FRECKLE® NEWSLETTER CHAPTER 4
Introduction by TIFFANY FRECKLINGTON, Managing Director, Freckle
tiffany@freckle.com.au
Christmas is fast approaching and with a little help from us we can at least make sure that you have sent out your Christmas cards to your valued clients, customers & suppliers. Give us a shout early and tick that Christmas box. We have also been busy rebranding Freckle®.
I am delighted with our new 'look and feel' and believe it reflects our culture perfectly. A big thanks to our Creative Directors for their tireless effort with regards to this project. Rebranding is a long and involved process but if done right reaps great rewards.
This current issue focuses on our rebranding process as I feel it is important for our clients to understand the process and then evaluate their own brand identity. Freckle® has a new team player who I am excited to introduce - Kathryn Williams is our Financial Director and brings with her a wealth of financial advice and experience.
If you are interested in contributing stories for our next chapter or seeking creative help for your brand please contact Lucy Bingle in our Sydney office on (02) 9212 5117 or email lucy@freckle.com.au
Brandjuice: Consumer insights on brands
By CHRISTINA TULLOCH, Tulloch Wines General Manager
The Tulloch family have been producing award-winning quality wines in the Hunter Valley since 1895. The company is undergoing renewed growth and has recently been rewarded by being named 2007 Cellar Door of the the Year in the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Awards.
We continue to innovate, offering modern wines with a traditional twist and have recently completed redesigning our bottle labels to reflect a more contemporary style. We have a broad customer base and as part of the ongoing development of the Tulloch brand we required a simple, elegant and tasteful booklet that would work as an effective communication device telling the family history and details of our range of premium wines. Mixing traditional styling cues of gold and black with a modern clean, crisp layout underscores our motto that the Tulloch Wines represents "a new era of tradition".
Reaction to the new collateral has been incredibly positive and we are looking forward to extending the branding to other material.
Rebranding represents growth.
Are you growing?
By Tiffany Frecklington, Managing Director
What is it? Re-branding can include the repositioning, revitalising, restructuring or redesigning of some or all of an existing brand's assets.
So why re-brand? The process can seem quite daunting and overwhelming - particularly amongst all your other daily work priorities! But it's fundamentally about addressing strategic business goals such as:
| → | Better aligning your brand to meet shifting customer preferences. |
| → | Enabling extension of your products and services into new markets. |
| → | Establishing a cohesive and consistent brand for use across all media. |
| → | Revitalizing or modernising existing brand. |
| → | Managing changes in internal management culture/re-structure. |
| → | Showcasing your brand's social or environmental responsibility. |
Your brand is one of the most powerful corporate tools available for maintaining and growing any successful business. The challenge of translating all the tangible and intangible products, services and experiences of any organisation into its "brand assets" is integral because these assets:
| → | Impact your brand's positioning/perceived value in the market. |
| → | Represent what your organisation/product stands for. |
| → | Give your organisation/product its personality. |
| → | Give your organisation/product its personality. |
| → | Can (as a registered trademark) provide protection from your competitors copying your formula. This trademark can be in the form of a word, a visual logo (Coca Cola), shape (Coca Cola bottle), sound (Harley Davidson) and even smell (Chanel No. 5) of your product. |
| → | All of these enable a consumer to "connect" with your brand and (hopefully) become loyal to it! |
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Recent re-branding success?
Think about Apple. The brand has always stood for design-led, consumer-focused, innovative technology; however its sales were sluggish. The launch of its new product technology 'ipod' into the market a few years ago provided Apple an opportunity to revitalize its brand. With revitalised brand assets - namely a new visual identity, packaging and advertising campaign - to support 'ipod's' launch, Apple has successfully crossed into and now dominates a new market which for over 10 years had been owned by Sony.
Re-branding and Return-on-Investment (ROI)
Greater scrutiny on every activity's ROI to the business also underpins the importance of re-branding. A recent case study outlined in July/August 2007 issue of "Step Inside Design" showcased results for "a leading brand which had no advertising or consumer promotion activity...(and delivered) a $130 million increase in sales...exclusively the result of the new package/brand identity design."
