Every great brand has a clear story at its heart. It expresses your ‘why’ and captures what make you special. It might live internally, to help your people get what your brand is about. It might live on your website, for the world to read. Or your brand story might simply be the foundation on which a bigger brand project is built.
Here are some of my favourites I’ve written. They’re presented here as text only, because that’s usually how I send them out into the world — to design agencies or clients — and often, I don’t see where they end up living. They may get tweaked and changed out in the world, but here’s how I wrote them initially.
Client: Full Windsor
Agency: Fuman
Get out and play.
Play is serious stuff. It’s the way we learn the world and expand our capability. It’s the way we shake our limits loose and slip into a creative flow. Play is where we let our big ideas stretch their legs and climb bigger hills.
At Full Windsor, play is how we unlock the serious business of clever design. In our workshop we create useful things that get you outside. Tactile, hands-on things that make outdoor adventures better. That look good, work better and last (at least) a lifetime.
You see, we want your kids to inherit your useful things. Then play it forward to their own kids. And also pass on a thriving planet, where there are still wild places to get outside and play. That’s why every useful thing we make is designed for durability and sustainability. To be used and used and used some more. And to make as small a dent in the planet as is humanly possible.
We love the outdoors and we know you do too. So when you hold a useful thing from Full Windsor, we want you to feel something. A subtle pull, a spark of inspiration, the call of something over the ridge or around the next bend. We want you to grab your things, grab your friends, grab your family and get outside. Work’s done. It’s time to play.
Client: Founders Brewing Co.
Agency: Unified Brands
Here’s to a few founding principles.
Balance the rough with the smooth.
Find beauty in imperfection; the cracks are where the light gets in.
Know how to use your own two hands.
Only catch the fish if you know how to make the meal.
And never overcook it. Or overthink it.
There’s nothing wrong with simple if you do simple well.
Raw has more depth and sophistication than gloss ever will.
Pay close attention, but don’t get lost in obsession.
Live in the moment, but honour what came before.
And challenge yourself with what comes next.
Be comfortable with yourself in the hills or in the high street.
Keep your eyes open to possibilities.
Life needs light and shade, softness and strength.
Know how to find the balance.
Live for doing. Experience is more valuable than expensive stuff will ever be.
But make sure the things you do have are things worth keeping.
And remember that beer’s never just beer.
Stick to your principles, and you’ll always find the balance.
Choose well. Choose Founders.
Client: Punchbowl Packaging
Agency: Fuman
Guardians from shed to shelf.
We know being a grower takes a heap of trust. Once your produce rolls out of the packhouse, it’s out of your hands and into the world, carrying your reputation with it. So everything needs to be up to scratch, from shed to shelf.
Here at Punchbowl Packaging, that trust is what brings out the best in us. The way we see it, we’re the guardians of your good name, protecting your produce and the business you’ve built from the ground up.
Like most growers, you’re in this for future generations, not just today. As a family-run business ourselves, we get it. You need care, expertise and spirited ingenuity — three things we’ve got by the pallet-load. We love getting stuck into our research and finding innovative ways to help you plan for the road ahead. As experienced experts in packaging and packhouse automation, we tick all the boxes for getting your produce to market looking and tasting its best.
The world loves quality New Zealand produce. But more than ever, they want it delivered in innovative, sustainable packaging. That’s where we come in — to give you the competitive edge you need, now and into the future.
Client: Ata Rangi Wines
Agency: Hilary Cootes
A quiet obsession.
Ata Rangi. The dawn sky, a new beginning.
When we rise each day, in the heart of Martinborough, we have only one thing on our minds. Our wine. How do we improve on the last vintage? How do we regenerate the land so it can continue to offer the perfect crop? And how can we put this beautiful wine in more hands, on more lips, in more hearts?
It’s a quiet obsession. We could make more noise or branch out into new products. Bang our drum about the years of hard work establishing Martinborough’s place in the wine world. But instead, it is the wine. Our common vision for 40 years.
