Rebranding Branding: The Podcast

What comes to mind when you think of Semrush? SEO? digital marketing?Whatever you're thinking, it's so much more. Join us as we chat with Laura Morelli, Head of Media for UK/Australia for Semrush and host of The Marketing Scoop about how Semrush is like ‘the Swiss army knife of SEO'.Laura reveals how Semrush is also putting its money where its mouth is and helping fight fake news and misinformation with data. With powerful analysis of global online search trends, Laura walks us through the power of data, how Semrush is being a force for good, supporting journalists ,and even helping victims of domestic violence.

We speak to fellow brand aficionados Emily Soccorsy and Justin Foster, co-founders of US brand agency Root + River about the origin of branding (hint: it's OLD), branding 101's and how the notion of branding has shifted in the last 15 years with the emergence of a more socially-conscious marketplace. We also discuss the dangers of ‘woke-washing' and gimmicks, the necessity of unearthing - and owning - your truth, and why repelling people with your brand's natural musk is a good thing…Hear us out okay?About Emily and JustinEmily Soccorsy and Justin Foster are the founders of the intrinsic brand practice, Root + River. Working with heart-based leaders, they believe that all great brands are spiritual experiences. Emily and Justin are on a mission to inspire all leaders to go inward - and reframe and redefine the role of brands and their impact on the world.Their intrinsic brand coaching is driven by three principles:branding is first a spiritual exercise; starting in the heart of the leader (the root) as a belief system.these beliefs become the foundation of a powerful message that reaches deep into the hearts of the audience.this message flows out into the world (the river) via modern marketing and in compelling brand experiences.Justin and Emily bring a compelling blend of leadership doctrine, spiritual intelligence and practical marketing advice intended to inspire and inform in new but timeless ways. Whether in coaching, writing or presenting, they provoke with passion, art and practical ideas that leave the audience or reader saying "I've never thought about that before!"

Episode 24What does the future of brand and marketing look like? We sit down today with ANZ's Resident Marketing Futurist (aka Senior Manager of Customer Centricity and Capability) Kate Young to find out.

In this episode, host Darren Taylor sits across from seasoned and talented branding expert Bill Kenney, CEO of US-based branding agency Focus Lab. In a rare case of brander speaking to brander, Darren and Bill explore the changing world of strategy-led brand through and post-COVID. Focus Lab, like many creative agencies experienced a lull at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to put the time to good use by rebranding their own agency. With their branding work helping reshape their core business, Bill speaks about putting those learnings to use and tackling the pent-up demand from COVID-19.About Bill KenneyBill Kenney's unyielding appetite for all things design, entrepreneurship, and serving others make him a grateful leader at Focus Lab. After four years in Tampa earning his B.F.A., Bill landed in the quiet southern city of Savannah, Georgia. In the years that followed, he organically (and unexpectedly) helped found the brand agency you see before you today. With the simple, original goal of doing great work and serving people well, Focus Lab went from a two-person, part-time affair to a globally-recognized and influential team of outstanding humans.Now living in the Garden State, he spends his downtime with his wife and son. Weekends consist of running, talking gravity and space with his son, reading loads of non-fiction, and hiking any mountain he can find.You can follow Bill on LinkedIn, or explore Focus Lab's brilliant work on their website.

Lisi Schappi, Director of Design at Deputy, joins the podcast today to tell us the unique story of Deputy's refresh as they enter the US Market. Deputy is an Australian software company that offers a complete workforce management solution. With employee rostering, shift planning, and timesheet management, it's used by businesses big and small, from Bunnings and Amazon all the way down to local neighbourhood café. Started in 2008, Deputy hadn't touched its brand since its launch. With the company wanting to expand into new markets (past the 90 countries it's already in!), and particularly the US, the business decided that a brand refresh was needed.In this episode, Lisi takes us through the collaborative and co-design approach that the business went through in refreshing the brand's visual identity. From problematic connotations with their old brand to inclusive and accessible design principles, to forming a team of ‘Brand Champions' within the business to work on the refresh, Lisi explains how Deputy arrived at its refreshed people-first brand.To see the previous branding and new branding, click here.For more information on Deputy, visit www.deputy.com

