latest.
Wondering what’s been on our minds? Read up on the latest Whippet news plus our most recent musings on the world of retail and beyond…

Did digital kill the retail store?
If you assume bricks-and-mortar retail is on the way out in favour of ecommerce and digital experience, you’d be mistaken. Retail is definitely evolving fast,

Designing beer without the booze.
When it comes to zero-alcohol drinks we’ve gone well beyond the lemon-lime-bitters. Consumers want to enjoy their favourite alcoholic beverages without the alcohol. Beer, wine,

Retail spaces in the real world: 5 of the best we’ve seen lately
With the world in and out of lockdowns over the last couple of years and uncertainty being the main theme around the globe, it’s been

Retail spaces in the metaverse: what would we do?
The metaverse. It’s no longer coming. It’s absolutely, most definitely, 100% here. As consumers get used to the reality of shopping and socialising in a

Whippet’s top 5 Super Bowl ads of 2022
If there were two trends we noticed in this year’s Super Bowl ads, it was celebrities and crypto. And celebs spruiking crypto.

Allkinds of self-care for all kinds of tweens
Launched in late May, Allkinds is a new self-care brand focused solely on the tween market. We check out the cheeky little upstart.

The big retailers going green
With three in five consumers saying they’re now more mindful of their environmental impact since COVID-19, we take a look at the big retailers going green.

The 5 principles of retail wayfinding
You can lead a customer to water, but it’s not always easy. See the five principles we use to guide clients on the path to perfect retail wayfinding.

New brand or rebrand? A few recent big brand refreshes.
When does ‘iconic and enduring’ turn into ‘tired and boring’? We check out some recent examples of brands keeping up with the times.

The big brands embracing inclusive design
With the ‘purple pound’ worth £274 billion in the UK alone, the fact big brands are embracing inclusive design is a win all around.

Tough times. Tougher brands. Aussie retailers that performed well during COVID.
We take a look at a few of the Aussie brands that have performed well during COVID, and consider what retailers can learn.

Brandless brands. Is that even possible?
Is there really such thing as a consistent suite of brandless products? That is, are they really brandless, or just pretending to be?

What drives customer loyalty when shopping online?
For a long time now, retailers have considered the rise of online shopping as a big factor driving the death of customer loyalty.

5 design trends we’ve noticed recently
With COVID and all its doom and gloom still dominating the retail news recently, we thought we’d take a look at a lighter topic instead.

Is the future of retail virtual?
As the saying goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it. That certainly seems to be the prevailing logic at the moment when

There’s no shortcut to creating a great brand identity.
We’ve lost count of how many brands we’ve created over the years, but one thing we’ve learnt is that creating a new brand identity should be a journey – one where all stakeholders come along for the ride.

Get woke, go broke? Three ‘boycotted’ brands doing just fine.
You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘Get woke, go broke’, referring to the idea that it’s business suicide to pursue a ‘too-politically-correct’ ideology. But is there any truth to it?

Keells shortlisted for the World Retail Awards 2020
We are very excited for our client Keells in Sri Lanka, who have been shortlisted in the World Retail Awards 2020 for ‘Retail Transformation and Reinvention’.

All wrapped up – sustainable packaging on the rise
With COVID-19 driving a surge in online shopping, and the packaging that goes along with it, we thought we’d share some of the brands leading the pack when it comes to sustainable packaging. Check them out!

Naming names – how we do it at Whippet
As an agency with decades of branding experience, we know there are several factors that make up a great brand or product name. Here’s a few of the key things we take into consideration.

Will COVID-19 finally kill cash for good?
With many retailers now requesting contactless payment due to COVID-19, will the demise of cash in Australia be further expedited? And what’s new in the digital payments world? Read on to find out.

COVID-19 retail innovation round up #4
From Bunnings to Bardot, Amazon to Coles, retailers are pulling out all the stops to keep their innovation game strong in the face of COVID. We take a look at some of the latest examples.

COVID-19 retail innovation round up #3
Another month of COVID-19 isolation, another string of clever retail innovations. Seems like necessity really is the mother of invention, and we’re betting more than a few of these innovations are here to stay.

MishiPay – it’s no Go, but it’s good.
You’ve heard of Amazon Go, but have you heard of MishiPay? Decathlon Germany has – they’re rolling out the new mobile self-checkout solution across all their 81 stores. We thought we’d take a closer look at how it works.

COVID-19 retail innovation round up #2
Last month we wrote about some of the clever ways businesses have been dealing with COVID-19. Since then we’ve seen a bunch more – here are some of our faves.

Two bites of the apple: fashion retailers embrace ‘resaling’
Lightly used. Preloved. Preowned. Whatever term they’re using, big fashion retailers across the world are starting to embrace second-hand sales. Not before time.

COVID-19 retail innovation round up
Amidst all the fear and uncertainty surrounding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, retailers around the world are inventing new ways to serve customers.

Subscribed to the idea of offering a subscription service? If not, maybe it’s time.
These days there’s a subscription service for almost everything. If your industry hasn’t been disrupted yet, how long until it is?

There’s nothing fishy about Josh Niland’s Fish Butchery in Paddington
Josh Niland’s Fish Butchery in Sydney has made a splash with its ‘whole fish’ philosophy, and we fell in love – hook, line and sinker.

