FutureBrand news, views & insights: September 2023
Whose brand is it anyway?
The longer I work in branding, the more often I find that our clients in non-marketing roles have an increasingly instinctive feel for the role of their brand and the value that it offers.
Most recently, I heard this said by an engineer in a co-creation session we facilitated:
“It’s the sum of the experiences of our clients that will define our brand.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
What’s more, in a subsequent session, that engineer’s colleagues instinctively made the leap to the employee experience: because if your own people don’t believe in your brand, what makes you think your clients or customers will?
All of which simply serves to reinforce the importance of putting your brand into practice, not just into PowerPoint slides. Not only by making your branding methodology but also your brand management as practical as possible.
It’s not about strategy for strategy’s sake.
It’s not about brand identity per se.
The make-or-break moment is utility.
How useful is your brand?
A real passion project
We’ve been working with eBay to develop their brand strategy for the Australian market. It’s a passion project, quite literally, not just for me, but for the whole team here at FutureBrand Australia and the millions of people in eBay's diverse community – and all their favourite things.
It's all part of the brand’s evolution in Australia from an online shopping mall to a retail destination for products people love, and our work together has set the strategic platform for everything from eBay’s brand personality to brand experience principles, from communications to experiences, in order to inspire the moments that matter.
It’s always rewarding to see strategy turn into reality, no more so than when someone you know, who perfectly fits the target market, instinctively sends you a message like this.
No wonder things like vehicle parts and accessories are big business for eBay, it all comes down to people’s passions.
Back to the future: of payments
Back in April 2016, we were just starting to work with New Payments Platform on what was then described as an ‘addressing service’ that used an ‘alias’ and subsequently evolved into PayID.
We talked back then about the future of payments and – since PayID – it’s been a constant theme as we’ve continued to work on a range of innovations over the years, not least of all the creation of the new brand for the new organisation formed by the merger of BPAY, eftpos and New Payments Platform, namely Australian Payments Plus.
We’ve come a long way in those seven years and it’s no surprise for an organisation that is always looking forward to the future.
CEO Lynn Kraus recently appeared on ANZ bluenotes to discuss the new organisation’s creation and integration. It’s a good listen for the fact that Lynn talks to themes that seem consistent in my experience across many M&A scenarios, notably the need to focus on not only external but also internal stakeholders, the role of trust and the ever-present need for simplification.
Travel broadens the mind (& the merchandise)
Being part of a global business brings benefits, not least of all it allows us to open windows to a world of opportunity.
Recently our Sam, our Brand Experience Director, did exactly that, extending a holiday in Sweden by spending an extra week with the team at FutureBrand in London – by way of a global talent program designed to support connection and collaboration around the world.
It’s not simply a nice-to-have, it’s pivotal to how we work: by opening those self-same windows to the world for our clients too, whether for a global business or for a global outlook.
Suffice to say Sam has now returned home with a head full of ideas…and a bag full of merchandise.
A Voice to Parliament
In the coming weeks, we will all have the opportunity to vote in a referendum about whether or not to make a change to the Constitution in order to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a Voice to Parliament.
To help us understand the question, its origins and implications, we arranged for the FutureBrand team to learn more from Nick Eakin from Yes23.
If there was anything that stuck with me, it was this stark sentiment from an Uncle Kenny, as shared by Nick, in response to the possibility that a referendum might lead to a 'no' result:
“We've always lost, we just keep going.”
Naturally, we encourage everyone to do their own research, it’s all part of a process that will very soon involve us all.
That’s it for this month, thanks for reading – as always, happy to share more details on any of these stories, whether it’s a chat over coffee or a presentation to your team, please feel free to ask.