Our destination is always the next vintage, the next Ata Rangi Pinot Noir. And we walk towards it backwards, with all of our pioneering legacy in full view. We are in service to the wine, and everything else flows from it.
What does that mean? Stewardship of the land, where our grapes grow. Nurturing our industry family, so we can create beautiful wines side by side. And staying true to the art of winemaking, the quiet obsession that drives us.
Ata Rangi. The dawn sky, a new beginning. Where every day, we are in service to the wine.
Client: Poronui Lodge
Agency: Principals
Part of something bigger.
At Poronui, we invite you to take a step back and experience something bigger. In the wild and pure backcountry of Aotearoa New Zealand, it’s simply you and us, guest and host. Among clear rivers, forest, green hills and misted valleys, let the land shape you, carving out new stories and memories that last forever. Here, raw nature invites you to simply stop and breathe.
At Poronui we welcome you in, creating a space where you can be centred and focused, putting your energy into the things you love. The patient quest for the perfect trout, testing your skill in our crystal clear rivers. The steady, silent and exhilarating pursuit of a world class roaring red stag. Stories, fine food, friendship around the hearth. Or simply pure relaxation as you enjoy the luxuries of this exclusive escape from the world.
The full expanse of Poronui and its deep history is yours to discover. This land has seen Māori traders pass through. Pioneering farmers laying down the foundations of our modern, working farm. Generations of fishers and hunters finding hospitality under our lodge’s roof. And the remote mountains and streams that neighbour us sit waiting, calling for you to explore them.
Poronui. Step back from the world and become part of something bigger.
Client: Babu
Agency: Hilary Cootes
The building blocks of an active life.
Little kids never stop. The world is so exciting to them, wonderfilled and overflowing with a million new things to experience. They crawl, laugh, spill, chase, climb and explore. And we love to see them do it, knowing that everything they do is building, block by block, the person they will grow into being.
As parents, we can overthink what they really need. But it’s pretty simple: time, space, attention — and simple, comfy and durable clothes they can explore the world in.
That’s where BABU Basics comes in. Our comfy kids essentials, made well and made practical, are the reliable building blocks of an everyday wardrobe.
Simple styles. Colour blocked basics. Versatile combinations. Absolute comfort. Clothes for little adventurers, not little fashion accessories. Clothes made, well and simply, for life.
Client: Untamed Earth Organic Farm
Agency: Choir
Nature grows it best.
We’re lucky, us humans. The earth grows all kinds of good things for us to eat. Right there, in the ground or on a vine or up a tree. Good things that give our bodies everything they need to run and smile and do maths and feel healthy. All we need? The patience to let it grow.
But as humans, we can lose our way sometimes. For years, the food industry told us we could tame the earth, taking what we wanted from nature without losing anything along the way. And we believed it. We kept feeding our impatience with stuff that was grown bigger and faster. But it was definitely not better.
Well, it’s time to come back down to earth. At Untamed Earth, we know that nature grows it best. We let the land work its magic, doing just what’s needed to help it along. Because when we nourish the land, it will nourish us back.
The best part? We grow delicious organic food for you and bring it straight to your door. Because the only thing nature can’t do is drive the delivery truck.
Client: Blues Rugby
Agency: Hilary Cootes
All kinds of blue.
From north to south, we’re all kinds of blue. From the taniwha of Te Tai Tokerau to the morning fog across the Bombay Hills.
From east to west we’re blue. In every harbour and bay from the waters of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa to the waves of Te Tai-o-Rēhua.
We’re the blue skies over Northland and the bluestone kerbs of downtown Auckland.
We’re blue collar and blue chip, voices raised as one, cheering our team ‘til we’re blue in the face. We’re Pacific blue, true blue, old school blue and new blue
The blue of a cool head or a lightning flash. The blue of tradition and trust The excitement of blue sky thinking.
We’re this kind of blue. And that kind of blue. For all of you.
We are The Blues.