Ever wondered what really goes on in agencies when they create brands? There’s a lot of brainstorming, cups of coffee, drawing and scribbling – all in the name of idea generation! It’s hard work, but a lot of fun. At Brio Group, we recently brought the SpareTicket.com.au brand to life. Everything from the branding through to website, social media, marketing collateral and advertising kits.

To discover more about the steps, how we work, and hear an insight behind the creative and strategic minds of some of the Brio crew, check out our YouTube clip. We hope you enjoy!

To see the brand in action, visit the SpareTicket.com.au website.

Yours in branding,

Julia

When building a successful brand, it’s important to understand the impact your logo will have on how you are perceived within the market, its ability to communicate, and its appeal to your target market. This doesn’t necessarily mean it has to say or look like the product or service you are marketing.

Looking at the major brands like Pepsi, Ford, Nike and Canon, it seems the common saying still rings true: keep it simple. Apple learnt this the hard way when they first launched in 1976. Their intricate logo failed to impress their target market, and failed to communicate clearly. So they employed Rob Janoff to simplify it to the iconic apple symbol we know and love today. This symbol has evolved to not only represent the company, but the style and quality of their products. That’s why it’s so important to do the ground work in the beginning, to make sure you hit the mark! After all, first impressions count, and can last a long time!

That’s why we love branding here at Brio Group, we get to be apart of it from the beginning, to see your brand grow into something truly special! To read more about the evolution of some famous brands, click here

Yours in branding,

Tara

It’s no surprise then, that effective cut-through communication relies on the mutual understanding of those words and their intended meaning by both sides in the communication equation – sender and receiver. We often forgot that with the rise of social media it’s not enough to simply send your message out into the world; it needs to be understood quickly so it can be processed and acted upon even quicker.

I saw a video recently of a homeless man on the street, his sign saying “PLEASE HELP, I’M BLIND”. He had a few people stopping by and giving money, but nothing that would greatly ease his suffering. He had the right message, but the wrong words to create action in his audience.  His message wasn’t cutting through all the other market place noise.

The clip continues as a professional woman comes into shot. She pauses, picks up his sign. You see her hastily writing something, but you’re unsure what. The homeless man touches her shoes as she puts the sign back into position beside him. The scene changes and more donations are being given to help, the homeless man scrambling to capture all coins in his tin. The professional woman returns after some time and the homeless man recognises her by her shoes, which he’s felt again. He asks with genuine sincerity and appreciation, what did she do to his sign and her reply? “I wrote the same, with different words”.

She used the right words, in the right context to create cut-through communication and connection between sender and receiver, and the effect in this demonstration was profound. Imagine if all your communication was received this way.

Brio Group can help you find the right words to achieve cut-through communication in the busiest of marketplaces. We also offer helpful hints on writing better Press Releases, creating copy for your ads and understanding the rapidly growing business benefits of social media.

Yours in 355 specifically chosen words,

Sheri

I woke up this morning bursting with blog article ideas – weekend outings, upcoming events, social media trends, mind blowing marketing campaigns – but then I got to work, and the words disappeared like water droplets in the desert.

I was stuck at a creative roadblock and regardless of the subject I started on; I failed to find the flow. I started searching online, frantically trying to find a theme that could inspire readers, inspire creativity and give me a topic all rolled into one. But alas, nothing was found. Until that is, I employed a little technique I learnt during a Copywriting course with Ad School last year.

The technique is easy to learn and simple to perform. All it requires is a piece of paper, pencil, a few words (maybe a dictionary will help) and 100 blank boxes on a page.

So I took a deep breath, opened my dictionary and based on the first word that appeared (pineapple) I started drawing whatever came into my head. For one whole minute I let my stream of consciousness flow, and it was refreshing not to have to get it “right” first time around.  I continued doing this, randomly finding words in the dictionary and drawing whatever idea, thought, or image came into my head until 10 minutes had lapsed.

Until that is, I arrived here, telling everyone about the 100-box technique and how it’s a lifesaver for anyone in need of a creative solution.

In times of creative droughts, how do you find and cultivate your creativity?

Yours in creativity,

Sheri

Background:

To create a website to buy, sell and share tickets to Australian-wide events online. Our client approached us to turn her innovative idea into reality. From sketches and strategy through to concept and creation, we enlisted each area of Brio: design, digital, advertising and PR to build a brand that had wings. Enter: SpareTicket.com.au – your ticket to adventure.

Objective:

To build a brand that has wide-spread consumer appeal in the Australian market. To create a brand concept and strategy and roll this out across every touchpoint. To consult on advertising directions and opportunities that meets client’s business plan. To offer strategic direction for online marketing opportunities to attract new audiences on a minimum advertising spend.

In meeting these objectives, it was essential to keep the core brand attributes in mind: fun, engaging and memorable. A website that is easy to use, creates happiness and connects users.

