No New Ideas?
Originality doesn’t mean starting from scratch. It’s about approach, it’s about having something new to say and it’s about repositioning. It’s about the idea. We find the best ideas come from our ability to hold a mirror up to your organisation; to ask incisive questions and listen with new ears.
In an era full of bold brands and innovative ideas, achieving originality is hard. Some say there are no new ideas, only cleverly concealed imitation. But we disagree. Originality exists without us, though it’s often hidden and seldom celebrated.
We’ve worked with some amazing businesses on name creation through to long term brand behaviours, and it’s always interesting to walk the line between using tried and tested techniques and coming up with something completely new. There is of course, comfort in already knowing something works. It’s in our nature to lean away from the unknown. But does that mean we should? If there’s one sure fire way to get lost, it’s by following well trodden paths, with no direction of your own. But genuine originality delivers depth and memorability. At the nucleus of originality is an idea.
What’s under appreciated is that the ideas that breed originality are likely already in your organisation, they just haven’t yet seen light.
Originality doesn’t mean starting from scratch. It’s about approach, it’s about having something new to say and it’s about repositioning. It’s about the idea. We find the best ideas come from our ability to hold a mirror up to your organisation; to ask incisive questions and listen with new ears.
Ideas are the currency with which your brand trades
For a recruitment firm called Horton and Pearce, we listened and listened and listened to what they were saying about their identity in a crowded conservative marketplace. What we heard was they had an unflappable passion for connecting the right leader with the right talent and vice versa; they were adamant about taking themselves out of the equation.
Horton and Pearce was headed by two people who had left a big recruitment firm. They wanted their new brand to capture their originality. They felt, rightly, that the surname-surname title lumped them in with the old guard when the real idea behind their brand, which they’d never really articulated, was that it “isn’t about us”. What they told us about their motivation was, “It’s about how we connect you and you together”.
The minute we heard that, we said, “Oh, you and you. That’s why you do what you do.” From that idea, we created a brand called u&u. A simple crisp ‘U’ and ‘U’ connected with an ampersand. That’s where the whole narrative of that particular recruitment firm was born. The idea created a philosophy that resonated. In their first two years of business, u&u were named Recruitment Agency of the Year at the CareerOne Excellence Awards and as one of Australia’s fastest growing organisations in 2012, 2013, 2014. Since then, u&u has been successfully sold to international buyers thanks to its continued growth and market leading position.
Read u&u’s case study here
A fitness brand we created was born from a similar process. We set about naming the philosophy rather than trying to design a brand for the fitness industry. NOFOMO is about a genuine philosophy of “no Instagram, no gym selfies, no hassles, no pressure. You train the way you want to train. We’re never going to put all this social and image pressure on you.” NOFOMO doesn’t want to pressure their clients by making them feel like they’re missing out or dropping the ball. It’s not just their logo, it’s their ethos.
Read NOFOMO’s case study here
The idea is found when we reflect back to our clients what they know to be true about who they are. Originality is hard to manufacture, but it can be found by asking the right questions and listening to innovate.
Need new ideas to drive your brand strategy? We can help you, connect with us here.
