Best Branding Agencies in Melbourne (2026)

Introduction

Melbourne has a deep bench of brand strategy and identity specialists, and the nine agencies below cover most of the briefs a local organisation is likely to bring: corporate and institutional rebrands, place and property branding, packaged goods and drinks, and founder-led consumer brands. They were chosen for recent work, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the clients they keep.

The city’s arts and civic institutions have been busy. Weave won the Arts Centre Melbourne rebrand in February 2026, with the new identity due to launch alongside the reopening of the Ian Potter State Theatre late in the year. Disegno’s identity for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, built for its 120th year, carried the 2026 season campaign. Principals refreshed Melbourne Business School and the property group Jellis Craig in 2025, and FutureBrand Australia renewed its B Corp certification in July 2026.

Every agency here has an active Melbourne office or studio in 2026. The list is unranked, since the right choice depends on your sector, the size of the change and how much rollout support you need.

The best branding agencies in Melbourne

1. Principals

Independent, partner-owned · CBD · principals.com.au

Principals is an independent, partner-owned brand agency with more than two decades of history and studios on Flinders Lane in Melbourne and in Sydney. It works across strategy, identity, voice, digital and brand experience, and in 2026 it published The Make it Unmistakable Report with The Navigators.

Its featured work includes the NAB identity system, the Officeworks brand revitalisation and a strategy, identity and voice refresh for Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, alongside Australia Post, Cbus and CPA Australia. Melbourne clients in 2025 included Melbourne Business School and Jellis Craig. On Jellis Craig, Principals worked alongside the client’s in-house design team.

2. Re

Independent · Cremorne · re.design

Re is a brand consultancy with studios in Cremorne and Sydney, covering business and brand consulting, identity and design systems, customer experience, digital and internal brand work. Its 2025 recognition includes Transform Awards ANZ Golds for New Zealand Rugby and for Solo by MYOB, and a Best Awards Silver Pin for the All Blacks and Black Ferns identity.

The client list leans towards large service brands: ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Medibank, Optus, Woolworths and Tourism Australia among them. Recent projects include a new identity for BaptistCare and the sign-up experience for Spott by Wilson Parking. Identity work at Re often runs on into product and digital design.

3. FutureBrand Australia

Part of the FutureBrand network · East Melbourne · futurebrand.com.au

FutureBrand Australia is the local arm of the global brand transformation company, working from Melbourne and Sydney. It won two Golds at the Transform Awards in November 2025, renewed its B Corp certification in July 2026, and promoted Christina Kokkinakis and Victoria Berry to partner in October 2026.

In July 2026 the Autism Association of Australia launched a new strategy, name and identity developed with FutureBrand. Other clients include the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Guide Dogs Australia, Bush Heritage Australia, Fiji Airways, Funlab and Orygen. The team also publishes research on employer brands, which suits organisations whose rebrand is partly about recruitment.

4. Hoyne

Founder-led · St Kilda · hoyne.com.au

Hoyne specialises in place branding and property, with offices on Chapel Street and in Sydney. Founder Andrew Hoyne has spent about 35 years in the property sector and created the firm’s Place Visioning service and the Place Economy book series.

Recent work covers residential communities, mixed-use precincts and urban renewal, including Rozelle Village for Perifa, Woodlea Hub and MIIX for Aware and Barings. Naming and narrative strategy sit alongside in-house CGI, 3D animation, photography and video, so a developer can keep the brand and the sales imagery with one team.

5. Disegno

Independent · Richmond · disegno.com.au

Disegno is an independent strategic design agency founded in 1995 by Marino Di Camillo and Alan Jane, working from Victoria Street in Richmond. It describes its focus as helping clients through brand change, across strategy, design, packaging and communications.

Its identity for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, built on the idea “Shape of Sound”, launched publicly in August 2025 with the 2026 season campaign. Much of its other work is in packaged food, for brands including Bega, Vegemite, Aldi, Darrell Lea, Rosella, Leggo’s and Sara Lee.

6. Weave

Founder-led · Collingwood · madebyweave.co

Weave is a brand and design agency on Langridge Street in Collingwood, run by co-founders Marijana Simunovic (managing director) and Dan Cookson (creative director). It traded as Interweave Group until a 2023 relaunch under its current name.

Drinks brands make up much of the portfolio. Weave is a design agency of record for Lion, covering Little Creatures, James Squire and Tooheys, and works with Four Pillars Gin, Devil’s Corner and Brown Brothers. Its Arts Centre Melbourne brief, won in February 2026, covers research, tone of voice, a unified masterbrand and sub-brand system, and guidelines.

7. Truly Deeply

Partner-led · Melbourne · trulydeeply.com.au

Truly Deeply is a Melbourne brand agency led by Michael Hughes (managing partner and strategy director) and Derek Carroll (creative partner). Strategic rebrands are its main line of work, and it publishes regularly on rebranding in health, B2B and professional services.

