This article was published on October 26, 2009

Brand Australia – Can The Crowd Succeed Where Ad Agencies Have Failed?


Brand Australia – Can The Crowd Succeed Where Ad Agencies Have Failed?

Earlier this month, Australia’s highest circulating advertising and marketing magazine B&T and crowd-sourcing site DesignBay launched a competition to find a logo and tagline that could represent Brand Australia.

The competition was launched in response to the Federal Government’s recent announcement that it was looking for an agency to develop a new brand identity to embody Australia in the 21st century. The government, through the Australian Trade Commission, has set aside a budget of $20 million over four years to promote Brand Australia internationally.

The winning entry will receive a $2000 prize, with cash prizes also given to second and third-placed entrants. A public vote together with the expert opinions of industry professionals and those of B&T’s editorial team and DesignBay staff will decide the winning entry.

I’ve been keeping track of the competition over the past week and a half and it’s been interesting to see the logos come in. Looking at the site today 158 logo designs have been submitted. Some are shockers, but some are pretty good.

DesignBay founder Alec Lynch said:

Australia’s brand is important. We want to find the best logo and tagline ideas that Australia’s creative talent and the world can come up with and we’re going to offer them, for free, to the government. We want to give people the opportunity to contribute to Australia’s brand and we want Australia’s brand to be the best it can be.

If anything, you know that a crowd-sourced design will almost certainly help Australia avoid the embarassment the London 2012 Olympics organisers faced when their logo was launched. Actually, it’ll probably help us avoid some of our own past embarrassments

Anyone in the world can enter, but the comp closes at 5pm (Sydney time) on October 29 (this Thursday) so you better move quickly if you want to submit a design. More details here.

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