EBOOK

Brands Facing Adversity

Profile Collection Vol. 1

Learn how, in the words of insiders, a diverse group of brands have faced some of the biggest challenges in marketing and business. Publisher PAUL LIDGERWOOD Editor PETER ROPER [email protected] Sub editor This premium content is produced MADELEINE SWAIN Art director and published by Marketing, KEELY ATKINS Australia’s only dedicated resource Design & digital pre-press MONIQUE BLAIR for professional marketers. Advertising enquiries LUKE HATTY Tel: +613 9948 4978 Marketing Pro members have access [email protected] Subscription enquiries to a comprehensive toolbox of Tel: 1800 804 160 premium content. [email protected] www.marketingmag.com.au

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Collection edited Chairman NICHOLAS DOWER by PETER ROPER Managing director PAUL LIDGERWOOD Many thanks to Tony Harvey, Kodak, Commercial director JOANNE DAVIES Kati Gapaillard, Life Without Barriers, Content director Kim Clarke, Vodafone, Gary Pert CHRIS RENNIE Financial controller and Margie Amarfio, Collingwood SONIA JURISTA Printing Football Club, and Rob Langtry, GRAPHIC IMPRESSIONS Australian Wool Innovation. Accounting software SAPPHIREONE www.sapphireone.com

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Product code: MKAEB008

marketingmag.com.au/pro Contents

04 Kodak Bankruptcy and rebirth

08 Life Without Barriers B2G to B2C

12 Vodafone Getting back on Australia’s good side

15 Collingwood Football Club

Love it or loathe it 19 Woolmark

From flock to frock

marketingmag.com.au/pro 4 KODAK

Bankruptcy and rebirth It’s early 2014. From the shadows of bankruptcy, an iconic imaging brand is emerging as a B2B technology company. Kodak’s local

marketing head talks us through the journey of change. By Peter Roper.

When customers and employees joined Kodak’s president 21st century, but the filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and chairman to ring the opening bell at the New York protection in early 2012 would have presumably been Stock Exchange on 8 January 2014, it symbolised the a relief for some – a time to step back, take a breath and rebirth of an iconic brand. make the changes that were required if Kodak was to “It’s a new year, with a new company, a new stock and live on. a new start,” Antonio M Perez, president and CEO of the Eastman Kodak Company, said to mark the occasion. After being a household name for over a century, the “I don’t think we would ever company had somehow slid, slowly but surely, until it change the name...” found its name used as the go-to example of a painfully disrupted operation, the butt of jokes about how not to run a business. Which criticisms of the company were On 3 September 2013 it emerged, reborn, as a global fair and which were not will be known only to those with B2B technology company. Common shares began access to the Kodak boardroom in the first decade of the trading eight weeks later, with a new symbol, KODK.

marketingmag.com.au/pro 5 KODAK

The intervening year and a half saw major sell- offs and very, very well. There was nice open communication, structural changes. Kodak exited the digital image capture people understood where we were going. business. It exited the inkjet printer business. As a step to I think we also understood, to be perfectly frank, is ending bankruptcy, the company that invented the digital that each one of these businesses a good business. It was camera sold $525 million worth of patents. not that they weren’t a good business, it was just that we In this interview, Kodak’s local marketing boss, Tony needed to focus our organisation on something, and the Harvey, talks us through this major change journey, graphics is what we’re focusing on. one that is still taking place, from the perspective of the Australia and New Zealand business. M: In terms of internal culture, who took charge on that and what was the hardest thing Marketing: Tell us what it was like for the about keeping it positive? company to enter Chapter 11. It sounds very TH: Steve took charge of it from a local perspective. dramatic, but it’s not like it’s announced and We have a Kodak leadership team that also was very then everything shuts down… supportive. There were common messages, and any Tony Harvey: No. It was a very open communication plan issues that came up, we resolved them as quickly as that we had to do. Chapter 11 in America buys you time to possible. I think the other really great thing about it was be able to reorganise your business in the right way, which that there were times during the whole restructuring of the is exactly what we did. We never really lost any contact organisation when you have to turn around to someone with the customers. and say, ‘I don’t know. But as soon as I know what the answer is, I’ll come back to you on it.’ We made sure that we did that and, to be honest with “Our greatest challenge now, you, the change and the moving from Abbotsford to here as Kodak, is to demonstrate to [we’re sitting in the boardroom of Kodak’s new Australian headquarters in Box Hill, Victoria] has also been a terrific people that we are a graphics opportunity to change the culture of the organisation. We company… we’re one of the most were in a big office, we’re now in a smaller office focusing high-tech businesses out there.” just on the graphics business, but if you notice everybody is nice and close to each other, it’s a good community sort of atmosphere. M: So it’s a strategic move? TH: The business needed to restructure, there’s no doubt M: Do you know if a name change was ever about it. We had a lot of different parts to our organisation considered? so we needed to sit back and see where our future was TH: Not that I’m aware of… I don’t think we would ever going to be, and then reorganise the business around that, change the name. I don’t think we would. I agree with which is what we did. you that our greatest challenge now, as Kodak, is to And we’re seeing now the benefits, because those demonstrate to people that we are a graphics company. customers who we communicated with during the Chapter We’ve got a wonderful portfolio of products, we’re one 11, we’re now continuing that close communication of the most high-tech businesses out there, but in the with because now we’re ready to work with them on past we probably haven’t communicated that the right the future. I think it would have been really hard to stop way. So now most of our marketing material is based communicating, keep everything in the bunker and try around, ‘What’s New Starts Now’, because that’s what it to control it and then go back out to the market and say, is. We’ve got these great products in the portfolio, we’ve ‘We’re here.’ got some really nifty technology. We’re seeing an industry that’s changing, the end users are still there and how you M: What were the internal changes like to go communicate with those end users will be different. through for the organisation? TH: I actually think Kodak handled it exceptionally M: What are the main target markets now? well because we made sure that all the staff members TH: The printing industry is one of our key market were very informed. It was a very open communication segments, we sell a lot of printing plates, which is one program, we had regular updates from America on what of our key hero products. Now we have a very strong was happening. presence in high-speed inkjet technologies. We’re seeing Steve Venn, the managing director, was always that when the commercial print industry wants to utilise available to people to be able to talk to them if they had and send the right message they use a number of different some concerns. And, personally, I think it was handled technologies, they don’t just print on the printing press,

