Being a marketing agency the new SA Brand was the prime topic of conversation this morning.
“What do you think?” “Do you like it?” “Does it remind you of the London 2012 logo?” “Did you read the response on Twitter?”
Interestingly, for a team who work so closely together, our opinions differed…

Penelope

At first glance of the new identity I was a little underwhelmed, I admit it. I was hoping for something a little more dynamic, this feels a little safe to me. But it is identifiable, does put us on the map. Are we the doorway to Australia, I would question the authenticity of that statement, but perhaps that’s too harsh. Living in California working for the SATC, marketing our state to North America did highlight the lack of profile our state and city has compared to the eastern seaboard.  

I wondered where the blue was and was impressed by the competitor identity analysis ( http://www.brandsouthaustralia.com.au/the-brand/) to discover how prevalent the blue colour is with other states. We do need to stand apart and this colour palate does that. Like many elements of the design, it really doesn’t matter if we like it or not, it matters if it has impact and achieves its objectives.

One of those objectives is to engage us as the public, however most importantly it’s to increase trade and investment, which ultimately will engage us and make us happy. So while there will be lots of speculation and opinions bantered around, only time will tell if this rebrand is a success or not. And we might just change our mind a few times between now and then. Like…don’t like…not sure. Today I’m not sure but swaying to like.

Alice

I was looking forward to seeing the new Brand for South Australia having spent time on SA Government websites and utilising the SA ‘Brilliant Blend’ brand in previous work projects. I had a sense of excitement and wanted to feel that little buzz of pride making me feel proud to be South Australian.
 
I’ve got to say I am disappointed. I felt completely underwhelmed when I saw the logo- this was the first thing I saw of the brand.  I followed up by checking out the video on a You Tube link ( I accessed via Facebook.)
 
I was thoroughly saddened watching the video- a series of chopping montage of of image cuts on a mix of reverse and forward motion. The jingle jangle ‘Deep South’ American style tune  grated to the point I didn’t want to watch the entire film.
 
Where was the buzz of things that make us uniquely south Australian? Not coffee shops and OK yes we all love Fringe but we are much more than the Arts, bikes and coffee. What about our industries and intelligence- these are the way forward to help the state and put us on the map.
 
I understand the logo brief was to highlight where SA is and clear up misconceptions for those overseas- but surely a more inspiring (even less corporate) logo would be more engaging. –
 
I would have liked to see a sense of fun and intelligence. Not a corporate government result of too many compromises.
 
A disappointed South Aussie.

Georgi

For me – my comment is purely around the logo, and okay – I’m going to just say it. I like it. I don’t love it, but I like it.

I like it because I can see the benefits. It’s not inspiring to me, but do you know what? I don’t think that it was supposed to set my world on fire.

The way I see it, is that this new ‘brand’ is not a brand for us South Aussies, or other Australians – it’s a brand to push out to the rest of the world. One thing I learnt quickly travelling in Europe, and then was reinforced when I was working in the Department of Trade and Economic Development in South Australia – no one knows where SA or Adelaide is. Seriously. Let’s not kid ourselves that we have international notoriety. We need to get a big arrow that points. But that would be ugly. So I like the logo. It says where we is, it is welcoming with doorways, the colours feel very Australian.

The hype was huge around this, and nine times out of ten, when presented with something that Government comes up with, people will hate it.  – in South Australia. News flash – social media went crazy on this one. Someone said ‘Heaps Bad’. They probably came up with that before they saw it. It is worth noting here too, that the negative publicity – in fact, almost all of the publicity was in South Australia only – and isn’t that saying something in itself?

Take a step back and think about why South Australia needed re-branding, and whether this is a step in the right direction. Now what do you think?

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