Building Strong Brand DNA: Lessons from Kmart and Freedom
Kate shares why alignment across every touchpoint is the secret to standout retail. Read on…
BRAND BUILDING
BRAND DNA | BRAND STRATEGY | BRAND ALIGNMENT
CONTENTS
01. Kmart: Design Backed by Brand DNA
02. Freedom: Rebuilding from the Brand Out
LET’S DIVE IN …
01. Kmart: Design Backed by Brand DNA
Kmart’s strategy of everyday low prices for families gave incredible clarity to over 30,000 team members, so they could all pull in the same amazing direction. Every decision during my time there was filtered through two questions:
Can it be the lowest price?
Is it right for our customer?
For the designers and I, we layered in a third:
Can we make it appeal to as many people as possible, while staying commercial and on-trend?
If the answer was yes to all three, we knew we could multiply sales exponentially.
Design is a multiplier—it’s been proven time and time again.
The fashion houses of Paris and Milan never go a second without design and brand leading the way.
So why should Australian retailers forget—or worse, not even embed design in their processes?
Kmart had never really been cool, so the transformation took time for people to notice.
But the stars aligned with the ‘Bom Bom’ TV ad, showing what $3, $10, or $15 could actually buy at Kmart. Everyday low prices for families, paired with great design.
When customers walked into the stores, everything aligned—the improved product, the cool packaging, the great store design (we won’t mention the central registers!), the bold signage, modern uniforms—all reflecting this fresh take on the discount department store.
Add to that sell-out products like a copper wire tea light or the Marmo lamp, and suddenly, Facebook groups popped up helping people hunt down the latest Kmart drop. The Kmart brand DNA was taking hold.
Being part of that momentum was incredible. The teamwork and leadership were taking Kmart to global heights.
We proved that good design doesn’t have to cost the earth—and it doesn’t have to sell for it either.
02. Freedom: Rebuilding from the Brand Out
When I joined Freedom, the call to action was clear: escape the blandness and reinvent an iconic, loved brand.
But Freedom didn’t have a product design team—only buyers. Talented buyers, yes—but with no one anticipating trends or shaping a design direction, they found themselves in a product pickle. They had no brand DNA.
I heard it over and over: Freedom used to be cool.
My 78-year-old neighbour summed it up perfectly when she said, ‘Freedom used to be groovy!’
Peeling back Freedom’s layers to rediscover its core was a joy. Because of its “groovy” past, rebuilding took less time.
Together with the Freedom team, we revamped the brand into the icon we know today—from product design to curation, in-store and online, in campaigns, even down to how the store teams interact and what they wear.
Every touchpoint matters for brand building. Alignment is everything.
Freedom x The Design Files
All good brands have a clear point of view—unique to them, loved by their customers. Whether that’s the few (designer brands) or the many (Kmart).
So—what’s your favourite brand, and why?
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