marketingmag.com.au/pro 6 KODAK

but they use high-speed inkjet to do variable data printing. We’re talking to our existing customer base, we’re talking So the graphics industry is our core market and the to new customers, and we’re understanding, as I said, customer base that we talk to. as their market changes we need to be able to go on the What we’re seeing is print in general is actually journey with them. diversifying a little bit. More large organisations are starting to do in-house printing, so now the key message M: Is that customer voice formalised? is that we’re more a graphics communication company, TH: Last year we did what we call a Kodak Technology because we talk to a number of different market segments. Review with our customer base. We sit down and we tell We’ve got a strong presence in newspapers, for them a little bit about what we’re doing at the moment, instance, we’ve got a really strong presence in the we talk to them about where our business is heading, publishing market, and obviously in commercial print. where some of the products are heading. It’s a confidential So they’re the areas we’re focusing on. meeting, but it gives them an opportunity to be able to open up and say, ‘Well this is where I want to take my business, how would you address that?’ And then we can “We’ve always been a technology sort of look at that myriad. company. We’ve got thousands One of the changes we did implement, from a staff point of view, is our staff now concentrate on the of patents that are sitting there. solutions [whereas] I suppose in the past many of the staff I think a lot of the ‘slow to concentrated on a product. change’ was just a timing issue. M: This question is bigger picture, but it When is the right time to move comes back to what you were saying about away from film where we were listening to the customer. Kodak is held up as an example of a company that didn’t change making a lot of money?” with the times. I’m really curious on your take, because in the early 2000s Kodak built digital M: As the marketer how do you communicate cameras successfully and made money out of what the brand is about, given that in one way them. It couldn’t have just been head-in-the- it’s starting fresh and in another it isn’t? sand, ‘we’re about filmstrip’ thinking. TH: The easiest way to do that is to listen to your TH: I think at Kodak we’ve always been a technology customers. We can develop whatever product we want, company. We’ve got thousands of patents that are sitting but if it doesn’t meet the needs of the end users or the there. I think a lot of the ‘slow to change’ was just a timing business then really it’s not going to work. What we do issue. When is the right time to move away from film now is we spend a lot of time listening, to be perfectly where we were making a lot of money? When is the right frank, and getting an understanding of what their time to migrate the customer over into digital technologies needs are. and how do you make a return on that? We tend to look now at the entire Kodak portfolio of There was an external perception that we were slow to our workflow, our plate technologies, our inkjet solutions, change, but I think it was really just that the film business our digital presses, and how can we utilise all those sorts was really good to us, you know, and sometimes you stick of products to enable our customers or the business to with what you’ve got. But we never stopped investing in send the right message to their customers. technology. If you look at our Prosper presses and things It’s not as difficult as what you actually think, because like that, a lot of this technology came out of the R&D most businesses know the Kodak brand, so they will dollars that were generated through selling film. always listen to you. I think now though, the secret to it We were such a big player in that game I think some of is that it’s more a collaboration with the customers. [For the great things that we did do during that time actually example]: ‘Tell me what you’re doing, tell me where you got pushed to the side a little bit. I can’t really talk for the want to take your business, tell me what pain points you’ve consumer [division] guys, but if you look at some of our got at the moment, and how can Kodak help you?’ kiosks and things like that, which are consumer digital At the moment the industry is going through change, solutions, we’ve got a terrific market share in there. and that change is really not all [simply] swapping straight over to inkjet, it’s in that flux of variation. People have a M: Did the kiosks get sold off? lot of equipment out there – how do we maximise what TH: Yeah, that’s all gone over with our consumer business. they’ve got but still address the new market? That’s really We are 100% now focused on the graphics market. We the messaging. still do have some of our entertainment imaging or our

marketingmag.com.au/pro 7 KODAK

motion picture business, but now it’s just purely focusing M: Are testimonials number one for you now on the graphics. in terms of marketing mix? And, as I said, the new technologies are an indication TH: Yeah, from a marketing point of view customers can of where we see the business heading, and hopefully pretty easily go to the website and download the specs of we’ve learnt over all those years that we need to be a part a brochure on a press or whatever. They want to be able of the journey. to know more about how to use that technology to make some money out of it. M: The Kodak website talks a lot about being What’s the rest of the mix like? disruptive. As a company that’s seen its fair We tend to do a lot of one-on-one B2B marketing, share of disruption, how do you use that? Do we do technology reviews with our customers. We tend you say, ‘All right, we’ve been through this, to fly customers overseas to have a look at some Kodak we’ve got some great lessons from it’ or is it technology if it’s warranted. We still do some normal more, ‘Don’t mention the war’? marketing, investing in print magazines and things like TH: No, from a Kodak Australia view I think we need to that, but as I said, we tend not to be product focused, we learn from the lessons of the past. As I said, we’ve got a lot tend to be solution focused. of very loyal customers. I think we need to make sure that we’re part of the journey, and not just ignore it. M: Has marketing technology come into play If you look at the strategies that were implemented more from your side of things? during the whole Chapter 11 situation, we made sure that TH: Very much so, yes. We have a CRM system internally, we were open to our staff, had open communication to we have a fairly extensive marketing solution which we our customers, and open communication to the market. can utilise for EDMs and things like that. [But] you’ve got What that enabled us to do was to keep those customers to be so careful with that sort of stuff because if you blast confident that Kodak was still going to be there, still it out without a lot of thought then you can really quickly producing great product, but now, the market is going to become a pain to the customer as opposed to informing drive those customers into new areas. them, so we don’t do a lot of it. With our channel partners we tend to have more M: What’s next for the marketing strategy? open nights. We bring out some guest speakers from TH: At the moment it’s ‘What’s Next Starts Now’ – that’s overseas, especially in the packaging space, Kodak has the mantra for the organisation. Customers need to see some fantastic technology which enables you to produce what we’re doing, what technologies we’ve got, how we some fantastic Flexographic packaging, and so we’ve got a see the market and go on that journey. couple of key people from America that we bring out that We certainly are spending more time now talking talk to a lot of the key players in the packaging game. It’s about the success of our customers through testimonials targeted communications as opposed to just that blanket, and other things, as opposed to just talking product spics consumer, sort of ‘belt-it-out-there’, which is sort of what and specs. happens now in many cases.

marketingmag.com.au/pro 8 LIFE WITHOUT BARRIERS

From B2G to B2C It’s July 2014. Legislation change has turned the focus of Life Without Barriers from pitching for government tenders to winning over the consumer in a user-chooses environment, forcing it to undergo monumental change in its brand and organisation. By Peter Roper.

Life Without Barriers is a New South Wales-based, Marketing: Tell us about the changes to nationally-active service provider that works in seven sectors: legislation that has caused a non-profit disability services, aged care services, the out-of- home care organisation like Life Without Barriers to sector (foster care), the mental health sector, youth justice, refocus its target market. refugees and asylum seekers, and homeless care. Kati Gapaillard: Over the past few couple of years the As national manager for marketing and legislation has changed so that government is asking the communications at Life Without Barriers, Kati Gapaillard not-for-profit sector to take on some of the service delivery talks us through the brand and the organisational journey that it has been delivering itself. that is taking place as the not- for-profit is forced to In two areas it’s very big at the moment. You hear redefine its target audience from government bureaucrats about the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) to the end-user of its services. [and] the disability sector, and in aged care as well.

