Brand Next in Russia
Charlie Stott, a senior consultant for Wolff Olins, today tells the HiBrand Conference in Moscow that a new generation of brand is required. He explains to the audience of marketing professionals that the brands of the future need to act, look and feel different. ‘Companies are competing and collaborating at the same time; they need brands to drive business transformation. Brands therefore must switch from glossy marketing gadgets to practical platforms for action, so that they are less about stamps of control and ownership and more about ideology and behaviour.’ More at www.artgraphics.ru
25 October 2008
No Frizz
Living Proof, a new beauty brand created by Wolff Olins, wins the much-coveted Allure Magazine Beauty Breakthrough of 2008 Award for its haircare product No Frizz. Not bad for the company’s very first product release, and it hasn’t even hit shelves yet. No Frizz is currently being presold on online and will be available across Sephora stores from February. More revolutionary products will be launched next year, as Living Proof continues to solve beauty’s toughest challenges with radical solutions. To learn more go to www.livingproof.com21 October 2008
Airtel Digital TV goes live
Today Bharti Airtel launches its Direct to Home service, Airtel Digital TV, in 62 cities across India. Airtel tasked Wolff Olins with creating a brand for its new upscale triple play offer aimed at the high-value, technologically savvy youth of India. Wolff Olins worked with Airtel to create the name and value proposition, as well as designing the set top box, remote control and packaging for the new service. Learn more at www.economictimes.com8 October 2008
Madeira film premiere
A 60 second Madeira Island advert produced by Wolff Olins is today released throughout the UK. The film, commissioned by the Portugal Tourism Board, showcases the region and will be playing in cinemas across London, Manchester, Bristol and Newcastle. The 4 minute version, also produced by Wolff Olins received a number of accolades on its release, including gold at both the City Gate International Festival in Germany and the Plock Festival in Poland earlier this year. Click here to see the film.
Photograph courtesy of Zena Holloway.
26 September 2008
Right Services in Management Today
Management Today features Wolff Olins’ Right Services study, which shows that great service organisations, such as Amex, Disney, IBM and Oyster, depend on their brand as a platform for growth. In the article Wolff Olins consultant Ije Nwokorie discusses the importance of brand-led innovation, identifying three key principles and providing practical advice on how to adopt them. Read the article at www.managementtoday.co.uk and download the full report here18 September 2008
Stefano Giovannoni talks at Wolff Olins
Stefano Giovannoni, the designer behind some of Alessi’s most original and iconic products, spoke at Wolff Olins’ London office today as part of the Because series of talks about inspiration, ideas and how they come to life. Stefano’s influential and wide-ranging career includes designs for Fiat, Seiko and Siemens. His work is featured in the permanent collections of MOMA and the Centre Georges Pompidou.
11 September 2008
An Olympic handover
London celebrates becoming the official Olympic Host City with a party for 40,000 in the capital. Revellers exuded optimism and energy when they joined with Olympians, celebrities and musicians on the Mall to mark the historic occasion – an event that was broadcast on national television and across 30 live screens around the country. Today’s handover signifies the start of a momentous four year journey for London 2012, one that will deliver a Games and a legacy for everyone, like never before.24 August 2008
GTF talks at Wolff Olins
Andy Stevens and Huw Morgan from Graphic Thought Facility, one of the most innovative design agencies in the UK, talk at Wolff Olins London office about some of their most challenging design solutions. GTF is renowned for creating quirky, non-conformist design based on strong, straightforward ideas. The event is part of Because, a series of talks that explore how ideas are generated and come to life.
3 July 2008
New head of sales and marketing
Rose Bentley joins Wolff Olins today as head of sales and marketing for the London office. Rose is a former journalist and experienced broadcast presenter with years of experience in PR. Out of the office, she has a passion for cooking and has appeared on the popular BBC show Masterchef.
30 June 2008
Museum next
Robert Jones today marks a new age for museums, at the Communicating the Museum conference in Venice. Speaking to 200 museum marketing people from around the world, in the impressive (though sweltering) surroundings of the Doge¹s Palace, Robert shows how the museums of the future will be much more engaging, connected and cross-cultural - less like cathedrals, more like bazaars. More at www.communicatingthemuseum.com
26 June 2008
Franca Sozzani talks at Wolff Olins
Franca Sozzani, editor of Vogue Italia, talks at Wolff Olins London office about the evolution of one of the most influential fashion magazines in the world. Sozzani discusses how ideas can guide different creative expressions and the role of image in fashion over two decades. Because continues to bring to Wolff Olins inspiration and ideas from the creative and business world.
