We Create | Brand Design Consultancy

Brand identity audit = Competitive edge!

Astrid — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:30:30 +0000

How competitive is your brand identity? Don’t know, unsure, never thought about it? If this sounds familiar then a brand identity audit is a winning strategy.

So what is a brand identity audit you ask?

A brand identity audit helps key management understand the condition of the brand identity and provides solutions to the gaps identified between the brand strategy and brand delivery. A brand audit also extends to a review of all brand communications, marketing materials, advertising, website and social media to see how consistent they are and how well they function to represent the desired brand image.

When should a brand identity audit take place?

A brand identity audit should take place annually and at the start of the new financial year to align the brand strategy and marketing plan. Over time your competitors, customer values, products and services can change. Customer perceptions also change. Is your brand identity relevant in today’s marketplace? Has it been reviewed since you started the company?

If I were to pick up your business card right now would it have the same look and feel as your brochure, website and signage? Are you using the colour palette and typefaces specifically developed for your brand? Managing your brand identity correctly will create consistency, value and increase its competitiveness.

The market is always changing and what was relevant five years ago may not be relevant today. It is important to take a step back and review the brand image you are sending out to your customers today.

The benefit to any company committing to a brand audit will protect your brand’s value, increase your brand’s competitive edge, deliver consistent messages across all communications and finally build brand equity.

So click here to book your one-on-one brand identity audit workshop today and get set to give your brand a competitive edge!

We Create has Adelaide covered

Astrid — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:52:05 +0000

We Create has a new city office located in the Westpac House in the heart of the Adelaide CBD.

It’s still business as usual; same exceptional customer service, same specialist graphic design, same strategic results! We’re still consulting on-site, we’re just giving you more options!

This means we have a new office phone number and address…

Our new office number is 08 8233 5998 and our new address is Level 30, Westpac House, 91 King William Street, Adelaide SA 5000.

Nominated for Telstra Business Awards

Astrid — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:18:55 +0000

We Create is proud to announce they’ve been nominated for the HTC Start-Up award of the Telstra Business Awards for the first time.

We’d like to thank our clients who nominated us for the award, we survived the 30-hour entry process!

Prestigious and coveted, the Awards program celebrates the country’s entrepreneurs and innovators. It offers a unique chance for small to medium businesses to be recognised for their hard work, commitment and of course, success. So with great national exposure, a competitive advantage and an opportunity to grow our business world, there’s a lot to celebrate.

The finalists will be announced at the end of June, so until then our fingers are crossed.

In the meantime, you can help us win the 1300Australia People’s Choice Award by voting for We Create – It only takes 2 seconds and your email address, we’d be extremely grateful for your vote!

To vote please click on the graphic below:

Thank you,
Carrie and Astrid

Brand designers doing things differently

Astrid — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 01:28:59 +0000

MEDIA RELEASE | 2 MARCH 2012

Always the innovators, We Create Design Solutions have developed yet another way to add value for their clients, linking with South Australian service providers to build a network of support and skills.

Local Adelaide success story, We Create offer brand identity design strategies for corporate companies and the not-for-profit sector.

With firm business growth and after being nominated for Telstra’s Australian Business Awards, We Create wanted to offer more to their growing list of clients but realised recruiting a new team of internal marketers with proven track records would eat into profits significantly, and perhaps put the celebrated business success in jeopardy. We Create was established on a motto of exceptional customer service and therefore set out to find a new way of getting things done rather than stumble in an unsure financial climate.

A campaign ensued to filter the South Australian market and find the best of the business. We Create can now boast a selection of professionals offering recognised high quality, pioneering services within their newly developed ‘Specialist Network’.

In essence, We Create now has a strong team of professionals who refer to themselves as partners of the business. The Specialist Network allows We Create to take a client’s brand to the next level through linking them to expert media management, innovative online services and copywriters sure to get targeted attention. We Create have developed a unique ‘external team’.

We Create cannot deny that they have also opened up multiple new avenues to network with the wider South Australian market through new passages of support. We Create and their Specialist Network are working together to offer the best of the best.

The Specialist Network has recently announced Donna-Jayne Marketing & PR, SLAM Marketing, Copy with Cream and Ross Cornell Web Developer as the first inductees.