marketingmag.com.au/pro 9 LIFE WITHOUT BARRIERS

Both those sectors are very big, obviously, and the with big multinationals or corporate entities very quickly government is trying to [reduce its hands-on involvement and very willingly. in] delivering services. What it’s also done with the NDIS is Something like the Heart Foundation is very risk given the choice to the individuals. averse. The structure of the organisation itself would Previously, not-for-profits would tender for government probably preclude some of that entrepreneurial spirit work and the government would say, for example, ‘Here because it’s eight different companies. The Charities Act are 10 people in Tamworth who need aged care, please go is a state-based Act itself, so all the not-for-profits that are and look after them.’ national, if you like, are either established only in one state The person who was in the centre of all this had and then have operations elsewhere [or] they are actually very little say on what the services were and who established in each state, then they each have a chief delivered them. NDIS is making it all person-centred, so executive, each of them has a board, and then they have what they’re saying is that Joe, who has a disability, can a national board that works across it as well. So it’s quite now choose what kind of work he needs. For example, a complex structure to work within… you can imagine he may need someone to drive him to the market on getting a branding through that structure. Saturday; he may need somebody to take him to a swimming lesson on a Thursday afternoon, and then on a Tuesday he may need someone to go shopping with him “Organisations like Life Without or take him to the doctors or something. He can choose Barriers that have been B2B those specific services and he can choose whether it’s Life Without Barriers or some other service provider that focused – they’re very much provides it. working on their relationships So, organisations like Life Without Barriers that have been B2B focused – they’re very much working on their with government for the funding relationships with government for the funding – now have – now have to be B2C focused. to be B2C focused. That’s a monumental change. That’s a monumental change.” M: Does your corporate and government experience bring benefits to this kind of work M: What geographies do you operate in? in the not-for-profit sector? KG: Life Without Barriers was established in Newcastle, it KG: Hugely. Yeah, hugely so. The corporate sector, in that is a New South Wales-based company, but it works across you are working with the major multinationals, you work the nation and in New Zealand, too. on sophisticated, savvy brands, and people who don’t We’re fascinated when any rebrands occur, but need convincing in terms of what brands can do and that especially with such a huge change at the strategic level. they need to build a brand and they need to have brand It’s easier to see the external stuff, but what does the differentiation – all those things you don’t even have to internal look like? Has it meant changing staff or skills? discuss, it’s an accepted thing. Yeah, we employed a few extra staff last year and almost To that experience, if you mix it with the experience of all staff are from a corporate background… almost, and government where you do have a bureaucracy and you do that has been very helpful. have to go through quite a few hoops to get to where you need to get to, not-for- profits fit somewhere in between M: What’s the stakeholder journey like? those two. KG: One of the differences, I guess, between not-for-profit I worked for the Heart Foundation; I rebranded the and the commercial sector is that when you do a rebrand Heart Foundation a few years ago. And now Life Without like this in the not-for-profit sector you have to take Barriers, which is quite an entrepreneurial organisation, everyone on the journey with you. You can’t just get I think it’s unique in the not-for- profit sector, in that it is there and say, ‘Well, here we are, and here it is, just quite an entrepreneurial organisation. It’s emulating more munch on it.’ the corporate stuff than the government side. You have to take them on the journey with you. We needed to do that, so we needed to take the senior M: And that’s not normal for not-for-profits executive on that journey. So initial plans were presented that are consumer focused? as to why we needed to rebrand, and then the actual KG: Not as much, no, not as much. By the entrepreneurial proposal of how we were going to rebrand, and then the nature of Life Without Barriers, [I mean] we actively seek actual rebrand process. That took about five months to corporate involvement and we are very responsive to the go through, and we had to take the board through that as needs and we will pick up partnerships and collaboration well. It does require quite a lot of buy-in.

marketingmag.com.au/pro 10 LIFE WITHOUT BARRIERS

M: What were the big hurdles? Selling the M: So if you approach the branding and need to rebrand in this case was probably not communications that way it’s a simple too difficult… or was it? message? KG: No, it wasn’t too difficult, actually. We just had to make KG: That’s right, it is, and our brand idea is ‘Championing sure, as you always do, that we honour the old brand. Opportunity for All’, because when you look across all of We had to ensure that the current brand was honoured the seven sectors that is really what we stand for. We help in the way it should be because it was set up and it was the most vulnerable in our society and we’re championing developed and it has brought the organisation to where it opportunity for them, we’re trying to find opportunities to is today. But there was an understanding that didn’t take connect, to live a better life, to have their families around too much [to sell], but we did have to articulate all of this, them, to live within their communities. obviously. There was an understanding though that we were in M: With the noise in the NFP space in general, a different game set. It’s an organisation that has 5000 what were the keys you went for in order employees that is earning around $350 million a year. It’s to achieve that differentiation with your a big organisation, and the brand that was started with 20 rebrand? years ago isn’t really fulfilling what it needs to do for the KG: I should say first that most of the crowding is organisation now. probably within the not-for-profit sector that fundraises. I think there are 700,000 not-for-profits and if you look, M: What were the main goals for the new for example, in the breast cancer space, there are 10 brand to achieve? different not-for-profits, and I think five of them have KG: The main goals were that we wanted to engage the pink ribbon. Now, that is a super-crowded space, people. It was very much values driven, I should say, the and organisations like the Breast Cancer Foundation, organisation has a set of values that it lives by, that it really the McGrath Foundation and the other breast cancer does live by, they’re not just words that we put on a poster entities really have a lot of trouble differentiating what they that gets stuck up in offices. stand for and what is different about what they stand for It’s about relationships and being courageous, and [compared] to what the others stand for. being respectful, responsive and imaginative in everything Where we are, Life Without Barriers, we don’t that we do and it really does work within the context. I’m fundraise. We accept donations where we run something saying it a bit out of context here, so it might sound a bit and there was a donation given to us, but we don’t actually ‘dicky’, but it actually does work within the context. go and stand [on street corners], we don’t have a door- [The new brand is] totally different to what we have knock appeal. currently. ‘We Live Life’ is there. We were struggling while we were rebranding this, as we didn’t want to change the name of the organisation, but the name is quite long and it “There was an understanding is tricky to fit it into all the things that you need to fit it into. though that we were in a M: Within the not-for-profit space in general, different game set. It’s an one of the biggest challenges is to win a share organisation that has 5000 of attention. Within your area, now that the user has the choice, what’s the competitive employees that is earning around set like? $350 million a year. It’s a big KG: We have many players across the sectors; I don’t organisation, and the brand that think there is one organisation that is exactly in all the sectors that we are in, because we work in seven different was started with 20 years ago sectors. It’s a lot, and we have different competitors in the isn’t really fulfilling what it needs not-for-profit world in the different areas. However, what this branding has involved is also a move to customer- to do for the organisation now.” centricity: ‘It’s not about us, it’s about you.’ When we’re talking to people with a disability, they probably don’t care M: So the funding source hasn’t changed that we also look after people who are homeless. They as much as the decision-maker has? want to know what it is that we can do for them, and that’s KG: That’s right, exactly. The not-for-profit space absolutely correct; that’s what they need to be concerned probably has an advantage over the corporate space, about and that’s what we put our focus on, to let them which is also trying to create stories and often from not know what we can do to help them. much of a base.

