, we won a total of 9 awards, including 3 Golds.
What’s more, they don’t come much bigger or more real than these. Guide Dogs Australia, a federated not-for-profit coming together as one national organisation. Macquarie Group, a global finance powerhouse with businesses the world over. And, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (MCEC), Melbourne’s destination for big ideas and inspirational events rebranding in the midst of a global pandemic.
🥇Gold, Guide Dogs Australia – Best Visual Identity, Charity/NGO/NFP
🥇Gold, Macquarie Group – Best Visual Identity, Finance
🥇Gold, Macquarie Group – Best use of Typography
🥈Silver, MCEC – Best Brand Development project to reflect changed mission, values or positioning
🥈Silver, MCEC – Best Visual Identity, Sports/travel/leisure/tourism
🌟Highly Commended, Macquarie Group – Best Brand Evolution
🌟Highly Commended, MCEC – Best Brand Evolution
🌟Highly Commended, Guide Dogs Australia – Best Brand Development project to reflect changed mission, values or positioning
🌟Highly Commended, Guide Dogs Australia – Best Creative Strategy
Thank you to all our clients for being such great thinkers and doers, collaborators and decision-makers – and ultimately, partners.
That’s it for another month! Hope you enjoy reading and find some useful insights for own brands. Please subscribe, comment and share – and, as ever, happy to hear all and any feedback.