Learn more about We Create’s progressive Specialist Network.

For further information or interview opportunity please contact -

Carrie Buckle – We Create Managing Director and Partner | Mobile 0402 226 449 | Office 08 8326 9237

View and download the PDF version of this Media Release.

Join our team in the 2012 Mother’s Day Classic

Astrid — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:20:28 +0000

As many of you would know we are proud participants in the annual Mother’s Day Classic (MDC). On Sunday, 13 May 2012, we will be participating in our 3rd MDC and would like to invite you to be part of this year’s team. The Mother’s Day Classic is Australia’s largest fun run, and in 2011 raised $3m for breast cancer research.

You can walk, run or stroll your choice of a 4.5km or 7.5km course – but it’s not all exercise! There will be entertainment, face painting, jumping castles for the kids, fantastic prizes to be won and – of course there will be a BBQ breakfast and coffee to power you up for the big event!

For more information and to register as part of the We Create team, go to www.mothersdayclassic.com.au.

How to register as part of the We Create team

Follow the instructions on the homepage and select which event you would like to enter.
Choose how many tickets you would like in each category (eg adult, child, student).
Fill in “Your details”.
When you get to the section titled “Teams”, select the box titled “Choose an existing team”.
Using the drop down menu, scroll to and select “We Create”.
Follow the rest of the instructions to complete your registration and SUBMIT!

Once you’ve registered, email We Create for meeting details.

If you can’t do the walk and you want to show your support, you can sponsor Carrie’s walk. Sponsor Carrie and help make a difference in the fight against breast cancer.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) is the leading community-funded organisation in Australia raising money for research into the prevention and cure of breast cancer. Since NBCF was established in 1994, over $74 million has been awarded to fund over 300 Australian-based research projects across every state and territory, to improve the health and wellbeing of those affected by breast cancer.

We look forward to seeing you in pink (or purple) on the 13th.

Carrie and Astrid

Rebranding is easy with We Create!

Astrid — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:19:47 +0000

With the New Year already upon us many of you will be working on your ‘goals’ and ‘to-do list’ for 2012 and rebranding your company might be hot on the agenda. Unsure if you need to rebrand? Here’s 8 tips to help you on your way.

1. Reasons to rebrand

Your image may be tired, out of date or it may not reflect what you do anymore. If your company has gradually changed over the years, or your company pursues different work to that of the past and your existing branding no longer matchs your products or services. The average lifetime of a brand identity is 7-10 years depending on the industry sector you’re in.

You may wish to actively change the direction of the company away from past activities and have decided to break completely with the old company image.

2. The right brand name

Often company names are based on the name of the person or people who started the company or a spin on what the company does or produces. It is helpful to name your company so that when it is mentioned to someone who has never come across you before, they are able to make an accurate guess at your area of business just from your company’s name. This will also help you online with search engine optimisation.

Once you have your short list of possible new names you will need to check which domain names are available, if you are an incorporated body you will also need to check with the Consumer and Business Services in your state to see that no other company is using the name in your industry sector.

You may also want to check that the company name or trade mark you choose is not trade marked by another company, IP Australia can assist with this.

3. What will need to be redesigned?

Here is a checklist of all the things that you may have had branded with your existing company brand identity and logo design:

For our professional service industry clients, such items as corporate stationery, brochures, flyers, press advertisements, office and vehicle signage, quotations and invoices, exhibition banners, website, e-Newsletters and social media channels will require rebranding.

For our friend’s in the wine industry, such items as corporate stationery, brochures, flyers, press advertisements, wine label design, wine packaging, cartons, tasting notes, promotional items, office and vehicle signage, quotations and invoices, exhibition banners, website, e-Newsletters and social media channels will require rebranding.

4. The costs involved

You need to consider many costs. The obvious ones are reprinting of your corporate stationery and brochures. Your adverts will need to be updated as well as the company website and your e-Newsletter may need to have the banner graphics updated. Don’t forget things like your invoices, your pull-up banner, folders and badges for meetings and exhibitions and freebies like notepads and post-it notes. The other thing to watch out for is rebranding company vehicles, especially if you have lots of them. The cost of rebranding to a one-person company may be limited to website and stationery changes but to a larger firm the costs will be proportionately larger – and need to be carefully planned to avoid overlap of the two brands as much as possible.