marketingmag.com.au/pro 11 LIFE WITHOUT BARRIERS

We have and that’s one of the things that I think the clients and we showed it to some refugees and asylum corporate world could learn from the not-for- profit sector: seekers, and they all were very excited by it. The refugees to have a compelling story that gets people involved. and asylum seekers, you know, they had lost their home What always astonishes me is often when I go places and they’ve lost their family, so the fact that we made and I talk to somebody and I say I work for a not-for-profit them feel like they belonged to a community and we were organisation, they don’t actually say it but I get a feeling looking after them [was significant]. that they have two thoughts, and one is, ‘Oh, she probably wasn’t good enough to work for a commercial organisation’ M: Are there other measures? Do you do or they think, ‘Oh, it’s the cause that drives her’. In fact brand tracking? neither of those are really true because the not-for- KG: We haven’t been doing brand tracking because of the profit sector is inspiring in that it does things that are lack of funds really. At the Heart Foundation, for example, quite interesting and compelling and people want to get we used to do brand tracking and we did two market involved with them. They get $4 billion worth of volunteer research studies – quant and qual – every year and that work every year. I don’t think any commercial organisation really showed where we were and what we were doing, or all of them put together could instil that kind of but that is entrenched in the type of organisation it is. engagement with their audiences. It’s just incredible. And The Heart Foundation, its basis is scientific research, so it they could and they should get that, that’s where they can makes sense to them and they invested in that. learn from the not-for-profit sector. Life Without Barriers is very much about helping people and getting in and getting our hands dirty and making people’s lives better, so qual research probably “I had not expected that the works better for Life Without Barriers, but we will do some whole organisation was so ready quantitative research later in the year. and eager to move to the new Two weeks later…. chapter.” M: How did the launch go? M: Was there an agency involved in the Life KG: We did a simultaneous internal launch across our Without Barriers rebrand? 100 offices in Australia, with 10 major launch sites KG: Yes, Principals, and they’ve done a great job, I cannot where executive members flew to launch the brand. It speak highly enough of their work. was logistically challenging to manage, but well worth the effort and I was really surprised at the reactions. M: Now, it’s too early to look at results, but I had not expected that the whole organisation was so what does success look like? ready and eager to move to the new chapter of the Life KG: Well, the first measure of success for us is internal Without Barriers journey. As you know a branding that because we have 5000 staff and we need to bring them entails this amount of change can create internal conflict, along on the journey with us. We’re getting some feedback which has to be managed, but the executive and staff were from them and recording some of their reactions in two very courageous and welcomed the change very positively. weeks’ time when we launch the brand internally. All the time and effort spent preparing the platform for the Our first metric is that and anyone we have shown it launch paid off. to so far has raved about it and fallen in love with it. We did do some focus groups with our clients and that was M: Is there anything you would do differently? potentially – even before launch – our first measure of KG: I would probably do more transparent success that we were very happy about. We showed it communications internally pre-launch and have more trust to some disability clients, we showed it to our home care that the organisation is ready to move on.

marketingmag.com.au/pro 12 VODAFONE

Inside Vodafone’s mission to get back on Australia’s good side

The date is May 2014. It’s been a tricky few years for Vodafone. After customers staged a mass exodus and it aired one of the most controversial TVCs in recent times, things are finally starting to look up for the telco in Australia. Now it’s recorded its first mobile subscriber growth in almost two years – is the brand on its way back up? By Rebecca Hagan.

After the storm comes the rainbow. Vodafone Hutchinson improvements such as these that have formed the core of Australia recently recorded its first mobile subscriber Vodafone’s rebirth message. growth in almost two years. Back in 2010, the telco boasted 7.5 million mobile subscribers, but by November The fall 2013 that figure had dropped to just under five million. Vodafone went from a youthful and promising brand (Compare that to the 15.3 million mobile customers of to a laughing stock within the telco market. From poor rival Telstra or the 9.4 million of Optus.) customer service to dodgy billing, it seemed the company December 2013 marked the first period of positive could not put a foot right back in 2010, bleeding enough growth for the company in almost two years – partly due customers to fill the MCG five times over. to a temporary promotion that doubled the amount of The biggest hole in to the telco’s armour sat within download data available to new customers, as well as a its unreliable phone network, which was the first place move to cut the cost of global roaming. management went to patch up the haemorrhaging The company now claims to have signed over a million business. customers to its 4G network and has added 40% more “The recognition that something had to change network coverage over the last 18 months. It’s network didn’t come through a recognition [that] obviously there

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was a certain loss of customers,” says Vodafone’s chief the experience it is giving its customers to the message marketing officer, Kim Clarke. “It came through in the they are putting out there. general recognition from a core product perspective – in “I think the way that the people will perceive the terms of network and perception of the network – that was ‘Discover the New’ message will be in a really favourable the key thing that needed to be addressed.” light, that Vodafone have understood that they haven’t necessarily created a positive experience through their network over the last few years. December 2013 marked the “But they have done something about it and there is a new Vodafone and they’ve tidied up their errors,” he says. first period of positive growth Treacher warns that Vodafone needs to be very careful for the company in almost two that the brand is much more about the experience – years – partly due to a temporary demonstrated by the loss of customers – rather than the brand’s above the line advertising. promotion. According to Clarke, feedback on the campaign is nothing short of glowing. “They’ve been incredibly The company’s recent turnaround in customer sign-ups gracious with us as a business,” she says on the rebrand. has been attributed to the three-year transformation “When you actually do address that root cause, you do plan created a year and a half ago under the guidance of make sure that you’ve actually got your pores open to outgoing CEO Bill Morrow. listen to customers, and they really respond incredibly “The core of any program is addressed at root cause, well… and that’s our existing customer base as well as the root cause for us being network. At the tail end our new customers that we’ve got coming back onto the of 2012, and the first part of 2013, we made a very network.” conscious decision as a business to really just knuckle When the ‘Discover the New’ campaign was launched, in and focus on network as a business, and that’s exactly Clarke described the new look Vodafone as always being what we did,” says Clarke. a bit left of centre. “Vodafone’s brand has always been “When you’ve got an issue, it’s like having a relationship different from its competitors – it’s fun, irreverent and with somebody. If there’s an issue in that relationship, the fresh,” she said at the time. worst thing you do is actually to hide somewhere. The best “Our ‘Discover the New’ campaign aims to reintroduce thing that you can do is front up and start to talk to those Vodafone as a brand that encourages people to see the customers, and even prospects, the market in general, world as though seeing it for the first time. Our customers about what’s really going on,” she says. are fun-loving, adventurous types who haven’t forgotten The new strategy was to be one of ultimate what it’s like to view the world through the eyes of a child.” transparency and an open dialogue with the market in general. The response, according to Clarke, has been nothing but positive from what was, for a time, an “We made a very conscious exceptionally unhappy consumer group. decision as a business to really yourself when you’re ignoring emotion as a factor. just knuckle in and focus on Simon also combined very strong creativity with highly quantitative and numeric thinking, and it was an incredibly network as a business, and effective mix. He taught me that you can – and should – that’s exactly what we did,” says foster both, that far from being rivals, creativity and rigour are highly-complementary skill sets. I’ve found this to be Clarke. just as true in marketing as it is in strategy. Kidult The resurrection But it was this ‘childlike’ view that landed the telco in After rebuilding its core, the network, the next step for even more hot water, with the launch of its now infamous Vodafone was to tell everyone about it. A multimillion- ‘Kidult’ spot, which saw the Advertising Standards dollar campaign called ‘Discover the New’ was launched Board receive more complaints than for any other ad on late last year and included a refreshing of the brand’s look television last year. and feel in its retail stores, online and in collateral, and The spot features baby heads superimposed onto was supported by an outdoor campaign and TVCs. adult bodies, seeing them mixing music, driving cars Brand consultant and CEO of Brand Behaviour, Karl and dancing in nightclubs. It was too much for viewers, Treacher says the new brand message will be perceived with complainants saying the spot was “creepy” and approvingly, but he warns the telco has to ensure it aligns “encouraged the sexualisation of children.”

