Project
Emporium Melbourne
Brand identity
Campaign
Situated in the literal heart of retail in Australia, Emporium occupies the original Myer building (Australia’s very first department store) and is known for being home to Australian ‘flagship’ stores with an award-winning architectural fitout. Intensified by the impacts of COVID-19, they began to see a drop in engagement so it was time to re-energise and re-define their place within the ever-changing Melbourne city.
SomeOne was brought on by Vicinity Centre to help redefine and re-energise Emporium’s brand and connection to the city it calls home. As part of the project team, I was involved in the brand identity & rollout, brand guidelines, and art direction.
The House of Melbourne
If you’ve ever been to Melbourne, you’ll be familiar with the pride Melburnians have for the place they call home. It’s the cultural capital of Australia. The crowd people want to be part of, the clique they want to hang with, the party that unites the best in style, culture & community. Teaming up with research agency, Crowd DNA, solidified this for us — that Melbourne is a city made by its people.
‘The House of Melbourne’ is part strategic position, part promise and part signal of presence in place. Used to guide internally, it also has a consumer-facing voice and acts as a stake in the ground for future development of the centre. It’s a benchmark for brands, partners, events and experiences they choose to collaborate with to live up to. And it’s unapologetically ‘for Melbourne’.
Synonymous with the original identity, the ‘E’ motif now works harder instead of being tucked away in a corner within the logo, proudly leading the communications. A bold cornerstone for the visual identity, much like the Emporium building is to Melbourne. Every design decision in the new brand embraces Melbourne’s diversity and is all about balanced contrast, from the high-flash photography, to the scale of the E, and the collision of personalities the brand is built around.
To really hit home that a community focussed brand needs to show up as community forward, we worked with Crowd DNA/Socialise to capture the intertwined stories of three Melbourne born/based trailblazers through a series of high energy ‘day in the life’ films and accompanying library of effervescent photography. With no direct ties to specific brands, and using the image and voices of real, influential Melburnians rather than the supermodels they’ve used in the past, they now have a genuine perspective that is beyond their own internal view. One that celebrates the place they call home. Melbourne.
Campaign video — A story of style, culture and community. Featuring Karinda Mutabazi (style), James Parr (community) and Briony Wright (culture).
Details
Project
Studio
SomeOne Sydney
Creative Team
Creative Direction — Tom Dabner
Client Services — Rebecca Bosustow
Design — Michelle Jin (Brand lead), Julien Bertouille (Campaign lead), Tom Dabner, Krystle Chong
Copywriting — Tom Dabner
Research & Campaign Production — Crowd DNA