Latest – inside & out
20.05.21 – RESOLV BRAND & PACKAGING
Less waste, less carbon, less ugly
When it comes to single use plastic, the answer is simple - less is best (or none if you can), and currently in the cleaning isle it’s not so clean. Plastic bottles dominate the shelves. But not only that, 90% of home cleaners are simply water, making it incredibly carbon heavy to ship around the world.
Working with our great clients at Sims Consumer Brands, we have brought to life Resolv – a new home cleaning range made in New Zealand that cuts out all single use plastic by using a pod that dissolves in a reusable bottle. No single use plastic, no shipping pollution. No ugly.
11.10.21 – NEW TEAM MEMBER
Meet Josh Daly - our new account director
We’re very excited to have Josh Daly start as a new account director here at Milk. Josh has extensive experience in client service within brand & strategy agencies. He has worked for a range of clients from Air New Zealand, Coca-Cola Euro Pacific Partners, Fonterra Brands, Tegel Foods and No Ugly. Welcome to the team Josh!
28.05.21 – AWARDS
Milk ranked 11th in the world by D&AD! Awarded two pencils.
A little bit unbelievable.
Super proud of our Milk team again.
2 x D&AD pencils overnight, plus 2 shortlisted.
Graphite pencil for déjà
https://lnkd.in/g_z-DMV
Wood pencil for Max
https://lnkd.in/geiB8Pt
A HUGE congrats to all the winners from around the world and to our fellow kiwi award winners! A massive thanks also goes out to our clients, the D&AD team and all the judges for all the hard work that went in behind the scenes.
24.09.21 – JACKSONS ENGINEERING REBRAND
Changing the conversation in engineering
B2B, B2C, D2C or B2B2C, product or service or both, at Milk we work with businesses across the spectrum. One area we’ve been working in a lot recently is services based businesses, and it’s often challenging to define the value of their value for their audiences.
We’ve noticed that a transformative solution can come from a change in conversation - flipping how they think about their services, looking more customer centric and changing up the language. With Jacksons Engineering we did exactly that - we created a new category value by changing the industry conversation, leading with thought provoking cultural and industry questions, we reengineered the way customers perceived the business, what they do and therefore their value.
10.05.21 – MINT REBRAND
Human Intelligence
Mint are masters of digital in an undigital way, they balance the power of analytics and tech expertise with the connection they have with business and people, delivering some pretty extraordinary results for their customers.
With an ambitious growth desire and a solid ability as a digital agency, they called us in to align the brand to their reality and future state.
After unpacking who they really are, we repositioned them as a ‘partnership company’, there to supercharge business potential. Human intelligence as an idea defined them. Human was about having closer relationships and a stronger understanding of their clients and Intelligence is the insight, the analytics and the expertise.
02.05.21 – CIRCULARITY BRAND
Radically redesigning business
Sustainability is no longer enough. The world has passed the tipping point, it’s no longer enough to sustain the environment, we must empower both the planet and businesses to thrive.
The challenge is, making sustainable change in business is hard. It requires more than reports, more than one person, more than one industry and more than one solution. It requires a system redesign.
Our client knew these barriers. She wanted to create a consultancy that co-creates with a new breed of business rising up to meet these challenges head on. Towards a circular future state.
Her aim is to radically redesign business - our job was to match that with an equally future focused brand…
22.02.21 – LUMINO BRAND + COMMUNICATIONS
3 ways to pay with Lumino
Lumino are the biggest dentistry group in New Zealand with over 100 practices across the country. We’ve been working on their external and internal brand, and their digital campaigns for over 4 years now. It’s been a process of application and adaption - looking at what’s working and learning. This gives us the ability to understand what consumers are looking for - from a price, package and communications perspective. It’s a process that has seen some very impressive growth stats!
Below is our first package deal ad campaign - just one of the many that has helped Lumino become a trusted, household New Zealand brand.
29.01.20 - CHANGE MAKER BRAND + PACKAGING
Power to the people
Disability is something that happens when people with impairments face barriers in society. It’s society that disables them, not their impairments. Neville, Janie, Cameron and Nathan struggled to find fulfilling work that let them live independently – they felt helpless. Gordon, their advisor at IHC, decided to work with them to start a business brewing beer. They won over the local Kapiti community with their first brew but were losing money and needed support. We offered our services to give them a strategy to scale, a compelling brand and a chance at national distribution – 100% pro bono.
What happened was something very special - for the Change Maker team, for us and the local and global awards it won.
12.10.20 – NEW TEAM MEMBER
Kate Forsythe
Welcome Kate – Milk’s newest senior designer. We’re thrilled to have Kate join the team, she’ll be a real asset in broadening the creative ability in the studio. Kate has extensive experience working with clients like Nike, Barkers and Max. Great to have her on board!
13.11.20 – EMERALD FOODS KILLINCHY GOLD REBRAND & PACKAGING
The mother lode
Killinchy Gold are masters of ice cream. It was our job to deliver this through brand and packaging.