Recent projects include rebrands for the Public Transport Ombudsman (January 2026), the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (April 2026) and the law firm Maddocks (August 2026). Earlier clients include Healthscope, BirdLife, Baptcare, Frasers Property and Taylors Quarter for Development Victoria.

8. Ortolan

Female-led · Carlton North · ortolan.com.au

Ortolan is a Melbourne design studio on Rathdowne Street that has worked in strategic branding and campaign creative since 2006. It is a smaller studio than most on this list.

Its clients sit mostly in architecture, interiors and fashion: an ongoing creative partnership with Laminex, ROAM Architects, the fashion directory Homeroom and Fliplab. It has also run self-initiated projects for Melbourne Design Week.

9. Willow & Blake

Branding agency · CBD · willowandblake.com

Willow & Blake is a branding agency on Flinders Lane, with a second address in Richmond, offering strategy, design, digital and copywriting under one roof. It describes its approach as building brands as if they were its own.

Most of its work is for consumer and direct-to-consumer brands, especially in beauty and haircare: a rebrand for the skincare line Balense, campaigns for NAK Hair and Eleven, and work for Bouf and KIC Hydration. It suits growing brands that want a rebrand and a launch campaign from the same team.

What to look for in a Melbourne branding agency

Start with sector fit. Melbourne’s brand specialists have clear lanes: Hoyne in property and place, Disegno and Weave in packaged goods and drinks, Truly Deeply and Principals in professional services, health and institutions. An agency that has solved a similar problem will ask better questions in the first workshop and spend less of your budget learning the category.

Ask how much research sits under the strategy. Larger consultancies such as Principals, Re and FutureBrand run stakeholder interviews, customer research and competitor audits before any design work starts. Smaller studios often move faster and cost less, and may bring in research partners when a brief needs them. Both approaches work if the evidence behind the positioning is agreed up front.

Look closely at rollout. A new identity has to reach signage, digital products, packaging, uniforms and templates, often across several sites, and that is where many rebrands slow down. Check whether the agency writes the guidelines, builds the templates and supports your internal team after launch, as Principals did with Jellis Craig’s in-house designers.

Finally, ask how the agency will handle files and approvals. A rebrand produces hundreds of logo variants, colour specifications, mock-ups and guideline drafts, and stakeholders will want to comment on all of them. Agencies with one place for the latest assets and a clear sign-off process save weeks over a long project.

How Fabric helps branding agency teams

Fabric gives a branding agency one workspace for its strategy documents, identity files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The setup for brand identity agencies keeps each client’s research, workshop notes, design rounds and final assets together, and the brand strategy setup covers the earlier stages.

Early exploration often happens on a canvas, an infinite whiteboard that embeds Figma files and video, which suits moodboards and territory boards. Search works by meaning across documents, images, PDFs and transcribed recordings, and colour search finds visual assets by shade. Similar search finds images close in composition, colour and subject, which helps when checking a new mark against past work and references.

For presentations and handover, any file or folder can be published as a web page, so a set of brand guidelines stays current when the source is edited. Pages can carry password protection, and link analytics shows when each named stakeholder opened a link and how long they spent on it. Clients can leave threaded comments through a shared link without signing up, and annotations cover highlights and comments on PDFs and documents. Clients can also leave timestamped comments on video and draw on any image or video frame.

On Team plans, self-writing docs maintain a page for each client from meetings, Slack and the workspace, covering decisions, deliverables and open items. That history is useful when a rebrand runs over many months and several approvers.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best branding agency in Melbourne?

It depends on the brief. For large corporate and institutional rebrands, Principals, Re and FutureBrand Australia have the deepest strategy teams. Hoyne leads on property and place, Disegno and Weave on packaged goods and drinks, and smaller studios such as Ortolan and Willow & Blake suit founder-led brands.

Who is rebranding Arts Centre Melbourne?

Weave, the Collingwood brand and design agency, won the work through a competitive process in February 2026. The new identity is planned to launch with the reopening of the Ian Potter State Theatre in late 2026.

How long does a rebrand take with a Melbourne agency?

Most strategy and identity projects take several months from research to guidelines, and rollout across signage, digital and packaging can run on well beyond that. Ask each agency for a timeline from a comparable recent project.

What is the difference between a branding agency and a design agency?

Branding agencies focus on strategy, naming, positioning, identity and tone of voice. Design agencies usually cover a wider range of output, from campaigns to environments and digital products. For multidisciplinary studios, see the best design agencies in Melbourne.

Do Melbourne branding agencies also work for Sydney clients?

Many do. Principals, Re, Hoyne and FutureBrand Australia all work from both Melbourne and Sydney.

Related lists

Branding agencies in other cities: Sydney · New York · London · Los Angeles · Toronto

More in Melbourne: Creative agencies · Design agencies · Marketing agencies · Advertising agencies · UX design agencies · Photography studios

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for brand identity agencies · Brand guidelines in Fabric · Fabric for agencies