Click here to view the embedded video.

The WilliamsWarn is aimed squarely at what the founders call the ‘beer thinker’ market and it produces commercial quality beer that’s chilled and flows from the tap in just seven days. The company received over 200 offers of distribution from over 50 countries in the first five months and while it was available only in New Zealand initially, the breweries are now being distributed internationally.

“We’re delighted to have been selected by Graphis from the many thousands of entries submitted by agencies internationally,” Studio Alexander managing director Kate Alexander says. “It’s also great that it’s a brand for a truly innovative product, developed by New Zealanders in New Zealand.”

Alexander, who took over as MD from her father in March last year, says it was clear they would be taking an outstanding product to export markets so they wanted a quality of branding and design that would stand up around the world. And, between 2009 and its launch in 2011, Studio Alexander developed naming, positioning, marketing strategy, identity design and graphic system.

The use of the makers’ signatures across collateral shows the personal involvement of the directors/inventors and the WilliamsWarn brand reflects the hand-built, premium feel of the machine with its numbered makers’ plate and stainless steel finish. The ‘W’ shows the coming together of two beer glasses in that ‘cheers’ moment and the circular housing device references beer mats.

A simple and classic colour palette of black and silver references the materials used on the product alongside typography utilising Trade Gothic and applied across stationery, packaging, collateral, website, video and product graphics.

“I was expecting bright colours and a complicated design,” WilliamsWarn director Ian Williams says. “But when I saw the brand work Studio Alexander came up with, I knew immediately it was perfect. It was one of those moments when you know something is right. There was nothing to change and we’ve had a huge amount of very positive feedback.”

Studio Alexander’s WilliamsWarn brand work will feature in Graphis’s 2012 edition of the International Journal of Visual Communication.

New

Old

Tait Electronics was formed by Sir Angus Tait in 1969 in Christchurch and it focused on designing and assembling mobile radios. And while radio remains a core element of the company’s offerings, James Kyd, Tait’s chief marketing officer, says the solutions today include much more than just radios, which is why it made the decision to change the name from Tait Radio Communications to Tait Communications.

“This signals the beginning of a very exciting time for Tait and our global customers,” says Kyd. “The new identity represents an ongoing business transformation that we have been involved in for the past two years, and better reflects the business we are now in and the ways we are delivering value to our customers around the world…Today, our customers turn to us for the complete communications system, sourced, deployed, supported and managed in a fully integrated way.”

In 2011, Tait’s revenue exceeded US$150 million, of which 95 percent was earned in the 150 countries it exports to (recent successes include cutting a deal with the emergency services in New South Wales and ongoing work with the London bus network after securing a $19 million contract to install a communications system a couple of years back) and the company has seen record revenues and profits in the last three years, perhaps partly because it invests more than 14 percent of its revenue in R&D.

“The new identity captures the very essence of Tait’s culture—our customers—who at the heart of everything we do as a company,” Kyd says. “Our customers’ needs drive every decision, and this is reflected in Tait’s new brand statement: ‘Devoted to your cause’.”

Company spokesman James Richardson says the internal and external rollouts of the new brand, which was almost a year in the making, have been hugely successful so far and there’s been lots of positive feedback about it.

The new brand will continue to be rolled out gradually so that all the other aspects of the business align with the new visual identity.

The company was recently launched by creator James Oliver, who says it took five years to get to this point, and the inspiration for its playful, almost Ben & Jerry’s-esque branding spawned from simply tossing ideas around about the group’s feelings towards ice cream. Resident copywriter and business manager Tony Reardon says they were lucky, because Holy Moly handed over complete creative control and, as an added bonus, allowed them to create a couple of flavours.

“We understand retail and the consumer so we needed to create something that worked for the product, consumers and was different yet had the legs to grow and build,” says Reardon. ”We had a number of other ideas, as you do, but this was the strongest and most flexible. And it’s fun.”

2010 was a busy year for the company, which was behind the 2010 re-launch of Eden Park, designing everything from the park’s sign to its sandwich wrappers.

It also developed the branding for Partners Life, an insurance company, and managed everything from the corporate vision to claim forms.

Lemonade has been in partnership with Burger Fuel’s marketing team over the last 14 years, managing the chain’s branding. Its recent work for the company ranged from creating POS menus for their Middle East stores and editing the BurgerVision in-store video loop.

New ventures for Lemonade include working with The Turkish Bread Company to tweak its packaging and market positioning, achieved by poking fun at the company’s roots with a bunch of tongue-in-cheek sayings.

The company is made up of six staff, including lead designer and owner Andrea Fowler.

• This story originally appeared on idealog.co.nz

At the heart of the new design, which was created by Singapore-based agency Design Bridge, is a split label and stylised (and now mountainless) logo, each focused on celebrating the heritage of Brancott Vineyard, where the original Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc vines were planted.

