Tom Fishburne

Have you noticed any change in Amazon’s brand identity lately? If not — that’s actually a huge success. At least in the short term. 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘁. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆. No launch film. No press blitz. No brand anthem with orchestral strings. Just a quiet rollout across 15 global markets—an initial phase in a broader global refresh. Billions of touchpoints, refreshed without making a scene. In branding, sometimes the boldest move is the invisible one — Subtle. Repetitive. Relentless. Until one day, you look up and think: “𝘏𝘶𝘩. 𝘏𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?” 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆. 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱. Frankly, I’m surprised it took them this long. Managing a brand ecosystem under a masterbrand without a unified visual identity is like conducting an orchestra where each musician’s playing a different song. Loud and memorable — but for all the wrong reasons. Amazon’s old brand system was starting to drift — each sub-brand doing its own thing. The new identity brings it all into sync. One smile. One tone. One visual rhythm. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱? • A warmer, more human smile in the logo (you’ll squint and see it) • A new typeface — Ember Modern — made for global legibility and digital elegance • A sharpened palette: Smile Orange with a bit more zing, Prime Blue turned richer • Refreshed iconography • A smarter visual identity system and architecture that makes 50+ sub-brands feel like one coherent family This isn’t just about being consistent — it’s also about being coherent and flexible. As a brand shows up across more surfaces and contexts, adaptability becomes just as important as alignment. 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗢𝗜? According to Deloitte (2019), consistently presented brands are 3.5x more likely to enjoy strong brand visibility. And a Lucidpress (Marq) (2021) study found that brands with consistent identity systems can see up to 23% higher revenue over time. Consistency across a billion touchpoints isn’t just a virtue — it’s a growth engine. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗠𝗢𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿. Spotify did it. So did Burberry. And Airbnb didn’t just change their logo — they built a system that made their brand feel both personal and global. Because when all the noise fades, this remains: 👉 Campaigns build salience and trigger short-term awareness and action. 👉 Visual identity systems build long-term memory structures and brand recognition. If you’re into design, identity, and the quiet work that drives real growth, have a look at the fascinating details on Koto's site:🔗 https://lnkd.in/gfhSfKpF #BrandStrategy #DesignMatters #MemoryStructures #Amazon #VisualIdentity #BrandArchitecture

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Is Marketing dead at the hands of AI? Everyone’s talking about AI right now—and rightly so. But it reminds me of other transformational shifts we have seen over the last few decades such as the rise of social media or the martech explosion - It changed a lot but so did we as a marketing community. At WPP Open Stream AI, I was reminded that while tools and channels change, the fundamentals endure: 🤔 The power of deep consumer compelling insights ✂️ The need for cut-through creative 🫖 The importance of quality products that deliver 🐒 The role of distinctive brand assets 📖 And above all, the magic of storytelling AI will certainly reshape how we work—but not why we do it. The brands that win will still be the ones that connect with consumers, inspire change and deliver to what people, not computers really want. My take out (for now) was that AI can be reframed for anyone feeling under threat as a huge opportunity to 'augment the human' and it can help you go from 'good' to 'outstanding'. So where 100 page powerpoints gave you a headache - AI can distill the key take outs, where exchange rates gave you the run around AI can summarise the implications (yes that is me), when you work alone you suddenly have a super smart thought partner to bounce ideas off and brainstorm with. I don't know what the future will hold (not sure I want to ask AI) but for now I feel encouraged by a new era of possibility and flexibility. #WPPOpenStream #MarketingLeadership #BrandBuilding #AIandCreativity

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Tomorrow Clayton Chambers and I are back on the road with Air -- talking to companies about how they run creative operations and solve modern branding, marketing and content challenges. Can't wait for yall to see pt.2 of this series!

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Peptides aren’t trending - they’re scaling. And the data confirms it. SPATE (one of my favorite trend intelligence platform) shows +109% YoY growth, with Instagram alone up +434%, signaling deep consumer interest, backed by real demand on TikTok and Google. But not all peptides are created equal. They can be short-chain or long-chain, synthetically designed or biologically derived - with very different mechanisms of action and levels of efficacy. So it’s critical to understand the real science behind this ingredient and ask the right questions: - Clear mechanism of action - Proven skin penetration to the target site - Formula stability over time - Clinically meaningful, bioavailable dosing - Independent evidence - not just claims - And, critically, safety All of this should be supported by independent 3rd-party research and communicated with full transparency to anyone interested in the brand -consumers, trade partners, independent scientists or longevity clinics. Anyone. This is exactly how we approach it at YUUTH, powered by MitoXcel™ geropeptides, which optimize mitochondrial performance and help reduce inflammation linked to cellular senescence. And this is where science leads and marketing follows.

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E-commerce brands, in case your social media person or agency missed it, social media is no longer a silo; it’s part of your search strategy. A few days ago (to be exact, on July 10), Google started indexing Instagram posts. This update blurs the line between social and search, and for e-commerce brands, it’s a golden opportunity to turn visual storytelling into discoverable, conversion-driving moments. Instagram content is no longer just for social engagement; it’s now discoverable via Google Search, making it a powerful tool for brand visibility and SEO. It’s more important than ever to craft SEO-friendly captions, use relevant keywords and hashtags that align with how consumers in your category search. Use keyword-rich captions that match how consumers in your category search. Add alt text to images and videos with descriptive, searchable phrases. Treat each post like a micro landing page: answer questions, showcase. product experiences, and drive engagement and conversion.

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Every now and then, even the best brands launch a bad product. Or worse, they don't launch what they promised. Take Apple for an example. It’s been close to 2 years since they announced Apple Intelligence, their big leap into AI. But it’s still not here. Two generations of their devices have been sold as 'built for Apple Intelligence' and even today they're doing that. But the actual thing itself is still missing. For most companies, that would have been a big disaster. Angry customers, falling sales, and jittery investors would have shaken foundations. Initially, Apple had some of that too. But overall they are fine, actually, better than fine. The iPhone 17 sold more than the last three generations at launch. Shareholders are happy again, and so is Apple. That’s the power of a brand. No doubt performance brings quick results, but a strong brand builds belief. When you invest in your brand, you help build trust. And that trust buys you time, patience, and sometimes forgiveness when things go south. A lot of people ask me, when performance drives sales, why spend on brand? My answer is: A brand is not a cost; it’s a trust reserve for you. This trust is what keeps business alive when everything else stops working.

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