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"They were innovative in their approach and really got us thinking about who we are at the core.”
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You?
A place branding agency from Melbourne for towns, precincts, main streets and destinations.
Every town competes with the next one for visitors, tenants and residents. A place brand decides what yours is known for before the postcode decides for you.
People choose where to visit, open a shop or move to on a story they have heard about the place. We built The Ninch, a guide to the Mornington Peninsula, to tell the Peninsula’s story through its places and the locals doing interesting things, and we branded DRIFT, the festival that reignited creativity here.
Place Brand Audit & Strategy
We map the places you compete with for visitors, tenants and residents, hear from the traders, the council and the locals, and find the idea the place can own. The Ninch began with a question about what the Peninsula was for beyond the beach, and became a position: a design-led guide to the places and people worth the trip.
- Competitor mapping: the places people choose between
- Positioning and place narrative
- Interviews with traders, council, community and landlords
- Naming for a precinct, a development or a program
What does the brand audit cover?
How visitors, traders and residents see you against your competitors, how the brand reads from the search result to the sign at the edge of town, and what your team says you stand for. Two weeks, one working session, and a clear call: leave it, refresh it or rebuild it.
Identity, Voice & System
A system many hands can use: logo, type, colour, voice and the rules that let a council, a traders’ association and a festival all look like the same place. The Ninch’s wave mark runs from a cap to a postcard to a mobile site. For Mendi Moke in Flinders, the identity sits in the studio window, so the brand belongs to the street it is on.
- Logo, typography and colour
- Voice, tone and messaging
- Guidelines written for every partner who will use them
- Templates for council, traders and events
Who owns a place brand?
Everyone who uses it. The guidelines are written for the trader making a poster on a laptop as much as for the council’s design team, and we run a handover session.
Signage, Wayfinding & Campaigns
Entry signage, wayfinding, banners and the campaign that invites people in, with print-ready files for the sign-writer. DRIFT ran across a billboard, a train station poster and outdoor scrims before the festival opened. The Ninch’s postcards put the Peninsula in people’s hands.
- Entry and directional signage
- Street banners, hoardings and scrims
- Campaigns across outdoor, print and social
- Postcards, maps and merchandise
Can you design the signage and wayfinding?
Yes, as part of the identity, planned in the order a visitor meets it: highway exit, car park, main street.
Websites, Content & Social
A place needs somewhere to send people. We design and build the site in Webflow, plan the content that keeps it alive, and set up the social templates and search that bring people to it. The Ninch is a content plan as much as a brand: stories of locals, guides to places, a market calendar. We are a Webflow Premium Partner.
- Webflow website design and development
- Content strategy and editorial templates
- Social templates and photography direction
- Local SEO and Google Business Profiles for the traders
Do you plan the content as well as build the site?
Yes. A place website only works if it is updated, so we plan who writes what, how often, and the templates that make it quick.
A clear process for a place brand the whole community can use.
Audit & Diagnose
The places you compete with, how yours is seen, and the honest call: leave, refresh or rebuild.
Position & Strategise
The idea the place owns and the story that holds it, agreed with the stakeholders.
Design the System
Identity, voice and templates, tested on a street sign and a trader’s poster.
Build & Roll Out
Signage, wayfinding, campaign, website, content. Traders meet the brand before the public does.
Steward
Place brands drift fastest, because so many people use them. We stay on for the next event and the next precinct.
Starting prices, + GST, scoped to the place and how many partners will use the brand.
- Brand Audit (two weeks): competitor map, perception read, positioning options, a recommendation with a price for each path. The audit fee comes off the strategy fee if you go on.
- Brand Strategy (from AUD 5,000 + GST): positioning, purpose, audience mapping and brand narrative.
- Brand Identity Design (from AUD 10,000 + GST): the visual and verbal system on a strategic foundation, with guidelines.
- Full Brand: strategy and identity end to end, for a business repositioning for growth or a group bringing several names under one.
Signage, wayfinding and the campaign are scoped from the start. Get in touch to find out where yours lands.
Place branding is deciding what a town, precinct, main street or destination stands for, and giving everyone who speaks for it the same story and the same system to tell it with. A position visitors, traders and residents all recognise, and the identity, signage, website and campaigns that carry it.
Not a council, and we would rather say so. We have branded the Peninsula’s guide, its arts festival and the businesses on its streets, from our studio in Mornington’s industrial estate. For a town, the method is the same.
Most full projects run 8 to 16 weeks from kick-off to final delivery.
- Weeks 1–3, Discovery and Research: stakeholder interviews and workshops, market and competitor analysis, audience research.
- Weeks 4–6, Strategy: positioning and differentiation, messaging framework and brand platform.
- Weeks 7–10, Identity Design: logo and visual identity, design system, application across touchpoints.
- Weeks 11–14, Refinement and Guidelines: refinement, brand guidelines and toolkit, templates.
- Weeks 15–16, Handover and Support: final delivery, team training and launch planning.
More stakeholders mean more time. A place with a council, a traders’ association and a tourism body should plan for the longer end and a handover session at the finish.
It depends on your goals and the state of the brand. You likely need a full rebrand if:
- your positioning no longer reflects who you are or where you are going
- you have outgrown your original market or changed what you sell
- the brand creates confusion or fails to differentiate
- the visual identity looks dated next to the businesses you compete with
- the people who run the business struggle to explain what makes it different
You likely need a brand refresh if:
- the core positioning is strong but the visuals look tired
- you are evolving, not changing direction
- the guidelines lack consistency or do not scale
- the messaging needs tightening, not rethinking
Not sure? That is what the audit is for. It tells you which of these you are, and what each path would cost.
Yes. Our studio is in Mornington and we work across Melbourne and nationally, in person or online. Most places that need a brand are not in a capital city.
"What an incredibly thoughtful and joyful experience with ONETOO. I want to start a new business just to enjoy the brand process with the ONETOO team again."
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