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“They lost so many customers, and then they go to “We’re confident in the plan that we’ve laid out, and we’ve market with a thing like ‘Kidult’, instead of addressing had such success and momentum driven off the back of the burning issue,” says Treacher. “I’m surprised that that plan. It was made very, very clear that [Berroeta’s] job Ogilvy [& Mather Sydney], or [Kim] Clarke, or whoever is actually just to maintain and accelerate that trajectory,” was in charge, didn’t see that the network had to be the she says. area of focus. “Obviously with any plan as you move along with it, “It was just irrelevant,” he says. “It wasn’t objective there are moves and changes and adaptations, that is just and I imagine it was confusing to present and former normal execution, but the course has been set and we’re customers.” riding the wave. The customer exodus and the most complained about commercial on television notwithstanding, the show had to go on. There was still a rebrand to complete. “The transformation started The transformation, according to Clarke, started from the from the inside out, with the inside out, with the company taking steps to fix what has been described by insiders as an ‘inconsistent’ culture. It company taking steps to fix what did this by getting the entire company back on the brand has been described by insiders message. “We started with our employees first,” says Clarke. as an ‘inconsistent’ culture. “You get your employees engaged with your brand, critiquing anything about it and making sure that we’re “They’re coming back in droves” addressing the issues that are associated with the service In January 2014, Vodafone reported its customers were that we’re delivering and also how they’re experiencing returning to its network “in droves”, saying it has placed their work at Vodafone.” more than one million 4G devices in the hands of its The brand then sensationally pulled all of its sporting customers just eight months since its 4G network was sponsorships – tens of millions of sponsorship dollars launched in June 2013. from its agreements with the Australian cricket team, the In a statement released by Vodafone at the time, the summer Test series and its V8 Supercar team. Vodafone telco said the speed with which its existing and new instead decided to pour the money into building an customers were embracing 4G devices had surpassed its onshore call centre in Tasmania, which will eventually expectations, the main selling point being that Vodafone create 750 call centre jobs in the state. was able to offer data speeds and inclusions unmatched “That was an excellent idea,” says Treacher. “I say that by rivals Telstra or Optus. Tests commissioned by Fairfax because if they were to continue investing in things that in January this year found Vodafone’s 4G speeds trump weren’t the main ‘pain point’ and were instead investing in Optus and Telstra in Melbourne and Sydney, but coverage things around traction and awareness it would seem like a lags that of its rivals. misalignment of priorities.” There is still room for a few tweaks within Vodafone’s messaging, says Treacher. “I would still be a lot more Will a new CEO be able to keep the explicit around its network. I mean, we all know that the momentum? primary reason people were leaving was because of the Credited with the company’s turnaround is Vodafone network issues and the coverage issues, and that’s where Australia’s chief executive, Bill Murrow. After he was the game’s being won by Telstra at present. assigned the task of slashing costs and improving “I think it’s too early to go to market with a brand profitability while the customer base crumbled around message that is anything other than ‘we sorted our him, Murrow projected publicly that Vodafone’s fortunes network out, here’s how it’s panning out’,” he says. would take a turn for the better beginning in the first half “As much as some detractors joke about Vodafone’s of 2014. Recent figures released by the company show well-known network issues in 2010, the fact is in 2014 signs this is starting to come true. Vodafone’s networks, both 3G and 4G, are offering Murrow, however, quit his post last December to head consistent fast, reliable data speeds right around the up NBN Co, to oversee the construction of the country’s country,” Clarke said at the time. broadband network. His replacement is Vodafone So has Vodafone done it? With a network that is still Romania’s chief executive Iñaki Berroeta, who took over in very much in a growth phase and a reputation taking its March this year. first steps towards mending, all dials are so far pointing in Clarke is adamant the positive growth Vodafone has encouraging directions. How Vodafone can sustain this is experienced under Murrow’s direction will continue a matter for a follow-up article, but it will be an interesting through the change in leadership. saga to watch.

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Love it or loathe it It’s winter 2013. Footy season is in full swing. There is no team that knows how to push its brand like the Collingwood Football Club. With over 10,000 members more than its closest competitor, how does rivalry, antagonism and controversy work in this AFL club’s favour? By Bec Hagan.

No one does branding like Collingwood. Week after week attendance than such international sporting giants and with team after team, the players fill footy fields as the New York Yankees and Liverpool Football Club. wherever they go, rain, hail or shine. Throw in a high The average AFL match attendance was 31,509 for the profile and often outspoken president, a long list of players same year. highly active and often behaving inappropriately on social So what makes the black and white guernsey so media and a fan club full of members better known for powerful (and lucrative)? their dental hygiene than their chanting and you’ve got yourself a match made in crowd-making heaven. It is also undoubtedly the most valuable club in the AFL, boasting a membership base of over 77,000. The Its 120-year history is a pivotal next closest is the Hawthorn Football Club, which has part of its brand strategy. It’s secured just over 62,000 members for the 2013 season. Collingwood was able to achieve an average the reason the club has never attendance of 59,799 in 2012 – a higher average changed its jumper.

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It all started in 1892 when the club was formed in the members and the club. Collingwood has invested heavily in working class area of Collingwood. Though it has come a social media platforms and a website, as well as launching a long way, with multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals and television show to provide supporters with plenty of content. state-of-the-art training facilities, Collingwood fiercely Pert has a thorough understanding of the media. maintains its working class roots. Besides playing 233 games of AFL football for The loyalty of its fans can be traced back to the time of Collingwood and the now defunct Fitzroy Football Club, the Depression, when seeing the team win was an escape past roles also include managing director of the Nine from the harsh realities of life in the suburbs. Network and general manager of Austereo in Melbourne. Collingwood believes its 120-year history is a pivotal Launching various multimedia channels, Pert says, was part of its brand strategy. It’s the reason, says CEO Gary a way for the club to reach its many overseas supporters Pert, that the club has never changed its jumper – and (the club claims to have members in 88 countries – mostly it’s the only club in the Australian Football League (AFL) expatriate Australians), using his expertise in the media that hasn’t. field to lay down the foundations of what is fast becoming “In some ways we could change the jumper and, from a small media empire. a marketing point of view, that might sell more, and there might be commercial opportunity, but we would see that as disrespectful to our history and our heritage,” says Pert. Collingwood was able to When Pert, or ‘Perty’ as he is referred to around achieve an average attendance the club, took over as CEO six years ago, he made a commitment to put the fans as the “absolute centre of of 59,799 in 2012 – a higher gravity for the club”. average attendance than such Part of this entailed changing membership options – creating flexible packages like offering a three-game- international sporting giants a-year membership, which allowed the club to turn as the New York Yankees and occasional fans into members. Liverpool Football Club. This strategy involved adjustments to the AFL’s membership guidelines at the time, but has since been seen as being extremely innovative. Pert says the feedback the club received from its fans Pert makes the point that big-ticket corporate sponsors is that they were sick of relying on traditional media to will only come with a secure and loyal fan base guaranteed find out information on their club. So the club created its to attend matches and support the club. own TV show on Fox Footy. It runs for half an hour every “We made a commitment to say, while there are Wednesday night. so many stakeholders and elements involved in the “From a traditional media point of view we were having Collingwood Football Club, everything that we build will be to rely on the media broadcasters to portray our club, around this centre of gravity of the supporters,” says Pert. whatever way they wanted to, and our supporters didn’t This may not seem like a major shift, but it like that,” explains Pert. fundamentally helped change every aspect of the club. The show features nothing about game highlights, only There was a time when Collingwood found itself being behind the scenes footage of the day-to-day running and unable to grow its membership base beyond 30,000, operation of the club. In a case of what could be described despite its on-field performance. Pert says once the as too much information, the cameras of the Collingwood commitment to the supporters being at the centre of every show take fans inside the operating theatres where a player decision was made, things began to fall into place. might be getting a knee reconstruction. They have also Every membership package was completely changed, placed cameras in captain Nick Maxwell’s bedroom to watch the entire membership team was rebuilt, the Collingwood him put ice on his ankle every hour throughout the night. call centres were redeveloped and the club made “It’s a way to get to know the players, with the significant changes to its packages and software. difficulties and the frustrations,” Pert says. “In the research The club carried out extensive research on exactly what we’ve done, the fans have said they want that personal the supporters and members of Collingwood wanted and, connection to the players and they know rationally that subsequently, every aspect of the club in the ensuring they can’t all come and sit and have a coffee with the years evolved accordingly. players. So it’s, ‘how do we create that connection to them to a mass audience?’ if you like.” Engaging through content The show is also used to break news of player signings, The second phase of the redevelopment of brand sponsorship deals and injuries, and it gives Collingwood Collingwood was to increase the engagement between the further control over the perception of its brand.

