Create. Inspire. Think. Change.

Hammond Thinking is the home of cultural anthropologist and global brand strategist, Simon Hammond.

It exists to create a range of creative projects and businesses bound together by a desire to inspire new thinking and significant change.

Underpinning our creative approach is a commitment to a deep understanding of the ways human beings relate to and react within the popular cultural world.

People call this cultural anthropology, we call it common sense.

For 30 years it has been committed to an understanding and awakening within the business world – and broader global consumer society – about the cultural phenomenon of branding and its power to unite, define and dramatically dictate people’s behaviours within companies and communities.

At its heart, Hammond Thinking is about challenging society’s norms and questioning old ways, in an effort to redefine how we live, work and progress. It’s this challenging that has led to our belief in the untapped power of society and its desire to create new ways to belong.

BACKGROUND

BE Brands is the B2B philosophy created by Simon Hammond in 2003 to enable businesses to better understand what they must BE, so as to enjoy unprecedented emotional connection with their people and their customers.

It has also been used to better understand the human insights and truths as they relate to any given social challenge, so as to better form strategies, communication and action plans.

It utilises a collaborative approach within organisations to establish dramatic changes in behaviour based on a belief-driven sense of unity and belonging.

BE Brands maintains that ‘branding’ is not about marketing, logos or visual ID, but rather the DNA and cultural cohesion of an organisation - united by a deep understanding of relevance to the market served.

The 3 BEs become a methodology for establishing relevance, whether it’s brand positioning, project penetration or social change.

THE THREE BEs

belief. belonging. behaviour.

IN 2004, when Simon Hammond wrote his best-selling book, BE Brands, the marketing world was still hellbent on SWOT analysis, USPs and features & benefits. BE Brands questioned all that. It told of a global revolution to positioning companies in a world that was beginning to seriously question the impact and role of business in peoples’ lives. BE Brands stated that a sense of Belonging was central to a great brand and that people & culture were the true drivers of great business performance. Although a founder of three of Australia’s most talked about ad agencies, Hammond pointed out that advertising and marketing must come second to and be driven by a belief about what the brand can BE for its customers - rather than what it can sell. BE Branding maintained that a well articulated customer-centric belief creates a sense of belonging both within the brand and from customers to the brand. From there, behaviour becomes that of loyalists, not just purchasers. Belief, Belonging & Behaviour. The three crucial aspects of BE Brands that, once created, lead to brands of substance that are collected, defended and raved about by customers.

SUBSTANCE REVOLUTION

BE Brands is ultimately about creating the most fundamental story of why a brand/ organisation exists. It articulates in a powerful way the ‘cause’ or the reason behind a brand strategy, history or vision.

As such, it ensures a brand is more aligned to the emotive drivers of people, tapping into their most basic fears, desires and frustrations, as they relate to any given category.

For Mitsubishi Australia this was about people’s need for pride in what they drive, way beyond how the car works (‘Love that car’). For CUB it was about the very human need for friendship and community. For T2 it was about the desire to sit and take time out over a tea, way beyond merely taste and quality.

As such, BE Brands creates the emotive story of what a brand must BE for its customers so as to form a deep connection and sense of belonging.

It creates a passionate internal belief because the people driving the brand know how to express their passion and know what it is they’re a part of.

Ultimately it sets the foundation for the brand to be expressed externally through the belief and as such, it enables customers to also connect and belong to the tribe.

This is the behavioural change every business is after.

Best of all, the BE session enables a powerful story to emerge that unites all associated with a brand to emotively deliver a brand’s full potential.

CENTRAL STORY

A BE session is a facilitated strategic session, designed to take people out of their comfort zones and put them in a place where they, and their products or services, become emotionally relevant to peoples’ lives.

It’s a thinking session. And we believe this thinking needs to be collaborative. Drawing on the abilities of key people in a business, we explore the emotional drivers that determine why customers open fail to respond to rational arguments.

Ideally, all major stakeholders are present for this session, as this is where the fundamental strategic thinking is done – the outcomes of which lead directly into a brief and a filter to ensure that you are entirely ‘on brand’ in everything that you do.

