the Being Australian brand

The thought-balloon element of our logo is intended to symbolize the experience of recognition that occurs in one's mind when one has noticed something imbued with characteristics one associates with Australia or Australians, or which simply remind one of being Australian.

The trademark design was conceived with the intention of conveying warmth, simplicity, accessibility, wonder, authenticity and playfulness.

Our work is about making sure the brand is firmly associated by Australians and admirers of Australians with the experience and societal benefit of observing and sharing sensory moments that feel Australian.

Moreover, Being Australian intends for its logo to be the internationally recognisable signature of a conversation between and among people of all backgrounds who share a common interest in all things Australian and to represent a pathway to a happier and more successful Australian community.

Being Australian is about the experience of being Australian through the senses of people who have experienced anything that feels 'Australian' to them. Being Australian assumes people are the experts on the subject of experiencing life in myriad Australian contexts. To that extent, Being Australian is merely a conduit for people to discover, feel, share and connect with each other in a way that ultimately helps make Australian society better.

Being Australian is a brand standing for experiences that feel 'Australian' and the knoledge and wisdom that dervices from those experience.  Being Australian does not represent icons (popular culture et al.), values or national identity.

Being Australian is about listening to people such that they are being heard, not lectured. It is about starting conversation through sharing and discovery, not ending conversation through imposition or declaration of stated beliefs or values. It is about fact, not opinion. Being Australian does not address 'What it means to be Australian' but rather, 'What it feels like to be Australian'.

The audience for Being Australian includes all people with an affinity for and/or connection with Australia ranging from young people to our senior citizens, migrants and visitors, merchandise customers and television viewers around the world.

Being Australian’s business sustainability model requires a sensitive balance between revenue earned and public interest. While enterprise sustainability relies on critical commercial objectives, these objectives are and must be seen to be subordinate to the social objectives of this work. The reverse of this may be seen to betray the public interest since people are the source of the content that makes Being Australian possible as an enterprise and valuable as a recognizable brand. The public has the most to gain from the outcomes of this work.

Being Australian is aimed at all people of all ages everywhere around the world who may have some connection with Australia or Australians - or who have had an experience that to them feels 'Australian'. The brand invites people to share snatches of life as they experience it. The experiences people reveal become the raw material for original content produced and presented in ways that informs, excites, entertains and inspires a nation of people who, according to the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, feel deprived of a strong sense of national community and belonging.

Being Australian is about "being" -- a moment that is alive and real for the person recalling it. In this sense, and

For the purposes of Being Australian, the state of "being" means something is going on, someone is doing something, something is happening and we are involved in it - even if only as observers - during or after the fact.

Being Australian is timely and relevant because... 'Love and inspiration are part of our world now.' (Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi).

Roberts' idea is that consumers now own the brands. When companies act in a manner that forgets that, it is the consumer who will turn on them. "I do not believe it is the optional thing now for companies to just talk about [being responsible], they (had) better be socially responsible, they (had) better be cleaner than clean, they better be doing something."

Roberts closes his books with the call for companies to change the world. Not to sell as such but to attain a higher social purpose... 'Can business make the world a better place?', he writes. 'Of course it can. Will business take up the challenge? It is in our best interests to do so…What can inspire us with the emotional urgency required to undertake this epic task? The creation and rewards of Lovemarks.' [Top]

(Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, from his book, Lovemarks. The Future Byond Brands, excerpted 6 May 2004 in The Australian, Media & Marketing section, p 19)