As part of freckle's vision to be client-focused, results-oriented, innovative creative partners we've recently gone through a re-branding process ourselves. We wanted to present a clear vision of who we are by:
| a. | creating a unique trademark reflective of our name 'Freckle' which can be used in any medium; and |
| b. | developing our positioning statement 'Creative Partners' which is reflective of both our message to clients as well as our internal culture. |
Re-branding checklist
A few key things to remember when re-branding!
| 1. | Remember that your brand starts with your logo and corporate colours...but your brand also encompasses consumers' perceptions and experiences, the quality of your product/service, as well as how it's utilized in any retail and web environment. |
| 2. | Have a plan to keep focused! As a starting point develop your plan identifying the following - situation analysis; objectives; target markets; budget; resources; timeframe; project leader; measures for ongoing assessment and tracking of results. |
| 3. | Leverage existing brand equity and goodwill - sometimes a "new coat of paint" is all that's needed. |
| 4. | Make sure your re-branding is relevant to the needs of your current target market. |
| 5. | Be sure to test, test, test with your consumers. |
And of course once you have re-branded, don't forget to:
| 1. | Have a set of clear and concise brand guidelines to educate your team on how to use your brand assets correctly. Nominate a brand custodian. |
| 2. | Keep an archive and/or sample of each piece of branded work to maintain brand consistency. |
| 3. | Launch your brand and let your clients know you've got a new outlook which is reflective of your business objectives. |
| 4. | Maintain ongoing research with consumers to track recognition and awareness to evaluate your ROI. |
Would you like Freckle to conduct a brand audit at no charge? we will provide a structured branding plan and recommendations to grow your business through design innovation.
Call Tiffany Frecklington direct on 02 9151 5918 or email tiffany@freckle.com.au
Freckle® Showcase
Out latest client work
Subaru Australia
Freckle® has produced press kits for the past five Subaru launches in Australia. The recent Impreza launch represented a major design shift. The 'new look' Impreza was a significant departure from previous model design. It's quieter, more refined and is designed to appeal to a broader audience - especially females. Our role was to design the press kit CD, given to journalists at the launch.
As a reflection of Subaru's innovation, the CD included news releases, image gallery, technical centre, streaming product videos (including crash testing), accessories and parts & servicing all designed as an 'auto run' CD (mini website). This format evolved through a need to display a lot of information quickly while maintaining simple navigation.
Post-Launch the images and information included on the CD featured in national automotive magazines and more than 100 metropolitan and regional publications and online.
Johnson and Johnson Medical
Johnson & Johnson Medical's recent 1800 LIVE LIFE marketing campaign was developed to give the patient all the facts on bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery).
Freckle was asked to design the information pack, mailed out to those who called 1800 LIVE LIFE or logged onto www.weightlosssurgery.com.au as a response to the TV & print advertisements.
The marketing solution followed the journey of real life patients who had undergone weight loss surgery, including the celebrity comedian Mikey Robins. Our role involved refreshing the current brochures included in the information pack. It was important that the core target market would see the images as true to life and allow patients to reflect on the facts about weight loss surgery.
The clients feedback is that it "exceeded expectations".
Tulloch Wines
Tulloch Wines asked Freckle™ to help promote their wine club with the aim to not only increase the number of members but also increase sales.
The booklet would be made available to visitors at the cellar door and had to reflect the heritage and quality of the Tulloch brand. Designed in striking black and gold, the new booklet featured photographs of the vineyards and Tulloch family as well as a fold out membership application form.
Since it's introduction, wine club membership has grown by 200% with a 160% increase in sales. That's a successful story and one we'd like to raise a glass to.
Wieck Australasia
Wieck Australasia wanted to promote digitalbridge, a digital distribution and asset management tool designed to enable clients to provide information to the media.