Infinite Claw in Kuala Lumpur. What a strange place indeed.
We were recently in Kuala Lumpur and stumbled across the weird and wonderful entertainment-retail hybrid that is Infinite Claw.

No good deed should go unnoticed.
Earlier this month, over 30 retailers donated 100% of their profits to bushfire affected communities. What can be learnt?

Christmas has come early! Too early.
For better or worse, the Black Friday week sales are here to stay. We consider how retailers can make the the most of the hype.

Drop(ship) it like it’s hot. Big retailers now dropshipping.
Where dropshipping once sounded like a dystopian nightmare for brick and mortar retailers, it may now be a huge opportunity.

Whippet ‘Highly Commended’ at the Transform Awards
We’re thrilled to say our private label packaging design for Keells scored a ‘Highly Commended’ at the 2019 Transform Awards Asia-Pacific.

The sweet smell of retail success…or failure
How did a beautifully designed brand with a sweet offering rack up a debt of USD $26.65 million in just a few years?

Fake online reviews are rife. What can retailers do?
Online reviews. We all read them, and they significantly shape our purchase decisions – but roughly 40% of them are complete rubbish.

Loyalty royalty: the brands keeping customers coming back.
Most ‘loyalty’ programs don’t really drive true brand loyalty, just repeat sales. But some do things a bit differently. We take a look.

Amazon Renewed (finally) launches in Australia.
Australia may be ahead of the US and the UK when it comes to time zones, but for everything else we’re still often a few

A dog’s life. What millennials’ pet obsession means for retail.
It’s no secret millennials are waiting longer to get married, buy a house, or have children – and retailers are cashing in

The death of the printed catalogue? Far from it.
It wasn’t that long ago that IKEA didn’t offer delivery – and a printed eBay catalogue would have sounded silly. Not anymore.

Change-making: welcome to a new look Whippet.
For most people, it takes an old photo to realise how much they’ve changed over the years. With brand design, it’s quite a bit different.

The influence of influence in design.
Where does influence stop and plagiarism begin? The lines can be blurry at times, so here’s how we make sure we’re on the right side.

Keeping it sweet at Captain Candy in Dubrovnik.
When we came across this colourful collection of candies in the stunning walled city, we just had to indulge our respective sweet tooths.

Whippet win Gold and Silver at the Melbourne Design Awards.
We’re thrilled to announce that Whippet has picked up Gold and Silver for packaging projects at the 2019 Melbourne Design Awards.

Pleased to meat you – welcome to the butchers of the future.
Whether it’s lab grown meat or plant-based alternatives, here are some of the companies racing to disrupt the global meat industry.

Life for rent: retailers discarding the disposable economy.
To help ensure sustainability, big retailers are now coming up with big ideas to help lay waste to wastefulness. We take a look.

Recycling in retail. Why things are looking up.
At such a crucial time in human history, it’s refreshing to see big brands are starting to embrace recycled and upcycled materials.

Checking out 7-Eleven’s new checkout-free concept store.
Just a fortnight ago, 7-Eleven launched its first “cashless and cardless” store in Australia, so we headed down to take a look.

Sip, sip, hooray! Whippet wins gold at the US SIP Awards.
We’re delighted our design work for Nosferatu’s blood-orange gin has been recognised at this year’s SIP International Spirits Awards.

Colour me happy: The design world goes gaga for gradients.
A runaway design trend that shows no signs of slowing down, gradients look set to power through the coming year.

Amazing tech, but who is it really for?
Big retailers continue to fill their stores with cutting-edge tech – but could customers be impressed more easily (and cheaply)?

Ecommerce learning algorithms. Convenient or confounding?
In an online retail world increasingly ruled by learning algorithms, shopping is becoming more and more about the power of suggestion.

Click and Collect: When impatience is a virtue.
It seems like every week there’s a new doom and gloom article on LinkedIn or in the trade press about The Retail Apocalypse.

Decoy marketing: giving customers a little nudge.
Although it may be just a little bit sneaky, there’s no denying ‘nudging’ is good business practice. And there’s no escaping it.

Retailing cannabis: A budding industry that’s started to bloom.
Whatever your thoughts are on marijuana, since last year’s sprawling ‘Farm Bill’ passed in the US, the industry is growing like a weed.

Whippet scoops top design prize at the Australian Gin Awards.
From a field of 63 entries, the judges distilled their picks down until they’d chosen their favourite.

All they wanted for Christmas was a bargain.
We take a look at how the huge proliferation of pre-Christmas sales is affecting the rest of the retail year.

London calling. Google’s Pixel 3 ‘Curiosity Rooms’ in London.
Whippet Australia ECD Tod O’Reilly was in London and couldn’t resist checking out Google’s ‘Curiosity Rooms’ at 55 Regent Street.

Your (very revealing) year in review.
These days everything seems to be harvesting and harnessing our data, yet most of us are OK with sacrificing a little privacy…mostly.

Fast-casual dining hooks Scandi customers.
On a recent visit to Norway we uncovered an exciting new fast-casual dining experience that’s quickly swimming upstream.