FutureBrand unveils new rebrand for Staples Australia and NZ; launches new Winc identity

Today Staples Australia & New Zealand announced an ambitious new transformation plan, challenger brand and identity to be launched into the market via FutureBrand.

The company serves over 26,000 customers across Australia and New Zealand including some of the countries’ largest financial institutions, telcos, healthcare providers and universities.

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Core to the transformation program is a strategic shift from products to solutions, supported by significant investment in the supply chain, an enhanced digital experience and a new offering to give customers’ data-driven insights into the overall performance of their company.

The company has engaged FutureBrand to build the new brand to help realise the benefits of these investments and provide the platform for a connected brand experience that would break away from traditional competitors, challenge the category conventions and put customers first.

In building the new brand identity and experience, the company’s 100-day plan set the stage for a rapid and iterative process of brand analysis, research, strategy, naming and design across multiple touch-points.

FutureBrand’s analysis identified that the traditional industry players treat working and learning as a necessity, in very cold and corporate terms. However, they found that the future of working and learning is more engaging, even fulfilling. They used customer research to explore customers’ changing needs and perceptions and provided insights into how they might position the new brand to bring a much-needed breath of fresh air to the industry.

FutureBrand developed a brand strategy that positioned the new business as helping to make working and learning more creative, productive and playful through equally inspiring products and solutions, all delivered from the one place. Through a process of test and learn, they then used this strategy to create the new brand name and identity – welcome to Winc.

Winc stands for ‘work incorporated’. In other words, everything you need to help you create, play, learn and do more. It’s a playful name at the heart of a sophisticated brand identity, one that flexes to communicate with customers, based on their needs, and to give employees the platform to deliver a positive and memorable brand experience from the first click to the last mile.

To support the launch and ongoing implementation of the Winc brand, FutureBrand designed multiple applications across the customer and employee experience, including the design of the user interface for the e-commerce platform – in partnership with MullenLowe Profero.

Overall, the new brand succeeds in breaking away from category conventions to tell a core truth: that working and learning should be a pleasure, not a chore.

Says Darren Fullerton, chief executive officer, Winc: “This brand is designed to bring a breath of fresh air to an industry that has been historically quite traditional and predictable. It represents our shift from offering products to providing solutions and inspiring a better way for workers and learners to get things done. Working with FutureBrand has been equally refreshing – they got our strategy and culture from the start, and they have worked quickly and closely with the executive leadership team to create a breakout brand identity and experience.”

Says Richard Curtis, chief executive officer, FutureBrand Asia-Pacific: “In building the Winc brand, we have worked with Darren and the team at Platinum Equity to challenge the category conventions and create a brand that can stand out from the crowd of competitors – from the first click to the last mile. What’s more, by applying our sprint methodology, we have built the brand, its identity and experience for launch in a matter of weeks.”