Shutterstock And B&T Land In New Zealand To Discuss All Things Visual Identity
Global image provider Shutterstock landed in Auckland, New Zealand on Tuesday as part of its B&T Breakfast series roadshow.
Exploring the theme of visual identity, the event was hosted by B&T reporter Daisy Doctor, and held at the Hilton Auckland to a jam-packed room.
Shutterstock Custom general manager Grant Munro gave the keynote address for the breakfast, during which he spoke of the dire importance for brands to create a unique and specific visual identity.
To dive into this topic of making brands stand out, Munro was joined by some local talent to discuss the challenges of creating a seamless visual identity in a panel discussion.
Bruce Pilbrow took to the stage, who heads up the marketing team at Yellow, a rambunctious and multi-talented team working hard to transform an iconic New Zealand brand, with a continued focus on helping businesses navigate the digital marketing space.
Joining him was Shane Evans, who has been with ABS for more than seven years and in the last three years Auckland Savings Bank (ASB) Marketing has won over 50 NZ and global awards.
As a group, Munro, Pilbrow and Evans touched on a plethora of topics, though the discussion point which held the audiences’ attention, that being how to define visual identity and how each brand is adapting to this.
Speaking on defining visual brand identity, Evans said: “I guess with ASB visual identity is probably something we focus on a lot but not enough, if you look at any brand in the marketplace, there were times when we were together and times we were apart.”
“Your brand can become quite fragmented quite quickly and I really pull that down to boredom by the marketing teams and boredom by the creative teams, always keen to change things and part of me enjoys that.”
On a more general level, Evans added: “I think brands are like humans you want to keep it quite fresh nothing worse than saying the same thing over and over again
something that is a continuous struggle but something we do well.
“You’ve just got to keep working on it. You’ve got to be able to say yes and no.”
Pilbrow then stepped in to speak about Yellow, as a truly unique brand that has undergone massive branding and visual changes in the last 12 months.
For Pilbrow: “Yellow is a real interesting challenge, I don’t think there’s a more fragmented brand in New Zealand than Yellow.
Speaking on creating a visual identity for brand’s, he said: “A lot of it comes down to people’s perception of it, how long it’s been in the market, how Aucklanders usually think compared to the rest of New Zealand.”
What became interesting in this part of this discussion was looking at both companies as such intrinsically New Zealand brands, which have a huge amount of clout in the country.
This was demonstrated by Pilbrow stating: “One of the most shocking stats we got is that we get 9 million look ups a month in book, and 76 per cent of those go through to a phone call and 67 per cent go through to a transaction; show me a website that does that, so it’s impressive.”
Though he admitted, as a brand, Yellow was for some time “confused”.
“We were debating for some time should we use the fingers or not? So we had visual and brand confusion.
“This year we’ve just gone down one route, with ‘We Are Yellow’.
“We’re proud of our book and digital presence because they’re both important.”
Pilbrow added: “The brand identity has to change from the fact were transactional product to a marketing solution to a small business.
“For us it’s a massive challenge to reinvigorate our brand but use the trust place from consumers onto us as a way of doing so, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Both Evans and Pilbrow agreed, that “being disrupted massively is a good wake up call for a recreating a brand’s visual identity”.
Latest News
The Mars Agency Announces Latest Findings Of Retail Media Report Card
The Mars Agency has developed a scorecard that assesses the capabilities of leading platforms across key criteria required to optimally plan, execute, and measure effective retail media programs. The scorecard aims To help brands efficiently evaluate their spending options across retail media networks in Australia (and New Zealand). With spending on retail media advertising in […]
‘It’s The Lesser Of Two Evils’ – NRL Eyes US Betting Market As Aussie Regulators Circle
US betting firms will be delighted by the circa 50,000 Americans who could soon watch the NRL on their favourite app.
A-League In Deep Discussions With New Partner To Keep Games On TV After Production Company Enters Administration
The A-League's insatiable appetite for scoring own goals continues.
TV Ratings (27/03/2024): Jungle Members At War Over Concealed Lipstick
A heated argument between two jungle members did the numbers for Ten last night, with I’m A Celeb obtaining a total national reach of 1,282,000. Fans were delighted as Candice Warner and influencer Skye Wheatley got into it over a stick of lipstick, leading Warner to dub the Instagram star “selfish.” Wheatley, best known for […]
Is The Australian Music Industry In Trouble? Inquiry Launched Following Splendour Cancellation
Earlier this week, an inquiry was launched into the challenges and opportunities currently facing the Australian live music industry in the wake of multiple festival cancellations. On 25 March 2024, the Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Tony Burke MP, asked the Committee on Communications and the Arts to inquire into and report on the […]
Liana Dubois, Leandro Perez, Aimee Buchanan & More Gather For Inaugural Compadres Leadership Event
Didn't get the invite? Perhaps you're not as important as you thought.
Cathay Captures The Unforgettable Thrill Of Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, Via Publicis
Nobody does rugby like Hong Kong, apparently. Certainly nobody does it as badly as Australia.
