303 Advertising has taken equity in a new consultancy aimed at taking the agency into a new era of branding.
303 Advertising has taken equity in a new consultancy aimed at taking the agency into a new era of branding.
UffindellWest, a UK-based independent brand consultancy, has been set up in Perth under the leadership of Laraine Wheller.
303 Advertising has played a hand in establishing the Australian operations of UffindellWest after striking a deal recently with UffindellWest managing director Erika Uffindell.
According to 303 Advertising managing director Jim Davies, 303 had come across UffindellWest’s branding strategy work and wanted to adopt that methodology to its business.
The result is the formation of a local office, operated by Ms Wheller, who has recently moved to Western Australia from England.
Ms Wheller will provide strategy work for 303 Advertising clients as well as non-303 clients.
UffindellWest works with UK blue-chip clients such as The Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life Investments, and Countryside Properties.
Mr Davies said the UffindellWest brand strategy methodologies were progressive, working on dynamic brand structures designed to adapt to markets, rather than static value structures that fitted within markets.
“What people do now is brand definition not brand transformation,” Mr Davies said.
“People define the brand and what its values are but no-one is saying what do we want to be in five years and how do we get there?
“Brands are dynamic, not static.”
He said the UffindellWest models assessed external markets and demographic shifts to help determine what a brand should represent going forward.
Mr Davies said he was not aware of any business providing similar analysis in Australia.
“The brand strategy needs to be more closely aligned with business objectives in order to drive sales. This company [UffindellWest] specialises in dynamic brand models that deliver the brand journey from point a to point b. To deliver that you have to be in touch with the market.
“It’s saying ‘this is what we want to be and we want to be there because the market thinks this and the consumer thinks that and this is how we are going to get there’.”
According to Mr Davies, this is a more holistic approach to current brand strategies, the static nature of which he believes can have detrimental effects to brands once the marketplace progresses beyond them.
303 recently acquired a one-off project job for Red Rooster, which involves brand strategy work to leverage the fast food business’s Olympic sponsorship campaign.
Mr Davies would not reveal details of the campaign or strategy but said Red Rooster had an image problem and the UffindellWest methodology would be used to deliver a more dynamic and in-touch brand for its owner, Australian Fast Foods.
Australian Securities and Investment Commission records show Mr Davies has a 50 per cent stake in UffindellWest’s Australian operation.
The remaining 50 per cent is held by Sheran Pty Ltd, which is directed by Helen Goldfinch.