Being masterful doesn’t just happen. It’s a process that takes years of practice, discovery and refinement to perfect.
Over the years, they’ve made an art of it, creating indulgent flavours and textures that delight. But they also look to push boundaries, forge new tastes to combine the new with the traditional. And much as South Island prospectors sought out their fortune back in the day, Killinchy continue to hunt for new richness, fossick for new methods and uncover new flavour combinations - sometimes in the most unexpected places.
But beyond all that, it’s just good ice cream. Let’s eat it.
13.11.20 – MILK CHRISTMAS GIFT
Live a little, give a little
For Christmas we wanted to surprise and delight our food-centric clients and friends with a summer holiday gift that showcased our passion for collaborations, craft and food and a commitment to care for the community as an ethical design practise.
Working with our client, Huffman’s Sauces, we created a bespoke Chilli Pepper, Pomegranate & Orange Blossom Sauce and an experiential gift that tasted good and did good too.
We invited recipients to; ‘Live A Little’ and try out our unique hot sauce, ‘Create A Little’ and make one of the recipes included with the sauce, and ‘Give A Little’ by tagging us in a photo of their culinary creation. For every recipe that our recipients made, we donated $50 to Auckland City Mission.
08.09.18 - TUI GARDENS TVC & DIGITAL CAMPAIGN
Pride of place
Based on research Tui had good awareness in the market, but this recall was predominantly a functional consumer outtake. We worked with Tui to redefine how customers feel about and connect with them, looking to build a deeper, more emotive rapport. We took a new approach to the core brand proposition, packaging and above the line campaign.
Firstly, connecting emotionally; we want consumers to understand we’re passionate about gardening and we’ve been kiwi gardeners for over 100 years.
Secondly, we create effective products across many gardening categories (not just soil). Our products are of the highest quality and work first time (or your money back).
Thirdly, we’re here to support you. Gardening is daunting but we’ve got the expertise and products to get you though.
The outtake was a campaign that helped build confidence in our consumers, giving them a sense of pride in their own backyard.
01.11.21 – MORE TREES BRAND
Climate change is happening
You're either part of the problem, or part of the solution.
Less than 1,000 New Zealand companies know what their carbon footprint looks like. More Trees is here to change that. The world’s forests can’t solve human induced climate change by themselves, even though they’re pretty amazing.
We wanted to get business thinking about making changes within, and to understand that it doesn’t need to cost the earth. Literally.
16.08.21 – NZ SAFETY BLACKWOODS REBRAND + COMMUNICATIONS
Taking care of (big) business
NZ Safety Blackwoods is a 70 year old business with a team of over 500 and 30 trade centres across New Zealand.
Reframing a big New Zealand business requires a disciplined brand process that takes into consideration all stakeholders, the current and future state of the business, competitors, customers and internal sentiment.
We developed the central idea – ‘taking care of business’ to capture their two sides - ‘action’ and ‘care’. We also drove this idea internally with a shortened version TCB which was picked up by the team and used as their internal mantra to transform themselves and how they deliver their services and products.
17.08.21 – HUNTER CAMPBELL RECRUITMENT REBRAND
Creating good chemistry
Hunter Campbell is a recruitment business in a state of growth. The directors felt that the brand hadn’t kept up with the business and needed to match their pioneering spirit - we hear this often!
So we defined our driving industry insights, defined what made them great and defined a storyline that reflected the nature of the business, now. The new storyline was built around the brand idea ‘creating good chemistry’. This reinforced their innate belief & understanding of the importance of both IQ and EQ and what it takes to create the right match.
Hunter Campbell are a people business in the business of people. The brand we created for them is a reflection of that. Intelligent, dynamic and most of all human.
15.04.21 – TAKI HUA BRAND
Tāmaki Makaurau Taki Hua Māori Outcomes & Mana Whenua
Taki Hua is a kaupapa championed by the Auckland Unlimited Māori Outcomes whānau in partnership with Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau, committed to improving the conditions that create economic prosperity for mana whenua and Māori Business in Tāmaki Makaurau.
08.06.21 – AWARDS
3 Dieline Wins!
Change Maker - overall Design for Good winner
déjà - First in Pets
déjà - Third in Home Goods
Congrats to our clients and the amazing team at Milk NZ. Our brand and packaging for Change Maker took out the Design for Good project of the year at the US Dieline awards overnight. A great accomplishment on the world stage. Thanks to our team and everyone else who got behind this important project. Thanks also to the amazing Change Maker team - Neville, Janie, Nathan and Cameron.
Also, very excited to announce that déjà also took out –
1st place in Pets
3rd place in Home, shopping, & other markets brand identity systems.
15.04.21 – HUNTAWAY BRAND + PACKAGING
Huntaway – A wild, raw pet food for the west coast of the US.
To deliver a new premium pet food proposition for the ethically minded west coast of the US meant giving customers a better way to access better product, that’s more sustainable and more humane – where the quality of product reflects the qualities of origin – natural, free range venison, ethically hunted from New Zealand’s South Island.