During the session we define a Unique Being Proposition or UBP – the BELIEF of what your company can BE for them.

You will be provided with full reporting from the day encapsulating key findings, insights and of course the final UBP.

This report becomes the bible of your brand and enables others to instantly understand your brand belief and how it was created.

The stages of Brand Establishment;

1. SOCIAL INSIGHTS. We begin by ensuring everyone understands the new age consumer and the real drivers that help people connect with brands. This is the stage that proves the need for BE branding.

2. THEM. With the world on the table, we define and explore your ‘category’. In other words, what topic or subject cues your business in an everyday conversation?This discussion is crucial and open reveals a fundamental difference between key stakeholders. With the category defined we then debate and explore the key emotive drivers of people in that category – their fears, frustrations and desires.

3. YOU. In this crucial third stage we develop your UBP – the Unique Being Proposition. This proposition is the belief of what you must be for the customers you’ve just come to understand.

4. EVIDENCE. Finally, we look at the evidence to support the newly found UBP and the crucial aspects of the business that must change based on that UBP. This gives us a start for the Brand territory, gap analysis and the subsequent discussion on consequences and communications platform.

THE BE SESSION

The stages of Brand Establishment;

1. SOCIAL INSIGHTS. We begin by ensuring everyone understands the new age consumer and the real drivers that help people connect with brands. This is the stage that proves the need for BE branding.

2. THEM. With the world on the table, we define and explore your ‘category’. In other words, what topic or subject cues your business in an everyday conversation?This discussion is crucial and open reveals a fundamental difference between key stakeholders. With the category defined we then debate and explore the key emotive drivers of people in that category – their fears, frustrations and desires.

3. YOU. In this crucial third stage we develop your UBP – the Unique Being Proposition. This proposition is the belief of what you must be for the customers you’ve just come to understand.

4. EVIDENCE. Finally, we look at the evidence to support the newly found UBP and the crucial aspects of the business that must change based on that UBP. This gives us a start for the subsequent development of the Brand territory, gap analysis and the subsequent discussion on consequences.

THE BE SESSION

BEYOND THE BE SESSIONOur BE session process delivers a clear understanding of what you must BE for the customer at this time in the world. It provides a clear statement of what you stand for and why you do what you do.

This UBP(belief) is an internal proposition that drives decision making, acts as a brief for communications and unites your people to a common belief.

Following the collaborative BE Session, we will map where the competitors are and recommend the single most powerful ‘territory’ you can bring to life from your belief.

This is the notion that you will seek to own in the hearts and minds of people.

Most importantly, it’s the territory that will translate best into communications.

From there the following additional services are offered for which we can provide budget estimates:

1.Manifesto.

A brand manifesto is the story of the newfound brand belief, expressed in an emotive narrative that helps set the tone and style.

2. Communications platform review.

This is all about expressing your newly established UBP (belief) in a communication idea. This can be for internal staff and external customers.

We can develop the platform for all communications; this often becomes the new external positioning line for the brand. Some of our better known examples include Medibank’s ‘For Better Health’, Mitsubishi’s ‘Love that car’; Boost’s ‘Boost the way you feel’; Pedders’ ‘No Bull’, CUB’s ‘Raised in Friendship’, MMG’s ‘We mine for progress’, Porter Davis’ ‘Respect the dream’ and Swinburne University’s Knowing.

3. Brand archetype session.

Brand archetyping sets the personality and character of the brand based on the newfound belief. It uses Carl Jung’s archetypes to help clarify the sort of behaviours and character needed in the business to live the belief. We recommend this half day program as another opportunity for collaboration across the business.

4. Gap analysis.

It is important to review your business as a consequence of the UBP and Brand Territory. What is the gap between where you are and where you need to be? To achieve a true picture of the ‘gap’, we conduct a comprehensive touchpoint review, examining all aspects of your business in relation to customer touch points. This provides a clear view of what must change. In some circumstances this can be done in a facilitated set of sessions but is best handled as an independent review by HammondThinking over a period of 3-4 weeks. A subsequent session is set with the executive team to review the analysis and discuss recommendations/implications.

