The sky's no limit

Hans Hulsbosch acquired quite a reputation after presenting the head of Qantas with a sketch of a kangaroo in a wheelchair. Geoff Dixon, the then-Qantas CEO, had asked the brand consultant to advise on whether the old logo needed an update to fit the new Airbus A380 superjumbo. Hulsbosch informed a now-intrigued Dixon that it was a legless idea not to upgrade, quite literally.

“Due to the new way the aircraft was built, the logo would be cut in half every time the jet’s stabilisers would move up or down, so I redesigned the kangaroo’s legs to point to the front to avoid ending up with a national icon without legs,” Hulsbosch laughs.

In 2008 it went on to win a Cannes Design Lions Award as one of the 10 best identities in the world, and the rest is history.

Born in the Netherlands in 1951, Hulsbosch graduated from graphic design school in Eindhoven before moving to Amsterdam to secure work.

He spent some time sharpening his design talents at Ten Cate Bergmans Design, before joining ad agency Leo Burnett Amsterdam to extend his craft.

“I soon realised that if I really wanted to develop a deeper understanding, carve out a career and create an impact in design, I needed to broaden my design skills, move to advertising, and experience different cultures,” he says.

A brand man with a plan, Hulsbosch embarked on the next step: he left the agency after a two-year stint, packed his bags with wife in tow and moved to New Zealand.

“I can’t deny that moving from groovy Amsterdam to Wellington was quite a shock to the system,” he says.

However, it wasn’t long before he was working at a local advertising agency. “Moving from one culture to another can be a very defining experience and you get to know yourself and your limitations really well.”

In the end, New Zealand proved to be a little too small and after four years, Hulsbosch migrated to Australia to take up the position as creative director at Clemenger BBDO. Fate had struck. “I always had a desire to come to Australia – the first thing I ever drew as a kid was a kangaroo.”

In his fourth year at the ad agency, he scooped every major award for his Tia Maria Gold & Brown TVC and the 10-second Hoover ads. But his hunger for design was stronger than his interest in advertising and he decided to mix the two.

“I figured that if I could apply the commercialism of advertising with design it could be a winner.”

And, with this decision, the concept of branded design, as we know it, washed up on our sunny shores.

His initial pleas to launch a design arm within the agency at Clems fell on deaf ears so a more determined Hulsbosch moved on to Lunn Design, before deciding to take the final leap and start his own strategic design business.

“I mixed design with strategy and advertising and never looked back,” he says of his business model.

Hulsbosch Strategy & Design now employs more than 25 staff and works with clients including Woolworths, Taronga Zoo, Caltex Star Mart, Foxtel, Royal Caribbean International and Volvo as well as the famous Qantas account.

So how did he succeed in the branded design space? Passion, flexibility and versatility, he says, along with the need to understand the client’s values and beliefs.

“Showing that you are not a one-off wonder; you need to meet objectives year after year, whilst maintaining mutual respect between both designer and client.”

And respect he has. Woolworths marketing general manager Luke Dunkerley describes Hulsbosch as the “real deal” when it comes to having passion and belief in effective brand design.

In 2008 he put his money where his mouth was and awarded Hulsbosch the rebranding project for Woolworths, enlisting him to produce a new logo identity for a brand that had racked up an impressive 20-odd years in the grocery marketplace.

“Hans had just had the Qantas logo signed off but that’s not how I found him,” Dunkerley says. “He did a double-page spread in the Financial Review – good old-fashioned media is where we found Hans.”

The brief put to Hulsbosch and his team was to create a new brand that emphasised Woolworths as the ‘Fresh Food People’.

“Hans was in the running (for the job) as soon as I met him,” Dunkerley says. “I liked the way he worked as a creative person and he had a great way of getting the best out of us.”

The new fresh food/leaf-look logo launched in August 2008 and has since been ranked by Brandchannel as one of the top five rebrands in the world for 2008/09. Woolworths jumped 50 spots as gauged by Brand Finance’s 2008 Global 500 Survey and pegged as one of Australia’s top brands thanks to the rebranding and in-store makeovers.

Not surprisingly, Hulsbosch is still the first and only designer to receive the federal and state governments’ Telstra Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

From his experience working on global accounts such as Caltex’s Star Mart, Hulsbosch believes in promoting Australian design to the rest of the world. However, the national flag is proving a nuisance.

“We are trying to sell Australian design to countries around the world, but we can never promote Australia as a brand if we do not change the flag – it needs to start from the top.

“Our flag is a symbol to the world,” he says, adding that there is a major confusion with the New Zealand flag. “They almost look identical”.

Hulsbosch also mentions Canada as a reference to point out the positive changes that have come out of a country that has updated its national flag.

“You can travel throughout the world but the Canadian flag is always recognisable; you always see that leaf.”

Nestled safely at the bottom of his desk drawer lies his rebranded version of our country’s flag, but Hulsbosch isn’t keen to share it with an unready audience.

“Only 15 per cent of Australians are in favour of a new flag and that is because we need to promote the idea properly and never forget the history of this country.

“I tried to find Australia’s DNA through research groups, monarchists, people sitting on the fence, pro-republicans and indigenous Australians. The challenge lies in trying to satisfy every group without compromise.

“The flag is a part of my history but also my future – it comes down to visualising that in a simple way.”