We defined a new positioning strategy, identity and packaging to drive this unique product.
10.12.20 - MAJOR MAJOR BRAND + PACKAGING
Making light of the dark RTD category
The traditional dark spirit RTD’s category was in decline and being challenged by the better for you light RTD movement. We were asked by our great clients at Asahi to bring back some light with a new brand that redefined the segment.
Major Major started life as a brand that doubled down on the unorthodox. Not afraid to be itself, do what it likes, even if you’re not supposed to. Accentuating the positive, amplifying the impact. It’s built to cut through in full colour with full noise, saying a lot in just a few words.
Having been tested in a few market segments, we’re now happy to say Major Major has launched nationwide and it’s one of our favs.
15.11.20 – MR MURDOCH’S PUB AND KITCHEN REBRAND
Who is Mr Murdoch?
Artist, musician, philanthropist or trust fund kid - who is Mr Murdoch? We don’t know exactly, but we do know from the evidence of old mail, epic parties and a rad vinyl collection, is that he’s all about a good time.
There’s no denying his story takes on varying and often obscure forms depending on the day or the person telling it – but what seems to stay the same is he’s eclectic, mischievous and loves a good shindig.
And so true to the legend himself, the ‘villa’ or Mr Murdoch’s as its now known, is all about good mates, good food and a bloom’n good time.
23.08.20 – ABOUT FACE SKIN CLINICS REBRAND
Strong Beauty
About Face is an Auckland skincare institution that wasn’t living up to the expectation of their customers. So Milk was engaged to unpack the business, define what makes them great and rebuild the business and brand with a more customer centric positioning.
We needed to create a premium Auckland skin care destination where consumers receive superior personalised experiences, and a place where beauty therapists aspire to work.
We re-positioned them as total skin care specialists who are the best in knowing what’s best for you, and as the original authority in skin and beauty all built around the idea Strong Beauty.
23.01.20 - MILK CHRISTMAS GIFT PACKAGING
On the Terrace
For Christmas in 2019 we wanted to intrigue our clients with a gift that talked about our new studio home in Eden Terrace, and the unique attributes of our building.
When you move into a new place it always takes time to get your bearings, find your feet and make new friends. We’ve been here a year now, and looking out of our studio windows framed by vines, we realised that the new roots we’ve put down are growing all around us. Inspired by these vines, our new terrace home, and one of our favourite wine clients, we felt compelled to align them all with a bespoke wine that was a true reflection of place.
We know that terraced landscapes help produce some of the world's most distinctive wines, so we drove the idea into every part of the communication and packaging. Both single minded and crafted, it was designed to be an immersive and tactile opening experience, delivering a sense of place, who we are and a connection to the quality of the wine.
13.12.19 PLANT CRAFT PACKAGING
Powerplant
The alternative meat category is colourfully saturated and as a result feels artificial & fake.
So we developed a brand identity system & packaging for Plantcraft foods that felt more aligned to a new consumer, but just familiar enough to understand the meat free proposition in the deli.
18.07.18 – HANLEY’S PET FOOD REBRAND + PACKAGING
Naturally enhanced pet food
Hanleys is a boutique natural dog food. It’s petfood backed by science and enriched with amino acids, vitamins and minerals. It’s an ethical business founded by the lovely Philippa Hanley, a genuine animal lover who also has a background in dairy science and equine nutrition.
With a personal passion for natural foods herself, Phillippa knows that a lot of issues that animals are treated for at the vets can be corrected with diet. Unfortunately, like doctors, vets are often influenced by ‘the big guys’ in pet food – not always the best solution.
With this in mind, Hanleys asked us to create a brand that reflected their honest and natural passion for animals and nutrition.
06.8.19 – BRAND
Circularity launch X-Labs
Circularity launch it, Milk branded it.
XLabs is creating space at the intersection of human potential, science, and technology using a circular economy framework. A circular design program that takes participants on a journey from a challenge they need to solve to pitching a circular solution. This is how we will create new and better value for the future, together. By bringing businesses, experts and communities together we can build capability, accelerate innovation and shape extraordinary ideas for a more regenerative, resilient future.
13.11.18 – ROSEBANK KITCHEN BRAND
Rosebank
When Jono Clarke (ex chef and café owner of The Luscious Food Store) and Carlos Cumberbatch (ex Maitre’d of Farina) decided to set up a café together on Rosebank Road, Avondale, they had a vision for the café but needed help bringing this to life.
Both being proud ‘westies’, they saw a huge opportunity to provide a place where fellow west Aucklanders could enjoy the Ponsonby café experience, but on their own doorstep. Excellent coffee, top notch food, friendly service and a space that allowed people to escape the cold, sterile environment that is Rosebank Road.
The name ‘Rosebank’ was born, inspired by the iconic road – a three kilometre stretch of well-utilised road, servicing over 840 industrial businesses. As well as influencing the name, the location played an inherent role in the design. From the ‘dot’ in the wordmark which acts as the pinpoint, to the typographical textures used across collateral.