A PROVEN PROCESS

Globally, the BE Branding process (formerly the CRACC process in the early 90s) has driven the brand positioning of such powerhouse brands as Bosch, Foster’s/CUB, Credit Union Australia, MMG mining, Westpac, Mitsubishi, Boost, Medibank, T2, Utd, Kit Digital, Sportsgirl, Amcor, Elwood, GPT, Modelco, nab, Secrets, Masterpet, GlaxoSmithKline. Pacific

Brands, Orora and Fernwood - to name just a few.

It has been used successfully in over 15 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia. More specifically, it has become the central piece to a number of global positioning initiatives led by John Pollaers.

Proven and powerful, BE Branding and its associated BE Session draw together the key people in any business to collaboratively create the central Belief that will connect with customers and form the necessary belonging and behaviour a great brand needs.

Every BE session begins with a reality check about who your customer really is and what drives them. We ask you to question the cues being taken from society’s obsession with political correction, corporate governance and information overload.

This leads to a deep dive into your customer’s emotive drivers and an honest assessment of what you can BE that emotionally connects with them.

In our experience setting the belief is the first of three crucial steps.

The collaborative process creates a groundswell of conviction and passion for the brand’s belief.

However it is vital to ensure that the rest of the business gets to feel the same enthusiasm as those who took part in the process.

For this reason, and following the creation of the brand belief, we offer a number of ways to create BELONGING within the business (Stage 2).

In most cases we create a traveling presentation, utilising the same powerful cultural cues and insights used in the BE sessions.

This powerful audio and visual presentation would feature the leaders of the business and is designed for them to reveal the newfound meaning and belief of the brand to all stakeholders and staff.

After the successful rollout of the new brand belief we would then assist you in devising the right set of programs or approaches to ensure BEHAVIOUR can change in line with the new brand (Stage 3).

In our experience this approach must roll into crucial HR programs such as recruitment, induction, ongoing training and development, leadership training and KPI measurement programs.

The BE branding approach is ultimately creating a brand that acts as one, around a central belief. To do this we strongly recommend a long term behavioural set of programs.

As with the rollout, this can be looked at, scoped and costed as we gather more information about your organisation.

Last, but not least, we offer an ongoing brand advisory role to ensure an outside perspective to living the belief as well as independent input into growth strategies.

BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE

BeliefThe insight-driven reason why what you do matters.

Based on simple human truths.

The StoryExpressing the belief.

BelongingUsing brand belief and story to create a united and powerful sense of belonging.

Behaviour Performance, training and measurement. Delivering

the brand through the people.

A brand view linked to the real world.

ValuesWhat binds as

as a tribe.

PersonalityCharacter/style.

Communication Platform

The message to the world.

Simple human truths

the relevance to them & real world.

Illogical conflict

Name, marque,

logo, look and feel. GAP

Analyse every touchpoint.

HAMMOND Thinking is run by marketing veterans, Simon Hammond and Robyn Nelson.

Hammond and Nelson co-founded their first agency, dare, in early 1988. They later created The Edge in 1993 (later became Clemenger Harvie Edge) and SEE in 2001 (later bought by the Photon group). In 2010 Hammond co-founded the Bastion group of communication companies. His most recent creation, with partner Daniel Goodfellow, has been ‘The BE Counsel’ in New York and more recently Melbourne, which launched in 2012.

Simon Hammond has written three books on branding; * GUTS 2004 * BE Brands; The creative brand revolution. 2006 * CEO of Earth. 2010.

Today, after 30 yrs, the Hammond name is a catalyst for change. Its global BE Brands IP is at the heart of a number of marketing agencies and through Simon Hammond’s own specialist BE Brands consultancy it helps a discreet number of major brands with strategic positioning globally. The Hammond business also develops a portfolio of independent creative projects from the theatrical rockshow Lectern Rock, to a new creative destination development in Spink Street Brighton, as well as books and major speaking engagements.

Hammond Thinking runs with the philosophy of a small core of strategic/creative thinkers linked to a trusted network of creative and executional communication experts that can be used to resource projects if and when a client requires it.

hammondthinking.com

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