Goldie: Branding
Goldie is an app for buying and selling gold. We got to design the brand, app and digital marketing. The visual language contrasted punchy colours, playful illustrations and clever headlines with accessible financial data, intuitive interfaces and refined typography. Made with Strategy Creative.
ITM: The stuff Kaikoura is made of
ITM Kaikoura wanted to let the locals know that they are the proud sponsors of the Aquatic Centre. To get the message accross we transformed their paint products into a miniature pool. Made with Strategy Creative.
Christmas Carols
Everyone loves Christmas Carols, so for this years wrapping paper I celebrated along with some of the worlds favourite Carols.
Drive Summer Series
The Drive Summer Series campaign sought to increase the brand’s engagement with learner drivers. It was their most successful marketing to date with an increase in site visitors by 69% and a 42% increase in signups compared to the previous year. Made with Strategy Creative and Janelle Barone from Jacky Winter.
Mini MBA in Marketing
I now know what words like segmentation, positioning, and targeting mean. And it’s all thanks to graduating the Mini MBA in Marketing. What a great course. Over three months, Professor Mark Ritson downloaded all his knowledge straight into my brain. In addition to the core teaching sessions and weekly Q&As, there were articles from Marketing Week, papers from Harvard and Stanford, as well as interviews with entrepreneurs and industry leaders. The production quality of the PowerPoint videos where so bad it was good. Picture jet-planes piloted by the collaged faces of Henry Ford and Steve Jobs, stock photos of boardroom meetings that get gate-crashed by Mark, word-cloud art on the difference between qualitative and quantitative research, and best of all – a miniature Mark hopping up the ladder of consumer benefits. It meant I didn’t stop smiling, which meant I learned a lot. The course breaks down the fundamentals of marketing into a suite of modules. The first few establish marketings ground rules. Essentially that it’s all about ensuring a business orientates itself to the needs, values, and desires of its customers. If you can’t do that then don’t bother with the rest.
With that in mind, Mark proceeded to unpack the essential components of a good marketing strategy. It begins by segmenting the market. It’s like taking a pie and slicing it up into parts. Segmentation creates a map, illustrating who the high-value customer is and if they are key influencers upon any other groups. After that comes targeting. This is about determining which segments of the market to aim your products and services at – as well as those you won’t. To do this, it can help to create audience personas – compelling portraits of who they are, what they think, what they value, what frustrates them, and what they need. After that, it’s time for positioning. This is basically as easy as ABC. Who is your audience? Why does your brand exist? Who do you compete with? By deeply engaging with these questions - we can tightly articulate the brand positioning that solves a customer’s problems and distinguishes a brand from its competitors. To develop that positioning statement, Mark suggests climbing the benefits ladder, up up and away from product features towards emotional benefits. For example, WallMart used to claim ‘Always low prices. Always.’ but shifted it to ‘Save money. Live better.’ Once all this foundational thinking is complete it’s time to determine the marketing strategy. A good strategy is fundamentally about diagnosing the challenge the brand faces, a guiding plan to tackle this challenge, and the actions needed to complete that plan. To help diagnose the problem you face, Mark suggests looking for holes that need stopping up in the marketing funnel. And to develop a plan of attack for how you stop up those holes. He suggests using a SMART goal. This is essentially a succinct guiding statement that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timebound.
Once a strategy is in place it’s time to put it into action. The first module focused on products and services. It led with a quote from Peter Drucker: ‘A customer rarely buys what a business thinks it sells.’ For example, I’m not buying a kitchen, I’m buying clear communication and reassurance it’s all under control. I’m not buying a logo, I’m buying a process that reliably delivers results. A customer’s journey to purchase is a long wriggly road - it’s important to build trust early and often to re-enforce the brand positioning at every touchpoint. This leads to distribution channels. Basically, if you have to choose, pick the channels that align with what you do, otherwise be the brand that exists everywhere – removing all barriers between you and the consumer. The next module was pricing. The key point here was that perceived value and the cost of production are not the same things. So, when we price a product or service based on a mark-up of the cost to produce, we end up leaving money on the table. To illustrate, Mark referenced the differences in approach of Samsung and Apple in the smartphone market. Samsung has 22% of the market vs Apple’s 13%. However because Apple’s operational costs are lower, but their recommended retail price is higher – their profit margins are 40% compared with Samsungs 18%. It’s better to overprice your product than underprice it. Why? Underpricing means reduced revenues, reduced profits, reduced brand equity, reduced marketing investment, encourages price wars, and ultimately turns your brand into a commodity. The last few modules focused on brand and integrated campaigns. Whether it’s creating brand distinction or communicating brand values it’s necessary to select the right tool for the job. By understanding your audience, the brand positioning, and the marketing objective – you’ll know which media channels and combinations are best to achieve the best outcome.
Sweet Baby Cheesus
For this year’s Christmas paper design I had the pleasure of drawing up a delightful collection of Sweet Baby Cheesus. Enjoy :)
Food Envy: Branding
Food Envy needed to rebrand in order to grow their market share. We worked on the brand and marketing strategy to position themselves as caterers for foodies. The brand execution across colour, typography and photography reflects a spirit of hospitality. Made along with YMC Design.
Life Force Tiles
This concept was inspired by the zen garden. A space for contemplating nature and the life-force that moves through it. The way that the raked stones form writhing lines, suggestive of infinite looping energy. The colours takes their cue from the shrines, temples, and tori gates that often sit alongside the zen garden. The work was a finalist in a competition run by DINZ.
Zany Zeus: Branding
We got to redefine how the iconic dairy brand connected with their customers. Their customers valued the eccentric spirit of the brand and the level of craft they bought to their products. So the brand positioned itself on the idea that ‘Food is our religion’. Designed with Strategy Creative.
Mark Pollard’s Four Points
We’ve been using Mark Pollards strategic framework a lot lately to develop the strength of our thinking. I’m loving its simplicity and the way it forces you to ask better questions which in turn provokes better thinking. For the full article visit: www.markpollard.net/how-to-do-account-planning-a-simple-approach/
Wellington Tourist Map
I wanted to make it easy for our guests to make their way around Wellington like a local. So I developed this set of maps of the city’s best eats and attractions.
Raise the standard: Tone of voice
The Raise the Standard brand exists as an unbiased voice to communicate the healthy homes standards to tenants and landlords. We developed the brand, tone of voice and marketing material. The campaign created 71,276 site visits during three months of launch activity. Designed with Strategy Creative.
Pataka: Brand refresh
Pātaka is the cultural heart of Porirua. We helped redefine the vision for their brand and digital presence. We then implemented a design system that elevated the museum’s taonga and its role as a cultural hub. The website was designed on the concept that the gallery is full of hidden treasures. Designed with Strategy Creative.
Drive Summer
This series of videos was for Drive’s summer campaign. The concept taps into their audiences desire for freedom. Designed with Strategy Creative. Animation by Leo Chida.
Coastella: Festival Branding
Coastella is Wellington’s biggest indie music festival. The brand concept is ‘Mysterious earworm’. Visuals that get stuck in your head like a good song. Designed with Strategy Creative.
Drive: Get comfortable
Latest ad for Drive VR. The concept speaks to the idea that using VR can help young people to pratice driving before they start driving. Designed with Strategy Creative. Produced by Flying Saucer.
Tinker Tailor: Branding
The brand idea for Tinker Tailor was a split personality that’s twice as good. It informed everything about the business from the ground up. Tinker Tailor make two drinks. One timeless, and one a little messed with. The work gained recognition at both AGDA (Distinction) and Best Awards (Finalist.) Designed with Strategy Creative.