Cocogun Nabs Christine Watts, Kirsty Reynolds & Shev Tan Bolstering Management & Creative Teams
Cocogun bolsters its team with new hires. Committed to purchasing a bigger sofa, too.
The Media Store’s Jacquie Alley & Sam Cousins Take The Plunge With Pro-Bono Work For Cure Cancer
B&T chats with The Media Store bosses about their great pro-bono work and sponsored swim.
Hawke’s Brewing Co. Taps Rocket Comms For PR Agency Following Competitive Pitch
We're expecting Rocket Comms productivity to crash in spectacular fashion following this win.
Spotlight On Sponsors: Patties Serves Up A Taste Of Home For Olympians & South Sydney Rabbitohs Recommit To Gambling Reform
While the Rabbitohs commits to gambling reform, B&T reckons the team should commit to a decent auto sponsor.
Google: “Inevitable” That Bad Actors Will Abuse Ads Platform As Advertiser Account Suspensions Double
Google maintains it's simply impossible for it to entirely stop bad people placing & paying for ads using its service.
Quantcast Expands APAC Sales Team With Appointment Of News Corp Account Manager
No pressure at all when you are appointed as a client success manager.
Publicis Sapient Tests Microsoft-Powered Gen AI Search Tool With Homes & Villas By Marriott Bonvoy
Given Gen AI's record for mangling stuff, B&T cannot see the problem with letting it decide your next holiday digs.
Volkswagen & DDB Group’s “Roo Badge” To Reduce Kangaroo Related Road Collisions
Watch out for RooBadge as Cannes Lions' most debated campaign this year.
Twilio Launches Unified Profiles & Agent Copilot Features To Boost Productivity & Engagement
Agent Copilot sounds like James Bond's less interesting cousin.
Reebok & Honda Among New Clients For onetwo agency
OneTwo finally lives up to its name with this double billing.
Ogilvy Report: Throw Out The Social Strategy Rule Book, The Rules Of The Past No Longer Apply
B&T was puzzled that all 'influencers' aren't, effectively, 'virtual', but here we are.
WhiteGREY & AKQA Merge In Australia, Lee Simpson Departs
Fortunately, the combined agencies aren't opting for a trite portmanteau for the new name.
Splendour In The Grass 2024 Music Festival Cancelled!
Music fans all over the country reportedly relieved they can pack away their rain coats and gumboots for another year.
TV Ratings (26/03/2024): “Fairy Bread, F***ing Disgusting”: Gordon Ramsay Slams Aussie Food In Food Stars Launch
Ramsay not one for mincing his words, even when it comes to minced meat pies.
Paramount+ International Boss Doubles Down On Aussie Content, Says Ad-Tier will Grow Audiences And Revenue
Good news as Paramount will not be binning I’m A Celebrity for re-runs of Frasier.
Brent Smart: Telstra Pushing For 50-50 Brand-Performance Split But Warns Numbers ‘Won’t Look Great’ Initially
The old brand vs performance debate continues. But here, Brent is firmly sitting on the fence.
Crowded House, Tones And I & Dom Dolla Win Big At The Shure Rolling Stone Music Awards
B&T staffer reports back with humdinger of a hangover & feeling seriously uncool after mixing with music types.
Opinion: Dyslexia “A Hidden Gem” For Brands & Agencies
Dyslexics offer underappreciated benefits in the corporate field, according to this op-ed.
David Jones Taps Criteo To Power Online Retail Media Arm
Want to see ads for things you probably can't afford? David Jones has got you covered with new retail media play.
oOh!media Sets Up Team To Target Business Audiences Across Airports & Offices
oOh! wants brands to harass you every minute of your next business trip.
QMS Launches Australian First DOOH & TV Partnership With Samba TV
Samba TV, of course, is not a channel dedicated to dancing. Much to our dismany.
Slew Of New Hires At Amplify
Four new faces join the Amplify offices. Team say desk scarcity becoming "acute".
Adobe Announces Content Authenticity Initiative Expansions To Counter Deep Fakes
Try as they might to enlighten them, we suspect Trump supporters will continue to watch and believe Fox News.
The PR Group Appoints TechCrunch Senior Reporter Catherine Shu As Director Of Content & Media
Catherine Shu makes the bold leap from journalism to PR. Says inevitable pay bump was "unrelated".
HERO Nabs Ebony Santin From AMPR
Rumours Santin cleared out the stationery cupboard before departing are as yet unconfirmed.
Karena Noble Checks Out Of EVT Hotels & Resorts To Launch Comms Consultancy
Noble still managed to squeezed in a continental breakfast before departing.
Canva Acquires Design Platform Affinity To Bring Professional Design Tools To Every Organisation
Canva & Adobe face off continues. We're not picking sides but keenly aware that Canva's office is next door to ours.
“Lean On Our Team To Help You Find An Audience”: Why Understanding Audience Engagement Is Essential In Journalism
Engaging the audience is critical to journos, apparently. We'd thought self-loathing & alcoholism were key.
Adobe Summit: Major Gen AI Developments, Data Concessions & Partnerships
What happens in Vegas stays there. Unless it's the Adobe Summit and then you get to read about in B&T.