6 June 2008
AIGA selects New Museum
Wolff Olins’s work for the New Museum in New York City is today selected for the AIGA Design archives. The work will be published online, and will form part of a public exhibition scheduled to open at the AIGA National Design Center in New York in December 2008. The New Museum work has also been recognized by D&AD and the Type Directors Club. Meanwhile, the brand identity created by Wolff Olins for New York City has also won accolades from D&AD, the Art Directors Club and the Creative Review Annual. Learn more at www.designarchives.aiga.org23 May 2008
Read between the lines
Today Booz & Company launches.A new name – for the founders of the management consulting profession. A new focus – to create and deliver essential advantage. And an innovative new brand, created by Wolff Olins. This brand provides a powerful platform for the firm to show its relevance in a fast-moving world where challenges are multi-dimensional and impact is more important than advice. It enables Booz & Company to demonstrate how it creates opportunities, builds capabilities and delivers real impact.
Learn more at www.booz.com
22 May 2008
Publish and be branded
Publishers should get serious about branding, says Robert Jones today at a conference of independent publishers in London. With technology and consumer behaviour changing, publishers face a fantastic opportunity to get closer to readers and writers, building a platform brand that opens readers' eyes to new ideas, and amplifies writers' voices in the world - and vice versa.
16 May 2008
Leadership in branding
CEO Karl Heiselman today creates a global leadership team for Wolff Olins, to guide the business through a world where branding is changing dramatically. The team will shape the future of the Wolff Olins brand, broaden its services, and develop its creative and strategic talent. Brian Boylan sets the overall vision, with Charles Wright looking at emerging eastern markets. They’re joined by Patrick Cox (creativity), Neil Parker (strategy), Robert Jones (marketing), Steve Richards (operations) and Camille Burrows (talent).
21 April 2008
Two cities, two management teams
From today, for the first time, each Wolff Olins office has a managing director, responsible for people, projects and profit. Sairah Ashman takes on that role in London, and Sam Wilson in New York. Both are also members of the new leadership team. Sairah’s team is Martin Brown (design), Caroline Hancock (account management), Nick Keppel-Palmer (strategy) and Chris Walker (finance). Sam’s team is Jessica Chalifoux (account management), Dean Crutchfield (marketing and new business), Bob Healey (finance), Paige Reilly (operations), Todd Simmons (design) and Paul Worthington (strategy).
21 April 2008
Two new creatives in London
Wolff Olins today strengthens its London creative team with two new people. Jason Gormley joins as a creative director – the first at Wolff Olins to have a background in writing rather than design. Find out more at www.jasongormley.com. And Lily Williams moves to London from the New York office as a design director. She’s worked on Target, Luxottica and New Museum, and is now eager to work with clients from the other side of the globe.
10 March 2008
La marque d’aprés
Top French marketing magazine Stratégies today profiles Wolff Olins, focusing on the brand next exhibition, store for tomorrow. ‘The evolution of design agencies towards innovation consulting or service design has already been observed in France,’ reports Pascale Caussat: ‘At Wolff Olins, it meets a deep insight into the future of brand’. More at: www.strategies.fr
21 February 2008
(RED) auction raises $42 million
(RED), the brand created by Wolff Olins, today raises $42 million for AIDS programmes in Africa, by auctioning original works by some of the world’s most famous artists. The event at Sotheby’s, New York, was organised by Bono, Damien Hirst and the Gagosian gallery, and features 75 artists including Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Banksy and Antony Gormley. See more at www.artobeserved.com
20 February 2008
Frito-Lay launches new ‘better for you’ brand
Frito-Lay today launches TrueNorth – its second new brand in over 20 years. A line of innovative, nutritionally positive nut snacks, TrueNorth provides proof of PepsiCo’s move to offer consumers greater ‘better for you’ choices. Wolff Olins partnered with Frito-Lay over the past two years to create and develop the brand. More at www.truenorthnuts.com
10 February 2008
In store
Wolff Olins tonight launches ’Brand next: the store for tomorrow’ at its London office. The show highlights ten brands of the future – brands like Streetcar, Zopa and Macmillan Cancer Support where people take part, rather than just partaking, and where the more people who join in, the better it is for everyone. The event, which runs till 22 February, invites visitors to commit to actions – everyone who gives gets. See the making of the store, and its outcomes, at www.brandnext.co.uk
6 February 2008
Big award for The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist today wins the South Bank Show Award for literature in London. Mohsin is managing director of Wolff Olins in London. Other winners of South Bank Show awards this year include J K Rowling and the Arctic Monkeys. See more at www.itv.com
29 January 2008
Creative Review profiles Wolff Olins
In Creative Review’s February edition, published today, chairman Brian Boylan and creative director Patrick Cox sit down with design critic Adrian Shaughnessy, and offer their perspective on the happenings of the past year. Highlighting 2012, NYC, (RED), Macmillan and New Museum, the article is a behind-the-scenes look at the approach and people of Wolff Olins. Read the full article at www.creativereview.co.uk
28 January 2008
Not the car, the Scottish design director
Malcolm Buick today brings his boyish good looks to New York as newly minted design director. Previously at JDK Design, he may have helped create the brand identities for Burton and X-Box 360, or may have snowboarded and played video games all day. Before his life in branding, Malcolm designed record sleeves in London’s music industry. (Boy bands included.) He comes from the famed home of smoked haddock, Arbroath, Scotland, and graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design.