What springs to mind when you hear the brand name ‘BlackBerry'? If it was a mobile phone, you're not alone. For close to 15 years, the word BlackBerry was almost synonymous with what we now call a ‘smartphone'. As the market shifted however, BlackBerry realised it needed to drastically change to stay alive. Fast-forward to today, BlackBerry is a global leader in providing intelligent security software, and is the perfect example of a brand shifting to truly deliver what the market needs. A far cry from their iconic handsets, today BlackBerry's offering leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, and embedded systems. The company secures more than 500 million endpoints including 175 million cars on the road today (ie their software is in more cars today than they ever sold handsets!)So how did they do it? CMO of BlackBerry, Mark Wilson, sits down with us to discuss the monumental task of pivoting such a cemented, well-known, and emotionally nostalgic brand. “BlackBerry is an iconic brand that people everywhere know and love, however the company's successful pivot from pioneering handset manufacturer – and creator of the mobile workforce to AI cybersecurity software leader is a narrative that is not as widely known as it could be,” said Mark Wilson, Chief Marketing Officer at BlackBerry. “Our ‘Intelligent Security. Everywhere.' brand campaign aims to address that, and we're excited to show the world why BlackBerry is trusted by many of the world's largest and most important organisations to help safeguard their people, data, assets and communication. We secured the world of mobile work, now we're securing the world – with sophistication and intelligence.” For more information on BlackBerry and their ‘Intelligent Security. Everywhere.' campaign, visit BlackBerry.com

Gen Z is the largest generation, making up 30% of our current global population. As the future buyers and decision-makers, they hold immense power over brands. As Gen Z take their place as the new majority, brands around the globe need to seriously re-evaluate how they interact with this generation of digital natives. This generation is the first generation to have grown up with the internet; They don't distinguish between digital experiences and offline experiences, it's all the human experience to them. Mary Ellen Dugan, CMO of WP Engine, sheds some light in this podcast on how businesses and brands are facing the cataclysmic shift for winning the hearts and minds of Gen Z buyers. What changes do brands need to make to cut it in a Gen Z world?In this podcast, Mary Ellen Dugan discusses the recent whitepaper published by WP Engine: 'The Future of Digital Experiences: How Gen Z is Changing Everything'. Generation Z is the most Internet-dependent generation and has been a guiding force for the adoption of technologies across all generations. Gen Z's identity is inextricably tied to digital—and the way to reach this growing audience is through understanding how they use it. The whitepaper explores two key aspects of Gen Z's relationship with digital: influence and identity—and compares it to those of other generations: Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers across three global regions. The whitepaper is available to download here: https://wpengine.com.au/gen-z-aus/Based in Dallas, Texas, Mary Ellen Dugan is the Chief Marketing Officer at WP Engine, a leading technology platform helping deliver amazing digital experiences built on WordPress. Prior to this role, she held executive marketing roles at Dell and Indeed.com. Mary Ellen has more than 20 years of experience in strategic marketing and brand building, and she's launched brands in more than 12 global markets. Her core philosophy is that the brand must equal business, and she loves the challenge of developing fully integrated campaigns across every touch point and media.For more information, visit www.rebrandingbranding.com.au

The global automotive industry is currently being disrupted on a level not seen since the introduction of the internal combustion engine replaced the horse and cart. Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electrified cars are changing the face of the automotive industry to the extent that in 10 years' time many of our much loved car brands may cease to exist. Get under the hood of the automotive industry to find out what dramatic forces are at play and how some car brands are preparing for the disruption.About our guest, Mario Herger. Based in Silicon Valley, Mario is a world leading researcher of technology trends, author, keynote speaker and innovation consultant to start ups and Fortune 500 companies.He helps companies breathe the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit from Silicon Valley into their organisations, so they can be more innovative and discover trends and tipping points earlier, and influence them.He is a prolific writer of books having written five since 2016. Some of these titles include When Monkeys Teach Monkeys: How Artificial Intelligence Will Make Us More Human, Foresight Mindset: The Art and Science to Design Your Future, The Last Driver's License Holder … Has Already Been Born. Mario is an accomplished musician and plays the rare instrument hammered dulcimer, and is an accomplished tango dancer.Reach out to Mario for more information: www.enterprisegarage.io, or https://www.linkedin.com/in/marioherger/For more information about Darren Taylor and the Rebranding Branding podcast, visit: rebrandingbranding.com.au

While the Australian visitor economy has been greatly impacted by the COVID-related shutdowns, it has been an important time for industry players to examine their brand and product fundamentals to firstly survive and secondly, to be viable and relevant in a market that is hampered by uncertainty and mercurial easing of restrictions. Hear inspirational stories of triumph and innovation about local and international brands as they navigate their way from leading expert on the Australian visitor economy, Natalie O'Brien.

