20/02/2023
Until a few years ago, Identity Marketing co-founder Steve Osborn spent a lot of time (and money) travelling for work. “We were lucky to do one Zoom meeting a week before Covid,” he says; “now we have three or four video meetings a day and working with interstate and international clients is much easier.”
It means the business could be based anywhere, but he won’t be moving away from Magill Road any time soon. “It’s been super helpful having Skala Bakery across the road from us,” Osborn says. “So many people stop in there for a coffee and they look out the window and see the big Identity Marketing, sign, so we’ve had a number of inquiries just by being across the road from Skala.”
As managing director, Osborn has seen Identity grow from two people working in a back office to a dozen employees looking after clients all over Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. But the business still has a strong local presence and when Norwood agency Munro Property Group wanted a brand refresh, Identity was their first choice.
“The company is over 40 years old and had done really well to get to where it was,” says Osborn, “but the brand was holding them back because it had no real story behind it. We were able to work with them to tell their story and create a new brand that suited the Norwood area.”
Whether they work in property, tech or hospitality, Osborn gives all his clients the same message: “99% of the time, 99% of people don't care about your company. But it's that 1% of the time when 1% of people care about your company that you need to make sure you've got it right.”
Consumers are bombarded by as many as 10,000 advertisements every single day, and cutting through that noise requires precision. “The only way we can move through the world as human beings seeing that much information is by being able to put things in boxes. When a brand's story is told well, it makes sense to consumers. And when the assets are unique and they stand out, it makes it easy for consumers to recall that brand.”
It’s why Osborn and his team work on everything from logos and fonts to video campaigns and entire websites to ensure that every client has a strong visual identity that matches their brand.
And though the marketing landscape has undergone drastic shifts since Identity launched in 2012, with direct mail campaigns and print publications giving way to digital platforms, Osborn insists the core of the business remains largely the same.
“If you go back 50 years, the fundamentals haven't changed. It's still about finding out who your client is, what their brand stands for, and why consumers should care about it.”