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“We might have just signed a new player, which our “Looking back, there are stories about when the club was supporters are really excited about, so now we can break first being formed and the people that were running the that news and do an interview with that player and we club at that time were similar to the people running the can control it, rather than waiting for the traditional media club now in terms of pushing the boundaries, investing in companies to portray it,” Pert says. facilities when it wasn’t the right time economically to do it,” she says. But for all of its fancy facilities, glowing membership Each interstate game is the record and flashy sponsorship deals, Collingwood has also perfect opportunity to generate become the team everybody else loves to hate. Like the colours covering its guernsey, the perception a little bit more of the rivalry of Collingwood Football Club is starkly black and white the club spends so much time – you either love it or you hate it. The club plays off that cultivating. theme of divisiveness to the point where it has become deliberate and the central tenet of its messaging. While it seems preposterous to think that a brand The club is now in talks to create a 24/7 Collingwood would go out of its way to be disliked, or even loathed by channel. Pert seems unfazed when asked how the club the masses, that is exactly what Collingwood is aiming for. would be able to create such a large volume of content. And this part of the plan is certainly working. “It’s really not that hard. With all of the historical “There is no grey area. We don’t want to be liked by content we have, we would basically be filming what is everyone, like some brands do,” says Pert. “I talk to a lot of the soap opera of the Collingwood Football Club, every corporate groups and people will say, ‘If you’re so good at minute of every day. There is a full day’s worth of content marketing, why do we hate you more than any other club?’ happening around here every day; it’s just a matter of, ‘do and my reply to them is always, ‘Because you’re supposed to’.” we film it?’ And what platform we choose to run it on.” Branding expert Erminio Putignano, founding partner Probably the most significant aspect of brand of brand consultancy PUSH Collective, says the hatred Collingwood, however, is its slogan, ‘Side by Side’ – surrounding Collingwood has been carefully nurtured something that was inspired by its roots as a suburban through a savvy marketing strategy in more recent times. working class club all those many years ago. “Collingwood has working class embedded in its DNA A large chunk of marketing dollars has gone into (its fan base once included a vast number of Catholic promoting the slogan, with the club’s latest television immigrants and working class people), which has been commercial being written and voiced by head coach, consistently successful over the years, and which has Nathan Buckley. flaunted its roots and its success with no apologies or “It’s not just something that is, ‘Oh, that sounds nice’ restraint. That’s an explosive mix,” says Putignano. from a marketing point of view; it’s something that we “So, mix together class tensions, tall-poppy syndrome live and breathe,” says Collingwood’s general manager of and arrogance, and you have an explosive recipe for marketing, Margie Amarfio. hatred from other football fans, of course there is. Strong brands are usually built in the face of an enemy, centred Innovation through partnerships on a deep antagonism.” Memberships are highly valuable to clubs, as they allow them And antagonise Collingwood certainly does. Pert to generate income directly. They are also incredibly valuable explains that each interstate game is the perfect when courting big-ticket sponsors. opportunity to generate a little bit more of the rivalry the Through such sponsors, the club has been able to club spends so much time cultivating. develop state-of-the-art facilities. Collingwood’s training “We proudly want to be the club that everyone wants ground, the Westpac Centre, is currently undergoing a $30 their team to beat more than any other club. When we go million facelift, including a new football field, community [interstate], Collingwood will generate media attention centre, offices and training facilities and the much coveted and rivalry, so if you ask every supporter or every other high altitude room. club ‘Who is your number one rival club?’, it’s probably Collingwood pioneered the high altitude trend Collingwood,” he says. by routinely flying its players to Arizona in the US for “We manufacture that. There are times when we go pre-season training, something that other clubs, with the interstate, we’ll say something in the media leading up to budget to facilitate similar training camps, have cottoned the game that that club will respond to… it builds up the onto in recent years. rivalry. We deliberately want to build the rivalry so their Amarfio says this is just one example of the club’s entire supporter base rolls up as well, and that makes the strong history of innovation. game bigger. It’s good for the competition.”

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From a brand perspective, Putignano has nothing but Through the club’s partnership with Telstra, Collingwood praise for the club. “It has got a single-minded positioning, Media content is published to over 100,000 mobile personality and a very rich underlying brand narrative that application downloads, 350,000 monthly unique visitors, is all about ‘us against them’, he says. and over 800,000 supporters who are connected via the “They’ve brought that narrative to life in campaigns that club’s database. are very dramatic, that are over the top in their adoption “After several years of tracking supporter behavior, we of warfare metaphors. Collingwood players, and by have gained telling insights into what they want, where association their supporters, are portrayed as heroes, as they want it and most importantly, when they want it… martyrs. They are campaigns that ignite visceral emotions, When our supporters engage with us, they are spending that ask fans to make an unwavering commitment. That’s 65 percent of their time watching video and the majority powerful stuff,” he says. are doing so on their mobile. “Our 2015 digital strategy reflects this swinging A black and white media empire change.” Boasting the largest digital department in an Australian CollingwoodTV will ramp up content production by sporting club, Collingwood Media is the umbrella brand to 35 percent this year, producing five studio shows per an array of club-produced content, including CollingwoodTV, week and a range of documentaries taking the everyday Collingwood Digital, Collingwood Radio, Collingwood supporter inside the club more often, starting with the Productions and Collingwood Photos. launch of All Aboard the Bus. In March 2015, Pert launched Collingwood Media’s 2015 digital strategy, outlining the club’s cutting-edge World domination…? approach to content and premiering the inspiring behind- For now, it seems all that is left for Collingwood is global the-scenes pre-season documentary All Aboard the Bus. domination, but even that goal doesn’t seem too far out of It’s broadcast quality content. reach, with international memberships growing every day. “The vision for Collingwood Media is to provide The big steps the club has taken so far have paid off, compelling content to every Collingwood supporter, but for Pert the hard work isn’t over yet. anywhere around the world, using every available “Our vision is to be the biggest and best sporting technology. We realised it was not up to our supporters to club in Australia, and hopefully if we keep listening to the find us, we needed to locate different avenues to connect feedback of our supporters, we’ll get there soon enough.” us to all supporters, all age groups, all nationalities, 24/7, Looking at the numbers, Perty, perhaps you’re on their terms,” he said at the launch. already there.

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From flock to frock It’s early 2013. Since its inception more than 45 years earlier, the Woolmark brand has experienced significant trials and tribulations. By Peter Roper.

