Umbrella Companies

Have you ever been shocked to find out that some of the brands and products you have been so very loyal to for ages were actually subsidiary companies to a larger, potentially less customer centred holding company? Well, Unilever is attempting to be one of the first to break that shock by incorporating all of its subsidiary companies into their newest logo, as seen below.




Research has

The Key to Luxury Brand Revival - Is Evolution the Solution?

When it comes to luxury fashion brands I have this overwhelming need to be in the know; whether it’s following changes in their corporate line-up, or obsessively waiting for new campaign images to be released – it’s been somewhat of an obsession of mine to consume this information and catalogue it for later use. So when I recently read about some of the challenges that the Italian luxury brand,

Master of Marketing Students visit Landor Associates

A few weeks ago, several students from the Master of Marketing course, including myself, were given the opportunity to visit Landor Associates’ Sydney Office, and hear about their unique approach to branding. Putting aside the breath-taking view from their office (as seen above), it was a truly insightful experience, and a great opportunity to ask industry specific questions and gain both an

Storytelling - The New Way Forward

Within both the content being studied in our classes and my own extra-curricular reading, I keep coming across the idea of ‘storytelling’, and I really wanted to discuss how powerful this method of communication could be for a brand, if harnessed correctly.

The first instance of storytelling that I came across was in reading an article published by The Business of Fashion on the success of

Going to places where brands have never been, with GoPro

There are a lot of murmurs about Gopro on the Internet at the moment, with many news websites speculating about their plans to take the IPO plunge. However, Gopro seems to regularly generate a lot of attention, as new videos are constantly circulating which showcase not only beautiful scenery and extreme sports, but also the capabilities of the tough little camera.

The word Gopro brings to

Do you believe in marketing miracles?

As the
Christmas season approached last year, my 13-year-old son asked me if Santa
Claus was real.  It made me aware of the
fact that he is getting older, and beginning to question some of the ideas he
previously simply accepted as the truth. 
I procrastinated in giving him a direct answer. Instead, I left my son
wondering if there is something special and unexplainable about the Christmas

Coca-Cola to donate advertising spend to typhoon relief

It is incredibly rare to see a meme on the
underdog site, reddit, praising the
actions of a global giant. So when the above meme appeared on the forum, it was
hard not to notice. Although discussion on the topic varies from critique to
compliment, the commitment made by the company in support of the victims of
Typhoon Haiyan is significant.



From 18 November, all media from Coca-Cola
has

What SHAPES a brand?

 
Throughout the Masters of Marketing program we have covered the subject of branding quite extensively, from building a strong brand (Innovative Marketing Strategies), measuring its effectiveness (Evaluating Marketing Performance), through to leveraging it internally (Internal Marketing).  But what does a brand manager actually do?  I caught up with a senior brand manager from Arnott’s to

Why we become a brand liker on Facebook?

I have just become a Red Bull Facebook fan. Honestly I don’t know what compelled me to sign up. Yes, I do like all extreme sport images they post. But being a Master of Marketing student, I query about if there is something more than simply being a Facebook fan of particular brand, or whether or not it actually affects my purchasing habits of Red Bull?



Why do consumers sign up for brand pages

Six Questions: James Watson

Last month the University of Sydney’s Business School held Branding You, a showcase reception at the new Business School CBD Campus. We were lucky to get the chance to hear about personal branding from an esteemed panel, including a graduate of the marketing discipline here at the business school, James Watson.



James, one of our first class Honours graduates in Marketing, has had a

“Branding You” Event at the New Business School in the CBD

Last week, a showcase reception was held in the new Business School CBD Campus. Being a student of the Masters of Marketing, we are often privy to events such as these that provide invaluable networking opportunities, as well as a chance to broaden our knowledge and insight.



I’ve got to be honest, the canapés and beverages always draw me in, but I always leave with more than just a

Even Margaret Thatcher has a Personal Brand

When Facebook has a group with nearly 40,000 ‘Likes’ whose sole purpose is to track your death, you know that you’re not in the running for a popularity contest. The Facebook group: ‘Is Margaret Thatcher Dead Yet?’ was created in 2010, and only changed its profile picture on April 8th from ‘NOT YET’ to ‘YES, Margaret Thatcher is Dead’. According to comments on the group, there were people that

Branding the Un-Egg-spected

The other day when deciding on which eggs to buy during my weekly grocery shop, I stumbled upon branded eggs. By ‘branded eggs’ I don’t mean that there was a company name on the egg carton, these were literally branded eggs with the company logo printed on each egg shell.



Twelve beaming smiling faces greeted me as I opened the carton of eggs from Sunny Queen Farms to check that all the