At 3AM in the dim communal kitchen of the The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, I found myself bleary-eyed, exhausted, and emotional. It has been quite the downward spiral from celebrating my 50th birthday with champagne and celebrations galore, to standing quietly beside the fridge, trying to work out how to use an instant boiling hot water contraption, sans my glasses.
My child is unwell and time has felt warped because hospitals are microcosms quite unlike anything else; they are sensory vortexes, especially for the neurodivergent mind. It’s bloody loud, there are bold fluorescents and intermittent flashing, it’s an all-round disorientating experience.
And yet, in that moment, surrounded by the smallest ordinary things, Dairy Farmers milk, Bega cheese single serve sachets, Zooper Dooper's in every delicious flavour, Arnott’s Jatz Crackers, Prima Juice boxes, and tiny sachets of Vegemite—I felt calm.
Strange right?
Those brands, ones I’ve proudly worked on, anchored me in that moment. They were familiar, trusted and reassuring. They were, and are, everyday constants in a time when nothing else really made sense and life outside those walls were irrelevant.
That feeling wasn’t about the packaging design or marketing campaigns, it was about something deeper: emotional continuity. A small but relevant reminder that we are held as humans, even in the smallest ways, by the ordinary. It made me proud, not because of my career achievements, but because these products quietly do their job. They serve people. They show up consistently in homes, hospitals, school bags, and late-night snack drawers. They provide comfort, stability, and a sense of home. And in that kitchen, they gave me what I needed most; a flicker of reassurance.
Much has been researched in this area by academics and practitioners in behavioural science and psychology. A 2020 article from the Journal of Consumer Psychology confirms that familiar brands elicit feelings of psychological safety and emotional stability during times of stress or uncertainty.¹ We saw this during the recent Pandemic in Australia, brands that got stuck in, doubled down on communication investment and created content that wasn't purely self serving came out stronger and more resilient. These brands help reduce cognitive load because they require no second-guessing. In unfamiliar environments, they act as emotional scaffolding. In other words, consistency builds comfort, not the latest design trends on creative blogs or Pinterest.
Working with these “unsexy” brands is rarely glamorous. They don’t win design awards, they rarely make anyone else’s Creative Territory Board and sometimes, they don't even make it to an agency's website. Yup, guilty of that brutal case study curation.
But they matter deeply. They’re part of the everyday cultural fabric of Australian life and as brand creators, rejuvenators, custodians, and transformers, we should remember that.
So next time you're in a brainstorm, pitching a strategy, or rethinking a brand evolution, pause and ask:
👁️ Does this build familiarity?
💙 Does this build trust?
🏥 Would this make someone feel safe in a hospital kitchen at 3AM?
Because we aren’t just designing for impact; we’re designing for the beautiful banality of everyday life.
Written by Amber Bonney
1. Source: Kim, H., & Kim, Y. (2020). Familiarity as a safety cue: The influence of brand familiarity on consumer trust during crises. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 30(3), 550–564.