“The new packaging revitalises the look of the entire Brancott Estate range, whilst ensuring that the cleverly designed die cut label keeps the brand’s unique Marlborough heritage as a key element,” says Patrick Materman, chief winemaker. “The clean freshness of the new modern look for Brancott Estate speaks of the crisp, vibrant wine styles that have made Marlborough famous.”

Old Montana packaging

The new packaging for the still and Brancott Estate sparkling is being rolled out in New Zealand from early February 2012 followed by Living Land and Letter Series wines. The Montana Classics are still available, but only in New Zealand.

“We go beyond a normal working relationship to being integrated in their business,” says managing partner Peter Gray. “With clients like Outward Bound, the Insitute of Directors, Asianz and the Reserve Bank, we’ve had a journey of more than eight years…Strategy have not only built an enviable reputation for creating outstanding design-led work but have also created an internal culture that inspires confidence, inspiration and passion to craft the very best work for their clients…A successful partnership should share similar professional and personal values and respect for each others point of view. For me it feels right, feels comfortable.”

Group creative partner Guy Pask, who started Strategy in 1992 and was joined by Geoff Cranko in 2002, says he’s looking forward to working with Gray and with Caspian Ievers, the new design director in the Wellington studio, who has previously worked in Strategy’s Christchurch studio.

Strategy opened its Auckland office late last year after aligning with Seven and there are also plans afoot for expansion into Japan. There are now 80 people working in the network, with ex Ogilvy planning director Michael Prentice as the group strategic director across the offices.

From an advertising point of view, Strategy Advertising and Design, which won the most awards on the night just ahead of Alt Group after taking home golds for Camper, Share an Idea (2), Martin Bosley and its own offices, stood out. Special won ten awards in total, with gold for the ecostore packaging and FOUR’s giant yellow duck. Assembly won two golds for its work on the Pams and Freeview ads, while Shine and Clemenger BBDO won gold for Shine Credentials and Radio NZ’s Sounds Like Us respectively.

Purple Pin: Graphic Design

For the first time ever in the history of the awards, not one but two designs were awarded the coveted Purple Pin for Graphic Design, which were presented to Auckland-based Alt Group for their pop-up installation,the Social Kitchen, and to artist Sarah Maxey and typographer, Chris Sowersby for Sentimental Journey, an interpretation of the Exquisite Corpse game, invented by the Surrealists in the early part of last century, where a collection of words is collectively assembled for the entertainment and amusement of the audience, rather like the old parlour game, Consequences.

Purple Pin: Interactive Design 

Wellington-based Resn scored this year’s Purple Pin for Interactive Design, which was presented to the company for Sponsafier 4. Developed for Toyota, the virtual racing car application allowed fans to design, photo shoot and challenge their friends as they created custom cup cars for NASCAR Team Toyota drivers. Fans designed their own paint jobs for the cars, uploading their designs to social networking sites in order to win votes, with the design with the most votes being put onto an actual race car and driven in a big race.

Purple Pin: Product Design

Auckland-based Avanti Design Technology rode home with this year’s Purple Pin in the Product Design category for the Avanti Project Evo II, a super sleek racing bike that was released to the market last month.

During development it underwent rigorous frame fatigue testing in wind tunnels in North Carolina and San Diego. Avanti bikes are used by a number of New Zealand top athletes such as Bevan Docherty, Cameron Brown and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Alison Shanks.

The judges described Avanti’s award-winning bike as “a world-class product demonstrating the highest standards of build, technology and New Zealand design”.

“This amazingly light performance machine demonstrates meticulous attention to detail. The design confidently represents New Zealand in one of the world’s most demanding and exacting sport and recreational arenas.”

Purple Pin: Spatial Design

In the Spatial design discipline, this year’s Purple Pin went to the new extension at Wellington International Airport (The Rock) designed by Studio Pacific Architecture in association with Warren and Mahoney. The designers, who also won Gold in Public and Institutional Spaces category fortheir unconventional design, said they had two overriding requirements from their “courageous client,” Wellington International Airport, when designing the terminal addition. It had to “be a memorable experience” and the design had to be “edgy.”

The $39 million extension features an edgy and dramatic design as opposed to the bland arrival and departure halls that typify most international airports. Built to accommodate and process 1000 passengers an hour (instead of the current 500) and to cater for expanded flights to Asia, The Rock was modelled on Wellington’s rugged west coast and takes the form of three rocks clad in 1600 square metres of copper. Inside, the building features macrocarpa panelling and glass fissures which provide warm natural light by day and a glow which can be seen from the air at night.

The judges said the designers had created a unique public space that was “a destination in its own right,” describing the airport extension as “a beautifully executed design that provides travellers with a restful ambience, not usually found in international airports”.