With digitalbridge, clients have their own state-of-the-art virtual newsroom, letting them manage customised media lists, and offering broadcast-quality video and audio with a high-volume upload capacity.
Freckle™ have produced a range of collateral for Wieck including lealfets, folders, posters and interactive DVDs.
NewsDesk Media
NewsDesk Media is considered to be one of the premier PR photography agencies in Australia. Freckle™ designed a website that showcased their extensive range of photographic services including automotive, editorial, commercial, portrait and industrial photography.
The site features a secure login section for clients to access galleries and proof sheets. A clean, fresh and uncluttered look was achieved by using NewsDesk's own photography across the top of the page that were continually updated with every click through. Another key requirement was to make the site as easy as possible for clients to navigate the various sections.
To see more of Freckle's™ work visit our website at www.freckle.com.au
To find out what Freckle™ can do for you, call Tiffany Frecklington direct on
02 9151 5918 or email tiffany@freckle.com.au
Freckle® Email Best Practice
A quick checklist to get the very best results from email campaigns
The Freckle™ team is proud to announce our partnership with corporate digital communication specialists Concep. Our partnership combines freckle's best practice design with the functionality and high deliverability rates achieved by Concep's dedicated email campaign platform to ensure your message gets heard.
BEFORE YOU SEND YOUR CAMPAIGNS
It's always good to be reminded of what to do when planning and sending your email campaigns. The list below has been compiled by our ever-competent account managers who are working with and advising clients on a day-to-day basis.
| → | When subscribers sign up, educate them about the format in which you will send them messages and what they need to do to receive them properly. If someone receives communications that do not render properly in their email client, they will be far more likely to ignore or even unsubscribe. This includes informing them on how to add your domain name to their address book so that your communications do not get filtered into their junk mail. |
| → | Ensure that you design campaigns for the even the most restrictive image-blocking email clients. This includes the use of descriptive copy around images thus enticing the recipient to take the effort to enable the images within your campaign. |
| → | Display bullet points of the key offerings within your email above the fold, so that even if images are disabled, recipients can still see what information the email contains. |
| → | Where imagery is included, ensure that it is relevant to the subject of the page or article. First, think about the way a recipient will move through the email, then use imagery to attract readers' eyes to specific parts. |
| → | Headlines don't have to be large to be effective. They must work with the structure of the email, and guide the viewer through the content. Readers are capable of discerning the difference between high value content and filler, so headlines must be informative. Capturing the eye isn't enough. |
| → | Give recipients the option of signing up for text-only communications. Be sure to produce a plain text version of your message to be delivered if the HTML version is blocked. |
| → | Always personalise. It truly does make the difference between your recipient reading the message or deleting it. |
| → | If renting data, ensure you have a mechanism (form) to capture recipients' details so you don't have to rent the same names every time. |
| → | Be emotive. Remember that although you are communicating in a B2B environment you need add a human touch in order to instigate interaction between your company and the recipient. |
| → | Take the time to re-read your email and think from the recipient's perspective: 'Would I like to receive this message?' |
To find out what Freckle™ can do for your next email campaign, call Tiffany Frecklington direct on 02 9151 5918 or email tiffany@freckle.com.au
WHAT'S ON
FRECKLE CUP 2007
16 Nov 2007, St Michaels Golf Course
tiffany@freckle.com.au
Sidney Nolan -
A New Retrospective
2 Nov - 3 Jan 2008, NSW Art Gallery
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
All My Friends are Leaving Brisbane (Film)
15 Nov 2007, Indooroopilly Megaplex, Brisbane
www.greaterunion.com.au
Cross Currents: Focus on Contemporary Art
30 Aug - 20 Jan 2007, MCA - Sydney
www.mca.com.au
The Rocks Markets by Moonlight - Sydney
Friday nights Nov 2007
www.therocks.com
Laneway Commissions 2007 - Melbourne
A season of contemporary artworks in the public domain
www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/arts