Fysh Rutherford: A logo is not a brand

By Fysh Rutherford, founder, The Yellow Collective

Thirty years ago I was invited by Mimmo Cozzolino to assist him on the production of Symbols of Australia, the definitive history of Australian trademarks and branding.

At the time Mimmo was heading up All Australian Graffiti – a design studio consisting of an Italian, Greek, Pole, Englishman and an Australian.

I was writing Iron Outlaw – a social satirical comic strip for the National Review.

Both of us were concerned with counteracting the Americanisation of Australia. Our television was being flooded with American sitcoms. We were buying American fads of hula-hoops and yoyos by the truckload. And most importantly, we were sending our young blokes off to an American war in Vietnam.

All Australian Graffiti explored Australian imagery in a contemporary environment and Iron Outlaw aimed to give Australia its own super hero to battle the Marvel Comics invasion.

Symbols of Australia became the perfect vehicle to resuscitate the Australian visual identity. And now 30 years later and in its fifth incarnation, it is still going strong.

Thousands of logos and products were collected, photographed and categorised. Brand stories were researched.  People were interviewed and corporate archives were raided.

When it was all finished, Symbols had started my love affair with branding and allowed me to go on and enjoy a rewarding career in marketing, branding and advertising.

Symbols of Australia taught me some valuable lessons. The main one is that a brand is not just a logo. A brand is a relationship between a product and a customer. Branding is the creation of that relationship. It is all about the building of a brand personality and communication language that flags the would-be target and demands their attention.

Big successful brands are not just luck. They need planning and consideration to bring them to life. They only grow on a solid brand strategy built on insights about consumer needs. Then they stand the test of time and reward their masters with healthy profits.

We can all name our favourite beer, car and restaurant. We go to one hairdresser. We wear a certain brand of jeans. All these brands are badges for who we are.

Chesty Bond, Vegemite, Aspro, Redhead matches, Vic Bitter, Jaffas are all great Australian brands that live in our hearts. This is the real power of brands.

But are things changing?

We are now moving into a period where Brand Awareness is dictating the brand name and look. Search terms used as URL’s are becoming the new brand leaders – carsales.com.au, realestate.com.au, carloans.com.au. That is it, the brand name, brand logo and brand itself.

The brand name is one-dimensional. It is aimed at getting a high search optimisation and that is the only desired outcome. Brand personality and identity recall are non-existent. All they want is for you to pragmatically go to a website and they will lead you on the pathway to purchase from there.

With the increased emergence of Artificial Intelligence, the next stage of branding will be using brand algorithms to have the brand talk to your “intelligent” phone. It will then decide whether you need to know about that brand offering, editing out anything that doesn’t suit your desired profile.

For the moment, however, we are still leaving it up to the consumer to decide what brands they like and who they want to be associated with.

One of the modern spins on branding is that the “Brand is the promise you make” and “The Customer Experience is the promise you keep”.

I’m reminded of the Brilliantine Cream and Shampoo Company in Sydney who in 1938 labelled their brand as “Bonza Sheen” and their customer promise as “The sheen that dazzles”.

We may think we have come a long way with the science of branding, but have we? The engaging idea has never gone out of fashion. People will either love your product or they will not. A logo with a backstory and an idea will go a long way to generating that love. At the end of the day we all like branding that has a bonza sheen.

For a copy of Symbols of Australia, click here.

Fysh Rutherford is currently transitioning out of the T20 Group, where he has been a partner and creative director for the last 14 years. He is now focused on offering his expertise through his own brand consultancy – the Yellow Collective Pty Ltd.

If you wish to contact Fysh Rutherford about his consultancy and for advice on your brand and branding email fysh@yellowcollective.com.au or mobile 0412 547 486 or visit branding.com.au.