5. The benefits

After you have completed your rebranding you have the perfect opportunity to contact all your customers, more than once, to let them know. Contact with customers for a positive reason, not purely to push sales is always good. Customers will be receptive to pure information, without pushy sales messages to get past, and are likely to be more receptive to any brochure you send with your notification letter.

6. Organisation

The rebranding process takes time and effort, attention focuses in the early stages of thinking up new names and deciding what items need to be rebranded first and the others that can wait. A budget for the cost of the process is also a good idea, find out the costs of anything that needs to be printed or re-made and factor them into the cost of the whole process. Don’t forget that meetings and the decision making process all take up time, time in which you might normally be doing company, so add that to the costs as well.

7. Technical stuff

When you have a brand design consultancy or graphic designer to help with your new brand identity design and corporate stationery redesign be sure to ask for a brand style guide to be designed at the same time so that anything produced in the future, in any medium, can be made up using the same colours, typefaces and generally match the spirit of what you already have. At We Create we provide a brand style guide with every branding or rebranding we complete for our clients adding value to their investment.

If your rebranding has changes your email address and website address you may need to adjust the settings on your computer, and your mobile devices, to collect mail from your new address. It’s worth testing this thoroughly before the big switchover, you don’t want to miss business because the email isn’t getting through.

8. Using your rebranded items

As soon as you have a calendar of rebranding activities and your new corporate stationery, start to distribute them on the allotted days when you go networking or have meetings to spread the word about the rebranding. Send out your new stationery and brochures to all your clients and take this golden opportunity to re-connect with them and hopefully kick-start some new orders.

Rebranding is a big project but well worth the effort and don’t forget rebranding is easy with We Create! We specialise in branding – it’s our passion and talent – so if you need a hand don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today to get started on your new brand identity and ring in the New Year with style!

Want more information? Read Carrie’s article on The ins and outs of investing in branding.

View our latest rebranding for Green Pritchard & Co Accountants

Book your free 30-minute Brand Consultation today.

Unsure if you need to rebrand? No problems, schedule your annual Brand Audit with us today.

Get your Instant Brand Score.

Posted by Astrid Varga, Creative Director | 16 January 2012.

We Create Design Solutions is an Adelaide-based brand design consultancy passionate about strategy – not just pretty pictures!

If you want to work with a creative team who can work one-on-one with you to deliver highly personalised, innovative and strategic brand identity design, brand communications, graphic design, logo design and wine label design solutions, get in touch with us today.

Ready to take your brand further? We are.

Telstra’s rebrand takes our top spot

Astrid — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:57:32 +0000

By now you would be familiar with Telstra’s recent rebranding by Interband – with its rainbow colours and catch television commercial jingle, if not check it out here.

Telstra’s $3 million rebranding made our top spot for the best rebrand of 2011 for its strong brand awareness and success in engaging the consumer. Telstra’s consistent use of their new brand identity across all consumer touchpoints from its logo design right through to their colorful phone bills creating a strong awareness for the brand therefore engaging the consumer and increasing brand value.

Telstra’s objective to move away from the old business man persona by adopting a fresh and modern look to target the younger demographic. Interbrand states “Telstra needed a refreshed brand identity to reflect this and communicate its strengths to its 11 million customers. Our research showed that customers don’t understand technology. They find it’s confusing and gets in the way of them getting on with their lives. They find the behaviour of telcos just makes things harder, when what they want most is a company that understands technology on their behalf and makes things as simple and easy as possible…At the very heart of things, customers want to live easier, better-connected lives.”

Interbrand devised the refreshed brand identity to allow Telstra to connect to the full spectrum of customers with the full spectrum of tones, messages, emotions and colours. The connection is literal, but most importantly, it is felt.

Marty O’Halloran, chief executive officer of DDB Group says ”Aspects of people’s lives are not any one colour.” “Injecting the existing branding with a full colour wardrobe means that we can take the Telstra brand to customers in a recognisable, relevant and engaging way.”

The success of this rebranding lies in the brand strategy; to allow Telstra to communicate with greater meaning and emotion, with the flexibility to talk to different customers at different times, in a manner that’s relevant and engaging.