“This is world-class design that puts New Zealand on the map,” said the judges.

John Britten Black Pin

Special Black Pins recognising the contribution individuals have made to the New Zealand design industry were also awarded during the night. The first, the prestigious John Britten Black Pin award for an individual who has made a major contribution to design nationally and internationally, went to Mark Elmore (top left), Head of Industrial Design at Fisher & Paykel, who has been at the forefront of taking the company’s designs and products from a purely domestic market to a wider global audience. The Black Pin for Outstanding Achievement went to Fraser Gardyne (bottom left), principal of graphic design company gardyneHOLT and past president and a Fellow of the Designers Institute of New Zealand.

As well as the Purple Pin winners, there were a bunch of Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, together with student-specific accolades  A selection of Gold Pin winners follows below. To check out all the winners, including more student entries, head along to the Best Awards website, www.bestawards.co.nz.

Graphic Gold Pin Winners

Corporate Communications

Camper, by Strategy Design and Advertising

Editorial & Books

Air New Zealand Clothes Hangar Editorial, by Saatchi & Saatchi Design Worldwide

Martin Bosley, by Strategy Design and Advertising

Environmental Graphics

NZ Wool at Fieldays, by We Love Inc

Share an Idea, by Strategy Design and Advertising

Graphic Design Arts

Sentimental Journey, by Sarah Maxey & Kris Sowersby

Vodafone- World of Difference, by Watermark Ltd

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, by The Church

Identity Development (large scale)

Share an Idea, by Strategy Design and Advertising

Identity Development (small scale)

Rotoroa Island Identity, by Studio Alexander

Mika, by Supply

Packaging

Saxton, by Supply

ecostore / Packaging, by Special Group

Self Promotion

Alt XMAS 2010, by Alt Group

Shine Credentials, by Shine Communications Group Limited

Visual Communication

‘Sounds Like Us’ Posters, by Clemenger BBDO

Fisher & Paykel The Social Kitchen, by Alt Group

Interactive Gold Pin Winners

Large Scale Websites

Warren and Mahoney website, by Alt Group

The New newzealand.com, by Shift

Time Based Graphics

Pams, by Assembly

Product Gold Winners

Consumer

Designer 90cm Oven, by Fisher & Paykel Appliances

Avanti Project Evo 2, by Avanti Design Technology

Furniture

Odin Chair, by Jamie McLellan Ltd.

Non-Consumer and Sustainable Product Design

Goodnature Automatic Humane Possum Trap, by Goodnature

Spatial Gold Pin Winners

Built Environment

Hobsonville Point Park, by Isthmus

Exhibition Installation — temporary Structures

EOK: Everything is OK, by  Storybox

FOUR / Duck, by Special Group

Hospitality

Cocoro, by Gascoigne Associates Limited

1885 Britomart, by Cheshire Architects

Britomart Country Club, by Cheshire Architects

Office & Workplace Environments

Air New Zealand Uniform Fitting and Distribution Space, by Air New Zealand Design House

Strategy House, by Strategy Design and Advertising

Public & Institutional Spaces

Wellington International Airport (The Rock), by Studio Pacific Architecture & Warren and Mahoney in Association

Retail Environment

Telecom Victoria Street, by Gascoigne Associates and Designworks

Element Collective, by Prospace Designz Ltd and Hassell Architects

Glassons Flagship Store Broadway Newmarket, by Gascoigne Associates Limited

Rooms

Manukau Library, by Creative Spaces Ltd

Andrews, whose father ran a successful London agency and raised him on a steady diet of advertising and design, has been working full time at Shine since May, after a stint of freelancing with the agency following his arrival in New Zealand last October.

Prior to that he was senior writer and creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi in London and in his last year there he ran the Labour Party’s general election campaign, helped the agency win the Diesel account, and made the video for Katy Perry’s song ‘Firework’ as part of T-Mobile’s hugely popular ‘Life’s for sharing’ campaign, which he co-created.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As well as being one of only two creatives in the world to have a VMA Video of the Year award (the other being his old partner), Andrews has also judged and been awarded at D&AD, Cannes, and Campaign Big awards. He was also named as a Campaign Face to Watch, and most recently came second in a sausage competition. He also has a couple of things shortlisted in the Best Awards this year, including work for the Britomart car park. 

With an advertising pedigree like that, Andrews adds some more weight to Shine’s already attractive offering and a hire of this magnitude will no doubt put smiles of the dials of founders, creative director Lucien Law and managing director Simon Curran.

Mizrahi has been behind some of the most celebrated, cutting edge ‘full immersion’ experiential initiatives and large scale campaigns for the likes of Telecom, Louis Vuitton and the giant rugby ball for Tourism New Zealand. This year, among many other things, he’ll be helping to stage the opening celebrations for the biggest sporting event on New Zealand’s calendar.

