Bustle

A brand built for independent hospitality.

The Context
Bustle’s original posBoss brand didn’t capture their energy, mission or the vital role they play powering great hospitality.

We partnered to help them to become a brand in the world of their customers and industry.

Bustle came to us as posBoss. A typical business to business technology-first SaaS brand.  

The excellent team there came to us as they saw their current brand did not capture their true essence as a company. Like many technology companies they were a software brand marketing to their customers, not a brand in their customer’s world selling software.

Bustle’s ideal customers are independent-minded café and hospo owner operators. The original operators, those with character and a point of view. They know the kind of venue and experience they want to deliver, they own and run their own place because they love hospo, love working with people, making and sharing great food, drinks and personal experiences.
The Idea
The goal for the brand was to become synonymous with Bustle’s hero customers, to look, feel and behave more like a hospo brand than a generic software product, and be known by all as the best way to run a hospo business. We set out to make a brand that could show they were truly in hospitality and selling software, rather than a software brand selling to hospitality. Capturing the true energy, love and commitment to hospo the company had.
The Brand
The visual brand elements, at every touchpoint, are derived from the world of hospo — textures and materiality found in cafés, illustrated little character logos found on signage, eclectic typography, and layouts you might see within receipts, menu cards and sandwich boards.

The Bustle identity finds every opportunity to execute like a hospo business would. For example, creating physical menus to display product features, and creating t-shirts and merch that look more like your local natural wine bar than a corporate.

Bustle intentionally leans into the slightly chaotic buzz and fast moving energy of cafés and small owner-operator spots. The videography captures the hustle and bustle of a busy café, filling cups and orders, flipping burgers — there’s a constant upbeat, always on the move energy in these places.

Bustle was the name we evolved the brand to in order to capture the sense of movement, hustle and bustle that marks a great hospo spot and the energy and life of the visual identity is the embodiment of this approach. We hope you like it as much as we love working with the team at Bustle to develop and continue to grow this brand.

Testimonial

Hand-drawn “B” mark on a blue background
Jonny McKenzie
Founder
Bustle
“The team at Previously Unavailable exceeded our expectations, delivering exceptional work. Their determination to understanding our customers, product, and team helped create a brand that perfectly represents who we are and what we stand for. As a result, we now have a brand that resonates with our audience and supports our mission to serve independent-minded cafe and hospitality operators worldwide.”

Get in touch

We take on select projects, working with companies who are inventing or reinventing. If there’s a project you’d like to talk to us about, please get in touch.

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Auckland

Roles

We're Hiring

Find Out More ↗

We are looking for Senior and Intermediate Brand designers to join our team. People who love brand, design, variety, and working collaboratively.

Shop Future Demand

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Future Demand Vol. 2

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How marketing to tomorrow’s customers will break your brand out of the performance trap

Social Updates

LinkedIn

22 Oct

Helping Partly build the future of repair

Dark poster reading "Our $20,000 creativity and innovation scholarship is now open" with Previously Unavailable and AUT logos

Instagram

01 Oct

Our creativity and innovation scholarship with AUT is back.

PU Air wordmark in teal and blue letters with two pink hibiscus flowers on a cream background

Instagram

25 Sept

We took to the 'skies' for our annual mid-winter Christmas party.

Where in the world is James Hurman?

Auckland
36.8485° S, 174.7633° E

By The Numbers

$500m+

Launched
Companies

40+

Equity
Companies

4

Venture Funds

Weekly Whakatauki

Ko te pae tawhiti whāia kia tata, ko te pae tata whakamaua kia tīna
Seek to bring distant horizons closer, and sustain and maintain those that have been arrived at

Bookshelf

Damn Good Advice (for people with talent!) – George Lois

AUX

Sonder – Barry Can't Swim

Overheard at Previously

“Walking is actually good for you”

Studio Snaps

Black and white photo of a busy open-plan office
Black and white photo of a man sitting on a sofa
Black and white photo of a dog sitting indoors
Black and white photo of people gathered at an event
Black and white photo of two women standing together smiling
Black and white photo of people chatting in a room
Black and white photo of people in a living space

Clients & Partners

Icehouse Ventures
Westpac
AF Drinks
Ārepa
Fonterra
Emma Lewisham
MedWorld
DB Breweries
Education Perfect
Torrens University Australia
OnBoard
Shuttlerock
Pylot
Lion
Mānuka Health
Ideally
Tracksuit
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ
Helius
Brothers Beer
ASB
BNZ
Melodics
Sunfeld
Contact Energy
Simplicity
Futurity
PieFunds
WOOP!
Hawker & Roll
Stolen Rum
21C Skills Lab
Ascential
Heineken
Clearhead
Stuff
Spark
The Comfort Group
NZ Trade & Enterprise
Serious Food Co.
Toothcrush
Timely
Compostic
Growbright
Sanford
Goodman Fielder
TVNZ
PĀMU
New & Improved
Kiwibank
Humankind
Blunt
Deloitte
Hancocks
Genesis
Cannes Lions
Jade Software
Bankwest
Dentons
NeuAudio
Nibblish
Media Design School
Skyline
ZURU
ECC
Caffeine
Jade
Blackbird
NZME
Outset Ventures
Private Wealth Network
Special Group
TRA
The Tuesday Club
Lume
Aera
Abroad
Sharesies
KPMG
Constellation
Tika
Soul Capital
Scholarship
Rev.Social
Friends That Invest
Hiraya Ventures
Appetise
Icehouse
Manifest
Lumos
Simfuni
Levno
Kamal
Re-Leased
Extraordinary
Yarken
Nevam
Aglow
Abodo
Spoke
Andfoods
Marloo
Anthony Harper
Aplenty
Bustle