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In the early 1960s an international competition was held. A product bearing the Woolmark logo has been Australia’s industry body for wool, the International Wool independently tested to predetermined specifications Secretariat, needed a logo. The mark would be used as as a high-quality woollen product with guaranteed fibre a visual representation of fibre content and a mark of content. quality for products made of wool sold all over the world. But it’s more than just quality. It’s nostalgia. “If I go back The winning design comprised five black bands criss- in time and remember the jumpers I was wearing and crossing to form the shape of a skein, a loosely coiled the Woolmark was there, that really becomes part of my length of yarn. In its 2011 review of the top 20 logos story,” notes Putignano. That’s a powerful connection to of all time, Creative Review voted the Woolmark logo have with millions of people. number one, ahead of the likes of Michelin, Apple, Penguin and Pirelli. Erminio Putignano, brand strategy consultant and The Woolmark has been stitched former managing director of FutureBrand in Australia, says onto more than two billion it is quite refreshing to see a logo stand the test of time almost untouched. “In our age you often see even very products. important, iconic logos in need of going through some sort of refresh, very often. To see a logo like this that has been More than a marketing issue almost intact for 50 years really is refreshing. It shows how Beginning in the 1980s, the Woolmark experienced great the simplicity of that design approach was.” But it’s a significant decline – a slow descent into confused also versatile, Putignano points out, easily altered in subtle meaning, poorly co-ordinated application and the loss of ways to denote wool blends as part of the Woolmark its illustrious roots. At one point, there were more than 80 certification system. versions of the logo in use around the world. Officially credited to designer Francesco Saroglia, Reduced marketing investment and the brand legend has it that no such person ever existed. With no explosion of the 80s saw the Woolmark take a back seat to other works publicly credited to his name, some have the hero brands used by designers and retailers. suggested Saroglia was a pseudonym for one of the Further, the Australian wool industry was in crisis. A judges of the logo competition, Franco Grignani, who side- decade of drought led to the number of sheep in Australia stepped protocol to enter, and win, the contest. dropping from more than 200 million to current levels of Whatever the true identity of the designer, he or she is around 70 million. At the same time, there was a radical responsible for one of the most iconic brands of all time. decline in the cost of synthetic fibres. The wool industry of The Woolmark was born. the world’s largest wool producer was in crisis. There were also structural issues around the industry’s A mark of quality operations, with one organisation owning the intellectual Two hundred years of selective breeding has seen the property for the promotion of demand, and another being wool produced in Australia become recognised the world responsible for the research and development work. over as the finest for producing garments. Around 80% of “The wool growers, for that decade or so that we the wool used in apparel globally comes from Australia. weren’t marketing wool, really weren’t earning enough Australia’s neighbour to the East, its islands no stranger money to sustain the industry,” says Rob Langtry, to the wooly beast, also produces an enormous volume chief strategy and marketing officer at Australian Wool of wool. But New Zealand wool is of a much coarser fibre, Innovation. “For the industry to be sustainable, we needed more suited for use in carpets. If you’re wearing it and it’s to get the price up over time.” wool, it is probably Australian Merino wool. Implemented in the 1960s as a global icon to eliminate A new stewardship and a difficult decision the range of wool symbols in use, another driving factor Langtry heads marketing for Australian Wool Innovation was the need to fight off the challenge of synthetic (AWI), a government-created, industry-owned enterprise. materials, new at the time. After launch, it took more than “It’s a pretty odd bird,” he says. AWI’s owners are the a decade to fully roll our the brand across the traditional roughly 30,000 wool growers across the country, and its retail markets for wool: Britain, the United States, Japan, key functions are research and development to improve Germany, Holland and Belgium. productivity among growers, and marketing, to promote Since its creation, the Woolmark has been stitched the purchase and use of wool in manufacturing. At the onto more than two billion products. In many markets it end of the day, however, what matters is price. “Ultimately, is a certification mark accompanied by a set of standards because we sell every kilogram of wool we produce, this is and testing procedures. In other, newer markets, such not a volume game, this is a game of influencing the price as China, it’s a trademark, and is rigorously protected. of wool,” says Langtry.

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Throughout the seventies, eighties and nineties wool very large proportion, but signifies great potential rather industry bodies, boards and commissions came and than being an achievement unto its own. went, over time merging and morphing with new inquiries, Digging deeper, Langtry says the company’s research reviews and acts of parliament. The International Wool revealed a rather significant gap between awareness and Secretariat became The Woolmark Company in the early consumer benefit. People below 35-years old were aware nineties, and has been under the control of AWI since of the brand because it appeared widely on clothing, 2007, when it purchased the rights to the Company and but had no idea of the meaning behind it. A generation its famous mark and set about reviving the brand. But, it had been lost. “That really dictated a communications may never have been. approach to us which said we need to overcome the negatives, leverage the awareness and start to do a very The company’s research revealed strong global education program,” says Langtry. a rather significant gap between A lengthy supply chain thread awareness and consumer An ingredient brand, marketing the Woolmark has evolved into quite a complex task. Stakeholders range from benefit. People under 35-years the growers that collectively own the brand and fund it old were aware of the brand through levies, to the manufacturers who license the mark, to the end purchasers of clothing. “You don’t walk into a because it appeared widely on High Street retailer and say, ‘Can I have a kilo of wool?’ clothing, but had no idea of the You walk in and buy an Armani suit,” Langtry says. “We work right across a very lengthy supply chain, and that meaning behind it. A generation starts from the grower base and building their confidence had been lost. that there’s actually a market for the product, all the way through top making, spinning, weaving, and then into When AWI came to control the Woolmark five years ago, relationships that we build with key accounts.” it had a difficult decision to make: put the brand out of its To put the Woolmark in context, think about ingredient misery, or attempt to restore it to its former glory? brands in other areas of people’s lives. In consumer Key to the decision was a piece of research conducted technology, think of Intel, Android and even the apps and other in 2006 by Millward-Brown. 22,000 consumers were features of your smartphone. Putignano considers Woolmark polled in 10 key markets and it was found that the to be one of the first pure ingredient brands, and says that Woolmark logo had amazing recognition scores: 95% ingredient brands have never been as important as they are of Japanese, 94% of Britons and 85% of Germans today, “becoming a fundamental model of how brands today recognised the mark. Even after a 10-year hiatus of are created and managed, especially in technology.” actively marketing the brand, “the levels of recognition of In managing an ingredient brand, one of the key this particular mark were legendary,” says Langtry. challenges is maintaining control. Putignano cites the For Putignano, the most striking aspect of the disagreement between Apple and Google over the ‘Maps’ Woolmark brand is this endurance. “Even though it is app. Apple ultimately opted to take back full control of the a brand that has not been nurtured that well – there app, rather than retain Google Maps as a fundamental have been long periods of absolute silence, of chaotic ingredient brand on its mobile operating system. management – the fact that people throughout the world In the Woolmark Company’s unique, industry-owned have been exposed to this brand every single day, because position, providing transparency and a voice for its they could see it in their own garments, really gives this 30,000 owners is vital. Every three years AWI carries out brand a special place in people’s lives,” Putignano says. the Wool Poll, in which it asks growers how they would With the results of that research, the decision was like their money invested. Before the most recent Poll in made to revive the brand. The first step was to bring November last year, the split between R&D and marketing the developmental and promotional aspects of the wool had been 50-50. industry under the one roof. “The marketing and R&D It’s now moving to 60-40 in favour of marketing, a being split was a bit of an oddity,” Langtry explains, major departure from the almost-nonexistent marketing of “because the Woolmark brand itself didn’t really have the preceding generation. a source of income other than royalties and licensing fees, and it was really sitting at arm’s length from the An audience divided wool grower.” Another departure from history was Langtry’s decision However, awareness does not equal perception, to market the brand as just that, a brand, as well as positive or negative. As Putignano points out, 95% is a continuing to use it as a quality assurance mark.