But when he was first asked to judge the design category at Cannes, he wasn’t sure if it was the right man for the job.

“My background is in theatre and I thought ‘will I have anything to say about this’? But what I realised is that what we used to think about as ‘design’ is changing dramatically. Design is now about creating energy, everything that once was an independent discipline is coming together to create experiences. We awarded the Grand Prix for Design to an experience that took place in a Las Vegas Hotel. Sure, there was a nice type face used in that as well, but the point is that the boundaries of what once was considered great design are no longer there”

So as it turns out he has a lot to say on what design is, and more importantly, what it means for the future of the New Zealand marcomms community. If you want to hear more, get your tickets here.

When: Tuesday 9 August, 8:00 am.

Where: The Northern Club, 19 Princes St, Auckland Central.

According to Tuskany, the new strategy is a response to the Mainstreet Board’s vision to reposition the city centre by identifying what makes downtown Tauranga unique and creating an energised new platform that showcases the diverse range of offerings in the city.

The overall campaign, which makes its public debut from 9 July, culminates in a mix of medias, a new interactive website, email and social media platforms, with Tuskany is hoping it will encourage active participation by downtown Tauranga businesses.

Tuskany brand strategist Sally Cooke says the new look and slogan captures “the very essence of Downtown Tauranga”.

“The new logo and slogan will be used in a dynamic new marketing campaign that allows us to profile the many local identities who are passionate about this city and showcases the unique mix of retail, business, food, entertainment, art and culture we have Downtown Tauranga. Our strategy also encourages collaboration between all city centre stakeholders and businesses and captures a new energy and passion which is what the board wanted and what the city needs,” she says.

In describing the elements of the new logo, Tuskany calls it “energetic, multi-faceted, vibrant, modern and sophisticated” and offers this overall description:

“This logo represents the many elements and layers of our city, it conveys strength and with its strong, clean colours, portrays energy/movement. The icon, font and overall brand identity encapsulates the passion we want to build into Downtown Tauranga.”

As for feedback, you be the judge, but one Tauranga creative who contacted Design Daily says it’s “another failed attempt to ‘brand’ our CBD” adding that it does not help the cause of agencies in Tauranga who are “trying very hard to raise the level of design”.

More about the design:

The icon

• Conveys the tapestry of the city (shopping, commerce, art, culture, food etc)
• The colours tie into the other marketing collateral and speak to the different offerings Downtown Tauranga
• Additionally the icon is colourful to capture passion, energy, warmth & vitality
• The icon conveys movements, leads you down a path (street), takes you on a journey of experiences
• The shadow adds depth. The icon casts a shadow because it has dimension – by casting a shadow we are subliminally saying Downtown Tauranga has substance and layers.

Font and colour

• “Downtown” is multi level and this has been represented in the modified font
• Tauranga is in capitals to ensure there is a strong and clear destination to ‘Downtown’
• The font is White on Black or Black on white – simple, clean, sophisticated, strong
• Red has been used as the main accent colour on the icon to match to the “Locals. Love it” to achieve synergy in design and to ensure the full logo identity becomes one strong, cohesive brand identity

The new

The old

While a quick glance at the new box might not reveal too much in the way of sweeping design changes, Bell’s marketing manager Jessica Bailey, says the changes are plentiful. And like recent and much-discussed branding efforts of late like Sealord and Z Energy, she says the new look comes after extensive consumer research by way of focus groups.

“When you play with a Kiwi icon, you need to work out how you can change it without turning the brand loyalist off, whilst still giving it a contemporary feel,” says Bailey.

Coats Design from Auckland, which has had a long-standing relationship with Bell, are behind the physical redesign, which was a year-and-a-half in the making. So what’s new? Matt Greenwood, described as the ‘Tea Guy’ for Bell Tea & Coffee Company, explains the front of the box is “much more modern”. He puts this down to the addition of new colour and the use of “two steaming mugs of tea and a beautiful shot of the tea pouring from the spout of a teapot”.

And that’s because the beauty of tea, says Bailey, is in watching it pour.

“It makes it more dynamic,” she says.

The iconic red colour of old is retained in the new look, but with a much more gradient-like effect, resulting in what Bailey describes as “a bit of movement and light rather than being a two dimensional colour”.

Green also makes its debut on the packaging, giving it “a bit of a zing”, according to Bailey. It also symbolises freshness.

“People respond well to green because it represents freshness,” she says.

And while its arguable if anyone would notice, there’s a slight name change too. There are a number of tea brands in the Bell stable now, the company’s first and traditional black tea has for a long time just been known as Bell. Bailey says the company wanted to give it a more distinctive name and after researching viable alternatives, “Bell original” came out tops.