COVID has changed the arts industry forever. Live music performances delivered online haven't really taken off · until recently. The acceptance of digital delivery of almost everything has upended entrenched audience behaviours and artist's business models. In this episode, we hear from the cellist of the acclaimed, Flinders Quartet, Zoe Knighton, about how the Australian chamber music industry has changed fundamentally and how her Quartet has seized the opportunities.

Like all things, launching a start-up is all about timing. COVID has made it hard for many salaried employees to make ends meet. We speak to Tom Jamieson, Co-Founder of Zay Zoon Australia, a fintech start up, and learn about the upside of launching their wages on demand product for employees at the beginning of the COVID lockdown.

The food, hospitality and hotels industry has indeed been one of the hardest hit with COVID-19 restrictions. Hear from this esteemed global food advisor, Francis Loughran from Future Food, how this market has been affected and possibly even changed - both positively and negatively - forever. He offers some helpful practical tips to food businesses as they re-emerge from hibernation.

The superannuation and SMSF industry has been greatly impacted by regulatory changes brought about by COVID-19. Hear from SMSF industry expert and CEO of Australia's leading advisory business to accountants, Aaron Dunn, as he describes how his industry was impacted and how he is preparing his business, Smarter SMSF, for the road out.

Planning the road out of COVID is challenging for all brands at the moment. Knowing when we will come out the 'other side' is certainly a million dollar question as is what the new normal will look like. Hear from seasoned brand marketer, Maddison Rawson, Head of Marketing of leading tech recruiter, Halcyon Knights to hear her insights and forward motions.

Many brands are current neck-deep in strategy review and reset discussions. Our guest, leading global data guru, Benjamin Balk, talks about how data can be used to answer some of the important business strategy questions currently being posed and how COVID represents an opportunity to re-prioritise data as a strategic business focus.

COVID has been an ideal 'break in the traffic' to reflect on your brand and to refine for a post-COVID world. In this 'solo soapbox', Darren Taylor talks about his own agency, Taylor & Grace's rebrand journey during COVID and invites others to share their journey for future episodes.

Tapping into the emotionality of your brand can turbocharge its performance. Hear from this inspiring NFP leader, Mandy Mandie from Koala Kids to find out how.

The world has stopped. It's a rare moment, albeit a perfect one to re-focus on your core values as a human but also your organic online presence. Chatting to Ian Hopkinson, Founder of Mad Scientist Digital, a bit of a mad scientist himself, we learn about why it's never been a better time to focus on organic search to grow your business.

If you don't have an internal communications plan - even a simple one - it is now time to create one. Communicating on brand - regularly and relevantly - to your internal teams is not just good practice but critical during COVID-19. Internal comms expert, Julie Weldon shares her tips and tricks from her several decades of experience working on client side and as a consultant.

If you are a service business, what makes you any different or more valuable than the equivalent business down the road? How many service businesses have pitched to you, leaving you yawning after the first 10 minutes? Developing a signature system to package your value proposition is a must-have for businesses, particularly in a downturn, when customers are looking for clear and compelling evidence of your value. Learn all about signature systems from our guest, Renee Hasseldine from Share Your Passion.

For many non-marketers, brand is seen as intangible and an expense. Marketers often have to fight for budget to implement activities other than purely demand generation tactics. Speaking with digital marketing consultant, Tammy Begley from Destiined, we uncover some meaningful brand metrics that can be used to monitor and evaluate brand effectiveness as well as to support brand investment cases.

We're in unprecedented times. With the economy and our lives in lockdown and with many people losing their jobs, there's never been a better time to hone and build your personal brand. Talking with personal branding guru, Andrew Ford, this podcast explores what personal branding is, who needs to build one and how it can propel their life forward.

In conversation with Adam Griffith, Managing Director of leading digital agency, Luminary, this podcast explores the importance of having a strong brand strategy to ensuring a successful digital project in process and outcome.

Chatting with startup strategist and investor, CEO of SIP Management Consultants, Ernest Stabek, this podcast uncovers the importance of brand focus and investment for startups at different points of their journey, and some practical tips for those involved in this important and rapidly expanding part of the economy.

Chatting with disaster response expert Renae Hanvin, CEO of Corporate2Community, this podcast discusses the importance of stakeholder engagement, it's relationship to brand, and some practical tips to prepare for disasters.

This inaugural podcast hosted by Darren Taylor talks about why brand strategy is critical for all organisations to be successful today, as well as why he·s stepped up on the soap box and become a brand evangelist.