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“We are in the process of putting together the next three partners to help tell our story, and in fact, the first two years’ worth of campaigns,” says Langtry. “That increase partners we had were Benetton and Missoni,” Langtry in our marketing funding will essentially be to work on says. “This immediate season just past we had 32 of the the key programs that we’ve already developed. We see world’s leading fashion brands, who were basically on our our campaign structure as being one of consolidation of platform talking about wool and why they chose to design the five to six key platforms we have, and moving them and produce apparel in it.” increasingly to a digital basis… Where I think we’re now 60-40 digital-traditional, we’ll probably be 90-10 by the end of the three year period.” An ingredient brand, marketing With 30,000 stakeholders looking very keenly at how the Woolmark has evolved into their money is spent, Langtry sees his role, and that of AWI, as custodians and investors of the growers’ funds. quite a complex task. “We do everything that you would expect us to do. We have traditional measures, we do the Nielsen tracker every Agency-less and loving it six months, we measure shifts in brand equity, shifts in About a year into the brand revival process, Langtry took awareness, and shifts in perceptions across the attributes the decision to not retain an agency. “One of the issues for that are involved in our campaigns.” us was that the wool story, depending on where you are in The most important metric is the price of wool. “Apart that supply chain, is told slightly differently, and it’s quite a from the other market factors, we take very close notice of complex thing for an external agency to get its head around.” what happens with the price of wool. Marketing is not the AWI has assembled an internal agency responsible for only influence on price – there are a lot of different factors the creative thinking and production of content around in that – but as a trend line, the ultimate measure for us wool’s journey from flock to frock. Now with a headcount is the price of wool and what we call the Eastern Market numbering roughly 30, the team covers everything from Indicator, because that’s the price that growers are getting the story on the farm to the runways of Paris, has strong for their wool.” video expertise (and professional enough for a day at the As an ingredient brand, Woolmark counts among its farm playing with baby lambs to remain productive), green target audience both end and trade users of wool. For the screen facilities, graphic design, social media and digital relaunch of the brand, Langtry says that after doing a fair expertise. amount of thinking and research, they initially set out with “We supplement that with external fire power,” a trade-focused campaign, titled ‘No Finer Feeling’. says Langtry. “Take, for example, the ‘No Finer Feeling’ It was to be the thrust of the brand’s trade-focused campaign, the ongoing creative thinking around that activity, representing about 40% of a marketing spend of is done by a fellow called Simon Collins, who bounces $120 million, with the main objective of putting wool back between Washington and London… we use him a bit like on the map for the fashion industry. an agency would use a creative director.” Second, it needed to kick off a long-term move to get Another example of external firepower, and another consumers to look for wool when purchasing premium name you may have heard of, is Anne Geddes, one of apparel. Australia’s most iconic photographers. Interestingly, “In the very first year, we deliberately set out to look Geddes does not ordinarily engage in commercial like a brand that was working in the fashion space, even partnerships. It’s understandable given the subject matter though for a decade we weren’t. Most of the reasoning of newborn infants. “We’re very, very concerned when behind that was not the direct appeal to consumers but we get involved commercially with other people and I’m was to start to rebuild confidence within the supply chain. fortunate as a photographer that I can work to my own “It started as a trade-driven strategy, but with a agenda,” Geddes tells Marketing. “But when the Woolmark very strong consumer sharp end. We started to form Company approached me to represent them and be an relationships with people who are strongly influential advocate for wool, and particularly Australian Merino, it around fashion and apparel. So in that first year we looked was just a natural synergy and it sounded perfect to me.” like a fashion brand.” In fact, it wasn’t even particularly uncharted territory Almost three years on from the launch of ‘No Finer for Geddes, who notes that when one’s main subject is Feeling’, Langtry says the brand is tracking pretty well. sleeping babies it’s important to make them comfortable. In the last read of its brand tracker survey, conducted “I looked back over some of my old images and I hadn’t with Nielsen, brand equity moves are largely positive. realised how many of my images I had actually shot with Additionally, Langtry is appreciating the warming of brand wool before I worked with Woolmark.” partners. “In that first year, after a decade of not being in Geddes says she was, pleasingly, given freedom the market, it was very hard for us to engage with brand by Woolmark to be creative. “It was a pretty good brief

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because Woolmark said ‘do whatever you like’. So I came we are to help that emerging talent find markets and to them with all these images,” she says. “The Woolmark create markets for its product.” logo image (pictured opposite), was all about just sitting The winner of the 2013 International Woolmark Prize down and letting the mind be free and trying to think of was Christian Wijnants, a 34-year-old designer based in a great idea, and I looked at that logo and thought that a Antwerp. His connection to Woolmark, and Merino as a baby could go right in the centre of that – it is just perfect.” material, will last throughout his career.

Eyes on the prize Forecasting woolly weather At the half-way mark of the twentieth century, the So what’s next for the Woolmark brand? Is Langtry happy International Wool Secretariat started awarding an annual with where its sitting? “I’ve been in the brand marketing prize to emerging talent in the fashion industry. In the business for 35 years, and anyone who ever says they’re same year, 1954, two young men on the winners’ list happy is probably resting far too heavily on their laurels,” were Karl Lagerfeld, in the coat category, and Yves Saint he says. “I think it’s really challenging. I think we’ve made Laurent in the dress category (pictured above). Last year, really positive progress. We’ve demonstrated that we can AWI decided the Woolmark Prize was too valuable a get a return, but we’re in a highly complex market that, proposition to let go. It’s especially valuable today, Langtry if anything, is an early adopter of technology. So we’re adds. “Really iconic global designers are becoming less having to be very light on our feet.” critical, and there’s quite a democratisation of where And the marketing team has learned some key lessons design comes from. In that sort of environment, young along the way. “We’ve evolved in our main campaign, designers don’t get an easy track through to retail. ‘No Finer Feeling’, from looking like a fashion brand to “Young emerging talent won’t have an innate really having fashion brands talk on our behalf. That’s an knowledge of wool. We can go to them as the wool evolutionary step,” Langtry explains. industry, and as Woolmark, and we can connect them “It took a couple of years to get there, but that’s through a global competition to retail off-take. And we can genuinely starting to build a lot of traction for us now. do that without us setting ourselves up as a fashion judge, “We’ve been learning as we go. Are we happy with it? I but really using our connections in the leadership areas of think we’re happy that we’re progressing. Have we reached the fashion industry to help these people.” the point where we can’t do any better? Definitely not. Will The current judging panel for the Prize (after regional we be required to adapt very quickly and very frequently? judging has taken place) includes the likes of Donatella Absolutely yes – the category and the marketing Versace, Diane Von Fürstenberg, Victoria Beckham and environment out there dictates we have to.” Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia and L’Uomo But what of the mystery surrounding the original Vogue. designer of the mark? “Legend has it that of all the “Those winners, apart from winning a very healthy cash competitors in the world, the person who actually prize, also are connected directly with a number of the designed the logo, and whose name was on it, might have world’s leading retailers, Harvey Nicholls, for example, or been a front person for a more famous designer,” he says. 10 Corso Como. It’s a really solid leg up for what would be Creative Review speculates that, with no other work an emerging brand into that commercial space,” Langtry attributed to Saroglia, the true artist is Grignani, whose explains. “It’s quite exciting for us. It fulfils a strategy body of work includes similar styles. The Woolmark primarily of using the Woolmark as a device to discover Company, however, is content for the mystery to remain emerging talent, and of using our connections and what unsolved.

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