“Get out your rainbow colours! Get out your rainbow colours! So it will be beautiful! So it will be beautiful! Sorry, if you’ve got this song stuck in your head, if I do so do you!

Sourced from Interbrand.

Posted by Astrid Varga, Creative Director | 9 January 2012.

We Create Design Solutions is an Adelaide-based brand design consultancy passionate about strategy – not just pretty pictures!

Ready to take your brand further? We are.

Building your brand using Google+

Astrid — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:11:47 +0000

What’s Google+ all about?

Businesses can create Google+ pages building relationships with prospects and clients on various levels, you can add brands to certain circles, share a page with their network and comment on content posted by that business.

A great way to endorse a business or content is by using the +1 button, you can also take advantage of using the hangout feature were you can use video conference calls with your prospects and customers. I believe this tool really distinguishes Google+ from other social networks.

Tips on setting up your Google+ business page:

1- Set up a Gmail account that is available to a number of people in your marketing team.

2- Create a page by visiting http://plus.google.com/pages/create using the Gmail account you have created. You will have the option to create a local Business, Product or Brand, Company, Institution or Organisation, Arts, Entertainment or Sport, or other.

3- Customising your public profile. This is where you add your elevator pitch and business logo.

4- Start promoting your page – To start promoting your page firstly invest some time in sharing some content with relevant links, photos so it is more attractive to add to people’s circles.

5- Keep it up – regularly share fresh content, react and respond to your fans, be engaging and optimise for lead generation.

Remember to measure and adapt your strategy based on your own results and goals; you will start to see the impact of Google+ on your search engine optimisation and blogging efforts.

So get started and be sure to join our circle.

www.gplus.to/wecreateds

Posted by Carrie Buckle, Managing Director | 17 December 2011.

We Create Design Solutions is an Adelaide-based brand design consultancy passionate about strategy – not just pretty pictures!

Ready to take your brand further? We are.

Merry Christmas from the team at We Create!

Astrid — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:38:16 +0000

We Create Design Solutions would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the past year.

2011 has proven to be another big year for We Create – we rebranded as a branding specialist and received two national awards. These achievements would not have been possible without our loyal family of clients, so again a big thank you for your support!

We’re taking a well-earned break over Christmas and will close Friday 23 December 2011 and re-open on Monday 9 January 2012 rearing to go.

On behalf of The We Create Team, we would like to wish you and your family a safe and very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. We look forward to working with you and your brand in 2012!

Warm Regards,
Carrie and Astrid.

The ins and outs of investing in branding

Astrid — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:44:49 +0000

Through our experience of working closely SME’s we’ve seen many struggle in launching or rebranding their business to the marketplace due to the lack of knowledge of what to invest into their branding.

Unfortunately there is no one size fits all answer. A general rule of thumb is often 10% of turnover.

Ideally your investment will be based on your business goals.
- What do you want to achieve?
- How much revenue do you need to generate?
- What does that equate to in sales?

Answering these questions should help you to determine what you need to invest to generate those goals.

Below is a guide to what you can expect from your branding investment, as published on Ruby Connection’s website.

Less than $3000
It’s very difficult to brand a business for less than $3,000. If you can’t invest in at least this amount you’re not giving your business the best chance to grow.

$3000 – $5000
A strong brand presence to market your business. This could include a brand audit, brand identity and logo design and brand communications such as corporate stationery, comprehensive style guide and a brochure design.

$5000 – $10,000
A professional brand presence online and offline. This could include a branding workshop, brand identity and logo design and such brand communications as corporate stationery, a comprehensive style guide, brochure design, email marketing and a simple website.

$10,000+
A complete brand presence both online and offline. This could include a branding workshop, brand identity and logo design and brand communications such as corporate stationery, a comprehensive style guide and direct marketing campaign. You will could also expect to get a high performing website with some customer relationship management tools, a content management system and email campaigns.

Investing in branding is a powerful way to differentiate your business and increase your market share. It’s a long-term investment with maximum rewards.

Posted by Carrie Buckle, Managing Director | 10 November 2011.

We Create Design Solutions is an Adelaide-based brand design consultancy passionate about strategy – not just pretty pictures!

Ready to take your brand further? We are.