Brand Case Study

Hyne Timber: Sexy timber

Simon Langford-Ely
Jul 25, 2017 · 5 min read

Two words that I never thought I’d use in a sentence together – ‘sexy’ and ‘timber’. Until we set about rebranding Hyne Timber that is.

The Hyne family name has been in the timber game for about 135 years (but who’s counting right?) and is not only one of the largest suppliers of timber to the Australian market, but also a true pioneer of the timber industry. Through his role as a Queensland Member of Parliament, founder Richard Hyne established the first Department of Forestry and was responsible for establishing some of Australia’s first pine plantations.

The word ‘iconic’ springs to mind, yet, their brand isn’t exactly what you’d call a household name. They never needed to be.

For years… generations even… they’d traded on their reputation, relying on a loyal customer base of industry to specify and on sell their product to its end users. The brand itself is by-and-large a passive participant in every sale. And of course, times continue to change… Suddenly loyalty can’t compete against cheap foreign imports, and the smallest of fluctuations in commodity prices can leave the business exposed.

It was time for their brand to step up.

Redefining their ‘glulam’ range

‘Glue Lamination’ is a process that gives timber the structural strength of steel. Beams can be straight or curved and joined in all manner of ways.

We summed it up as “gravity defying strength.” And so we set about defying gravity in a visual sense, photographing lengths of glulam beams on various angles as if effortlessly suspended in space.

But what makes an Architect tick?

Your average architect is no doubt concerned with the structural qualities of timber, but that’s the boring part, right? We believed aesthetic is the ultimate driver for an architect… plus, structural strength doesn’t exactly set timber apart from the steels or bricks of the world. Aesthetic does.

We knew we had to bring the inherent beauty of the product to the fore, yet with product names derived from their structural grade (ie. Beam 21, 18, 17) it would need to be a case of counterbalancing the strength message with beauty.

Hyne Product Logos

When you live and breathe a product it’s so easy to overindulge and lose sight of what your customers are looking for. This was a case of a client being too close for their own good. Sometimes that external perspective is needed, and that’s exactly what we brought to the table


The “Make a Statement” Concept

Aside from upping the aesthetic appeal we also knew we needed to position timber as having abundant creative possibilities. We had a crazy thought of crafting oversized typographic structures out of each of their products, and literally spelling out their standout qualities. The idea stuck.

From limitation comes creative opportunity

For practical reasons we had to compromise on the vision and create each typeset in 3D (boo!). This, however, opened up the possibility of creating animated videos for each product (yay!). Featuring the sultry tones of Robbie McGregor and a fair dose of innuendo we were able to up the ‘wood porn’ factor for their online audiences.

Glulaminate and beyond

There’s not enough time in the day (nor space on this page) to mention the many updates we implemented for the Hyne Timber brand in parallel to this project. And whilst the value a brand derives from an exercise like this is impossible to truly quantify, there are some simple measures that tell us the brand is working… for instance, demand for their brochureware has tripled, and their eDM engagement has doubled since launch.

“Simon challenged us to completely rethink our approach and genuinely raised the bar, with outstanding creative direction and support.”

Jeremy Mead, Marketing Manager, Hyne Timber


Gold, Brisbane Advertising and Design Club (BADC) Awards, 2015


About the Author:

After 8 years as Creative Director at Bigfish, Simon decided it was time to step out of the comfort zone — and so Creature was born. Creature is a strategic branding studio where brands of all sizes, shapes and personalities are born. For more information, or to talk about an upcoming project, feel free to drop Simon a line: here

Creature.id

Creature is a Brisbane based branding studio

Simon Langford-Ely

Written by

Australian creative director, designer, writer, photographer, traveller, dreamer & doer.

Creature.id

Creature is a Brisbane based branding studio

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