Strategic Direction:

To bring to life a brand that is hinged on happiness, we developed a concept based on a free-spirited magpie – the traditional symbol of happiness. The bird has the potential to become a mascot, an easily-identifiable icon that is SpareTicket.com.au all over: fun, lively and happy.

We wanted to build a brand that went beyond a ‘buy and sell’ website. To create market cut through we developed a ‘challenge’ option: for example, mow someone’s lawn, or be their plus one in exchange for a ticket. This angle is unique in the market, adds PR appeal and opens up the connection-building objective.

To attract the target audience and communicate in channels they’re comfortable and responsive in, we pitched a social media strategy using Facebook and Twitter. After training the client and producing content calendars and a strategy that was in line with Facebook fan engagement ads, the brand was brought to life in the social sphere – an integral part of SpareTicket.com.au’s marketing. We also integrated their Facebook presence on the website’s home page.

Results:

We successfully produced SpareTicket.com.au by its launch date: 20 December 2010. The site is easy-to-use and is equipped with functionality that allows people to seamlessly buy, sell and connect with each other. The Facebook page acheived significant growth in the first month (over 500+ fans) and we continue to monitor this new site’s buy, sell and share results.

To discover our other case studies and see how we build brands for our clients, please visit the Work page of our website.

Yours in branding,

Julia

Well the people of Auckland have done just that with their “Beautify Your City” campaign which aims to prevent the illegal dumping of rubbish in city flowerbeds, as well as making the rubbish placed on sidewalks impressively “disappear” before our eyes. The result of this campaign turned ugly sidewalk displays like this:

…into beautifully hedged CBD pathways and gardens like these:

So as we move towards a more environmentally friendly world, where recycling is encouraged more frequently, it’s nice to see even our unrecyclable waste can be beautified and reused, if only for a short time.

The only question I have now is when will they be coming to Australia so I can stop taking out the rubbish (which is a personal hate chore of mine) and start designing my environment?

Yours in urban design,

Sheri

I won’t hold any more of you eager learners back by raving about why you should check the following sites out, and just cut to the chase, below are a few sites you might not have heard of that are definitely worth the bookmark or RSS subscription.

1. OnTwik

An excellent resource for designers and developers dedicated to showcasing lectures, conferences and other video resources.

2. DesignIsKinky

An Australian art and Design resource that is great for inspiration and finding out what’s on locally.

3. SitePoint

An incredidbly valuable resource targeted at pretty much everyone in the Communication Design industry, great podcasts, great articles and just generally useful references. They even write their own textbooks!

4. Fonts In Use

Fonts in Use is a fantastic typography resource, great for keeping up with trends in type and full of awesome tips and tricks.!

5. YouTheDesigner

This is a cool blog full of interesting and useful print, web and photography tid bits.

6. Bittbox

A great place to find both paid and free resources including fonts, designs, tutorials and showcases of user’s work.

7. Design Float

A DIGG-like website for graphic and web designers that has a nice broad selection of topics presented in a very to the point fashion.

Yours in design and technology,

Lee

The latest Land Rover

The latest Land Rover, named Evoque, has broken with a long-standing tradition at Land Rover. Since 1948 all Land Rovers have been at least part time 4 wheel drive, and since the original Range Rover they all been full time 4wd.

This new, small, front wheel drive coupe has more to do with the fashion world that the mud-plugging abilities of its brethren in the Rover stable, whose reputation in off-roading is unsurpassed.

Having seen the success of European, Japanese and Korean soft roaders that look like a 4wd, but are not sold to do anything more than a family hatchback,
Land Rover enlisted Vogue to help them to launch their latest luxury lightweight into fashionable society.

Vogue came up with Victoria Beckham for the launch (she who was once spiced up, and is now cashed up, and with her own fashion label) to identify the new car as desirable to the target market. While the cognoscenti may sniff, Land Rover is now owned by Tata Motors, and their market extends to India and China, where too subtle marketing is a waste of time, and soccer and the Beckham name, is on the up.

It is a bold move, and one that should spin off nicely for the former Posh, if she has attached herself to a success story in Asia.

Yours in Design,

Richard

Johnson provides a wonderful insight into the benefits of team work and the open discussion of ideas. He dispels the idea of the ‘epiphany’ and credits good ideas to an intricate network formed through the sharing of ideas over time. The idea could have been building for a while, taking many years to form, but is often refined and polished with contributions from other networks and sources.

With the recent release of facebook movie The Social Network, where intellectual property becomes a precious, money generating commodity, it’s no wonder we protect our ideas with laws and contracts. But in the greater scheme of technological and scientific progression, are we hindering our potential to grow and learn by limiting how much of our knowledge we share?

Do you think intellectual property should be made more accessible?

Yours in idea networking,

Tara

Interested in more? Catch the Steven Johnson TED talk: Where good ideas come from

But don’t worry Twitter fans! I know you’ve been wondering how great the Twitter movie could be… so here’s a sneak peak of the fictitious Twitter movie! Enjoy!

Yours in social networking,
Tara