Brand news, views & insights: September 2024

‘Tis the season

August is a tense time for Australian business: it’s reporting season.

I say tense not only because it comes with a sense of anxiety and nervousness as companies report their earnings for the year but also because there’s a pivotal tension at the heart of every set of numbers.

Statistics. Objective and driven by data.

Stories. Subjective and fuelled by emotion.

All too often companies privilege the one at the expense of the other, when the most compelling approach combines both together in tandem.

Consider for a moment how brands used to be considered exclusively B2C, but now we appreciate they play equally valuable roles both B2C and B2B.

And how brands used to be built only with customers in mind, but now we understand they play equally valuable roles both for customers and for employees.

So, has the time now come for branding to play a more prevalent role in investor relations and communications too? How the investment community perceives your brand carries as much weight as your customers and employees in shaping your future growth prospects. However, investors and analysts are invariably treated to only the most formulaic of communications, something of a missed opportunity when you reflect on this nugget from Morgan Housel in his book ‘The Psychology of Money’.

“Every forecast takes a number from today and multiplies it by a story about tomorrow.”

Your share price – or your sales, revenues or profits – might be your number from today, but it’s informed by how your brand tells your story about tomorrow.

Build a strong brand for your customers and employees, tell a compelling story to your investors too, and your brand can multiply your business.

Is your brand your best-kept secret?

Let me start with a spoiler alert: if the answer to that question is yes, then your brand is not doing its job properly.

Just ask Regional Express, otherwise known as Rex Airlines, in light of their strategy to change their business and extend their country footprint to city routes.

Whenever there’s a change in business, there’s an imperative to change your brand.

For Rex, this was more than a missed opportunity, it was a failure to change their brand in sync with their business.

At FutureBrand, we know a bit about airlines, having helped Air Tahiti Nui and Fiji Airways transform their brands. At the time of Rex’s original strategic pivot, our team here even put some thought into how we might help Rex change their brand and our Strategy Director Emma wrote this commentary:

There are lots of different factors behind the Rex brand, but I think at the heart of it is the experience: namely, service and people.

The flight attendants have real charm and character, which makes them feel almost familial – as if they’re welcoming you back somewhere you’ve been before. It feels like a step back in time (in all the best ways), when there was time and value for good service. It’s a kind of refreshing authenticity that builds trust.

Then there’s something about the whole experience that feels quintessentially Australian in that no-frills, down-to-earth way. There’s even something endearing about the brand (even though it could do with a bit of love), maybe specifically because it doesn’t feel too slick or polished. It’s also a good case in point for how removing friction to increase efficiency isn’t always good for a brand. Their tech is nowhere near as seamless as Virgin, for example, but it gives them more points of human interaction, making the experience more memorable.

And while their brand probably doesn't communicate any of that feeling you get when flying with them, they do live up to their tagline, which I love, ‘Our heart is in the country.’

I think the very first time I flew with them was a couple of years ago to Adelaide, and I definitely chose them for price, so I was expecting something on par with Jetstar. When I realised this wasn’t the case, it felt like I had discovered Australia’s best kept secret.

Rex is a brand with a rich story to tell and engaging experiences to share.

Best kept secret? Or badly managed brand?

Big data, big business

Back in 2017, we began the first of several projects to help build and grow the brand for AirTrunk.

From a start-up in a nondescript office suite in Neutral Bay to what could become the benchmark M&A deal of 2024.

Don’t just take my word for it, here’s the AFR this time last week:

“It’s the biggest deal of the year, and one which almost every investment bank and law firm is devoting their best M&A talent. In all, at least eight investment banks have scored roles – Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and RBC Capital markets are with the Blackstone consortium, while the IFM syndicate has Barrenjoey, JPMorgan and UBS.“

If you want to know what all the fuss is about, AirTrunk builds and manages hyperscale data centres to support today’s most transformational technology companies. Inside the four walls of its data centres are the data and insights that will drive the products and services of tomorrow.

From first the brand strategy to the brand identity; then the EVP and employee experience; and last but not least, the CVP and customer experience. As the business grew, so too the brand scaled in sync with the growing demands placed upon it.

For mine, AirTrunk is an exemplary case of a brand that established a distinctive brand from the start and then consistently delivered on its distinctive elements to create a meaningful and all the more memorable experience for its customers and employees.

While the brand might have evolved over the years, it should come as no surprise that the brand’s success is born of its consistency. Unchanging, unwavering consistency.

From big data to a big brand. And a big business too.

Spot the difference? Rex should have changed but didn’t. AirTrunk could have changed but didn’t. Brand transformation isn’t one size fits all, it all comes down to your brand and business being in sync.

Tick, tock, tech

When Chat-GPT first emerged into our social streams towards the end of 2022, it felt like only a matter of time before Artificial Intelligence might enter the daily ebb and flow of our lives.

Six months later, I took the opportunity to attend the first edition of humAIn, a pioneering AI conference that aimed to examine the real-world innovation and application of AI and machine learning in the media, marketing and creative industries. It was interesting to learn first about those pioneering endeavours, suffice to say that I left the conference with the feeling that it was all very experimental.

In fact, one of the speakers had this to say:

"I hope this isn't an annual thing, it feels like we need to be doing it every month.”

Too true. Fast forward to this year’s edition of humAIn and this time I left with the feeling that AI had already changed.

From experimental. To meaningful.

A case in point was this succinct set of AI principles already in use by SBS:

1. Safety first
2. AI as an intern
3. AI works for you (there’s always a human element to any interaction)

…all very informed and practical, at least as a starting point (which has quite possibly already evolved).

Ultimately, it’s difficult to think of a sector that won’t be impacted by AI, and that’s not surprising given our own FutureBrand Index has consistently identified Technology Adoption & Integration as the number one threat to future success.

And so, after six months of our own internal experiments with AI, we’re now investing in a meaningful strategy for how AI can help us help our clients create, build, transform and grow their brands.

Our own starting point is informed by one of our own clients, namely Faethm, having helped to create that brand when it first launched in 2017. Specifically, it’s informed by the intelligence unearthed by Faethm’s world-first predictive analytics tool, built to model the impact of emerging technologies on the workforce.

Emerging technology including AI will impact the future of work in three ways: (1) Automation, (2) Augmentation, and (3) Addition (ie. new roles/opportunities created).

Consequently, when you consider all three complementary futures, I’ve always found it easy to be an optimist. It’s only a matter of time.

That’s all for this month, I hope you found something to inform and inspire how you manage and grow your own brand. Always happy to hear any feedback, or even answer any questions, I’m here to help.