BRR's principal Brian Richards was a leading speaker at Better By Design 2008, an annual conference designed to prompt New Zealand companies to make world class design and business innovation practices a bigger differentiator for their products and services in export markets.

In Brian's view, design is an integral part of every good brand and stretches well beyond the aesthetic. "Brand enhancement is much more than creating a suit of new clothes, it's about redesigning what lies beneath. So it needs to embrace the internal attitudes inside the company, the physical product or service, the delivery mechanisms, and the storytelling. Each of these has a design component which can directly impact on the brand's performance and its ability to achieve a premium in its category."

"I believe many companies still see design as an aesthetic luxury, a cosmetic to their existing endeavours. They fail to see the broader applications and the direct connection between clever, well-executed design and bottom line profitability."

"In business, cost is a factor and pricing is a policy. Many products and services have real potential to achieve a much better price point but they are let down somewhere in the presentation process or the client interface. This is the area where good design can make a real difference."

"Successful branding is indisputably about selling less for more. Too many companies continue to slug it out with their competitors in pricing battles. Price/value perceptions by customers are then the only focal point on which a company does its business. The less clearly defined a business is, the more low prices will be used as a success strategy."

"Design should always personify the brand. To do that, it obviously cannot be divorced from the agreed brand positioning. It must be completely integrated. Because we are inherently creative as well as pragmatic people at BRR, our branding strategies embody design elements. The more physical components of design then flow from and mirror this strategy. Design that is rooted in a clear, well-directed strategy has a depth and meaning that transcends short-term fads."