With bold creative strategy I strip away the noise to find what's true, building brands that mean something. Simple ideas make brands that last.
Services
Every brand is at a different stage. This roadmap takes you from understanding where you are today, to defining where you need to go, to making it happen.
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Research and analysis to give clear insight into market preference, competitor dynamics and brand performance. Analysis includes quant and qual research.
Outcome:
Competitor benchmark
Current brand performance
How to differentiate
What to do next
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Using analysis, develop a brand growth strategy, connecting customer needs with the authentic brand proposition - driving impact, relevance and growth.
Outcome:
Clear customer profile
Differentiated proposition connected to customer needs
Targeted messaging framework focused on cut-through
12 month growth roadmap
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Align marketing planning to business objectives while optimising campaigns and brand experience around customer needs and market differentiation - identifying the right tools and channels to convert brand awareness into customers and revenue.
Outcome:
Marketing plan connected to business objectives
Campaign strategy, media and creative
Technology implementation (AI, Martech)
Experience and service design
About
Oliver Smith. Melbourne based, I have over 10 years experience leading global brand and marketing strategy for some of the world's most recognised brands - including Samsung, Ferrari, McLaren, Google and the Paris 2024 Olympics - as well as hands-on experience in fashion brand building, I've built a career connecting brand to commercial outcomes at scale. See brands I’ve worked with below.
Tourism Australia
Ferrari
Samsung
McLaren
The Olympics
Bankwest
Canva
Westpac
Dan Murphy’s
AusSuper
Deloitte
See my CV here.
Recent work
Context: An emerging Australian luxury bag brand had product quality, distribution, and a growing audience, but wasn't converting at the rate the founder needed for their next phase of growth. The obvious move in luxury is to lead with the founder's personal story. We explored it early, and together concluded the brand's strongest equity lived elsewhere, in the product and design itself. Building from there would create something more distinctive and more authentic.
Problem: Three things were happening at once. 1 - the range had expanded faster than the brand platform, so customers couldn't tell what the brand stood for; 2 -product quality was being used as the primary sales driver in a category where quality is a hygiene factor; and 3 - the price architecture spanned entry accessories to investment pieces without a clear strategy. Customers weren't rejecting the product, they didn't understand it.
Opportunity: Build the platform around the most ownable asset the brand has, its design language. Qual and quant research confirmed the bag silhouette was the single most recalled and preferred element ahead of leather quality. price or heritage.
Platform: Rooted in design as point of view, not product as an object. The brand becomes an identity customers buy into, a feeling. Strategically, this let us simplify the range from 13 products to 5, rebuild a three-tier price architecture (entry / signature / investment), and give wholesale and PR a single story to lead with.
Outcome:
Clear and authentic brand story, built around customer insight and data
Range rationalised, with clear hero products at each price tier
Brand system and guidelines rolling out across DTC, retail, wholesale
Growth roadmap defining the next 18 months of brand and business priorities
Deliverables: Brand Audit (qual & quant research), Brand Strategy (product pricing & positioning), Growth Roadmap, Brand Design, Guidelines & implementation.
Client - anonymous | Completion date - Rollout in progress
Complimentary Consultation
Let’s discuss where you’re at and how I can help.
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If your product is strong but customers aren't connecting with the brand the way you'd expect - or if you're competing on price when you shouldn't have to - that's usually a sign the brand isn't working hard enough. Other indicators include…
Inconsistency across your touch-points (your website says one thing, your packaging says another, your social says a third),
Difficulty articulating what makes you different from competitors, or a sense that the business has outgrown the brand you started with.
A brand audit gives you a clear, research-backed picture of where you stand and what to do next.
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Brand is synonymous with business strategy. It’s the foundation, defining who you are, what you stand for, and why customers should care. Marketing strategy is how you take that foundation to market - the channels, campaigns, and experience that get your brand in front of the right people at the right time. Most businesses jump straight to marketing without getting the brand right first, which leads to campaigns that look good but don't build lasting value. I start with brand because when the positioning has cut-through, every marketing dollar works harder.
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It depends on where you are and what you need. Some clients start with a Brand Audit - a focused diagnostic that includes customer research, competitor analysis, and a clear view on what to do next. Others need a full Brand Strategy engagement that takes them from research through to positioning, messaging, and a go-to-market roadmap. A typical engagement runs 4 to 12 weeks depending on scope. I work collaboratively with founders and leadership teams - we co-create the strategy together rather than me disappearing for six weeks and coming back with a deck.
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Brand strategy is arguably more important for small businesses than large ones. Big companies can afford to outspend their way to awareness. Small businesses can't - which means every touchpoint needs to work harder, and the brand needs to be sharper. The founder-led businesses I work with - fashion labels, hospitality brands, lifestyle companies, creative businesses, are often at a stage where the product is strong but the brand hasn't caught up. That's exactly where brand strategy has the most impact, and where a relatively small investment can unlock significant growth.
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I'm an independent strategist, not an agency. That means you work directly with me, where I can directly tap into my 10 years of experience working with Samsung, Ferrari, McLaren, Google and more. There's no overhead, no layers, and no padded timelines. I bring the strategic rigour of a top-tier agency with the speed, flexibility, and personal accountability of working one-on-one with the person doing the thinking. For founder-led businesses that want senior-level strategy without the agency price tag or process, that's a meaningful difference.
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I work primarily with founder-led Australian brands in lifestyle, fashion, hospitality, and design - businesses that are typically between $1 million and $20 million in revenue and are entering their next phase of growth. Whether that's sharpening positioning in a crowded market, expanding into new channels or geographies, or evolving a brand that's been outgrown, the common thread is brands where the product is strong but the brand story and customer experience need to catch up. I'm based in Melbourne and work with clients across Australia.