OZ Design
CLIENT: OZ Design
LOCATION: Australia-Wide
CATEGORY: Doing things differently
OUTCOME: Brand Refresh alongside a new creative direction for the brand, Key Messaging and Tone of Voice Strategy and Copywriting — and with that of course comes a brand new hero tagline.
OZ Design are a furniture and homewares brand in Australia, with 40 stores (and counting) nation-wide. The team came to me needing a fresh set of eyes (and hands) to help them with the next evolution of their brand. I brought to life a brand refresh, alongside a completely new Tone of Voice and Key Messaging Strategy, which then formed the foundation for their new direction.
The team wanted to inject more personality into the brand, and bring in a few additional visual elements to be able to be more captivating across all touchpoints. The challenge here, was to create something that would resonate with all of OZ Design’s target audiences — from the Mums and Dads, the Nan’s and Pa’s, to the pilates-iced-soy-latte gals, to the 9–5 work-from-home-ers, to the entrepreneurs, and the guys in their bachelor pads. They truly do have something for everything, so the next evolution of the brand really needed to reflect that.
After an in-depth strategy sesh with the Marketing Team, I was off on my own to form the new Copy and Design System for the brand. After uncovering a bunch of insights, we landed on a new hero tagline — For Life. This created a launchpad that I was able to use to catapult the brand into the most flexible and emotionally-driven copy you’ve ever seen for a furniture and homewares brand.
I also tackled the brand identity, creating a new system of colour, fonts, and design elements to create some more cohesiveness across the board. I even adjusted their iconic Orange shade so we can have that accurate colour match on every single touchpoint.
This also included a shift in the name — going from OZ Design Furniture, to just OZ Design. Since OZ Design are all about creating moments and memories in our home, the brand name also needed to reflect that — after all they’re so much more than just furniture.
How is this different?
I’m always always always trying to push my clients to be brave enough to push the boundaries in their industry — because how are you going to stand out on the shelf or online if you’re doing the exact same thing as your competitors? Surprise… you’re not. Every day we’re bombarded with hundreds of brands a day across advertising on all platforms (Fun fact, the average person is exposed to 4,000–10,000 ads per day) so no wonder we need to stand out in the crowd.
Throughout the strategy and research I went through with OZ Design, I discovered that the real, raw, emotional side of this category is really not being tapped into at all throughout any brands in this industry. Crazy right?
Bingo. A huge gap in the market that we can lean into and totally own. I’m talking being super real about it all — and honest about the fact that we do share plenty of shit moments and tears in our homes, but there are even more happy and heartwarming moments that we all have as shared experiences. This idea of emotive moments inside our homes formed the foundation of this entire brand refresh and new tone of voice strategy for OZ Design.