21 January 2008
She’s Mary, she’s Ellen. Don’t mess with the spellin’
The latest, greatest addition to our New York team, strategy director Mary Ellen Muckerman, joins today – and does not need a dash between her names. Mary Ellen’s business and consumer insight helped to launch Conde Nast’s Portfolio magazine and shaped in-store and external marketing and merchandising for Target for over ten years. Her client-side perspective adds a valuable new facet to our already diverse group of strategists.
2 January 2008
New Museum opens
Artists, critics, architects, designers, drag queens, models, celebrities, Upper Eastsiders, Lower Eastsiders, Wolff Olins and Lance Armstrong tonight all join together to celebrate the grand re-opening of the New Museum in New York City. See more of the brand Wolff Olins helped to create at www.nytimes.com and www.flickr.com
1 December 2007
Southbank Centre wins Special Jury Prize
Southbank Centre tonight wins a Special Jury prize at the International Museum Communication Awards 2008. The award was specifically created in recognition of the outstanding scale, vision and ambition of the job. The jury commended the work, calling it ‘arresting, playful, provocative and distinctly urban’. For more, go to www.imca-awards.com
Photograph courtesy of Johnny Ladd.
30 November 2007
Richard Rogers Retrospective
Wolff Olins creative director Marina Willer is showing her latest film at the Richard Rogers retrospective, Centre Pompidou, Paris, which opens today. The piece acts as an introduction to the exhibition. It shows images of objects sliced in half, celebrating the beauty of mechanics and legibility, a recurrent theme in the architect’s work. That imagery is juxtaposed with Rogers’s voice talking about the vision behind his work. The show is on until 3 March 2008. View the film here.
21 November 2007
All eyes on Ilori
Italian eyewear specialists Luxottica, today launches its new luxury retail brand, Ilori. The company, which owns Sunglass Hut, aims to create a unique brand for sunglasses, through an environment, service level and product range that delivers a modern take on opulence and indulgence. The flagship store on Spring Street, New York is over 4,500 feet and offers mainstream fashion lines, limited editions and new design talent. Wolff Olins worked with the Luxottica team to define its brand strategy, name and customer experience and create a brand that celebrates luxury, craftsmanship and a sense of discovery.
12 November 2007
Paul Smith talks at Wolff Olins
Sir Paul Smith today became the latest ‘Because’ speaker at Wolff Olins London office. The fashion designer shared where he found inspiration and talked through how his collections have changed, his advertising has become more experimental and his stores more eclectic. Because is a series of talks about inspiration, ideas and how they come to life.
12 November 2007
Macmillan wins gold
Wolff Olins is today celebrating success at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards. The Macmillan Cancer Support brand identity work won gold for what judges called a ‘brave and refreshing redesign ’. Judge Ted Mager, Head of Global Retail Development at Adidas-Salmon said the work was ‘very strong ’ and had really helped Macmillan ‘stand out in a cluttered market ’. For more, visit www.dba.org.uk
30 October 2007
Italcementi celebrates ten years
Italian cement maker Italcementi Group today publishes a special issue of its magazine arcVision, celebrating ten years of its brand identity, which was originally created by Wolff Olins in 1997. Ten years on, Italcementi Group has commissioned Wolff Olins to refresh the identity. The magazine features interviews with four members of the Wolff Olins team. More at www.italcementigroup.com
22 October 2007
Wolff Olins on the future of brand
Karl Heiselman, Wolff Olins global CEO, talks in The New York Times today about the need for brands to loosen up and become more generous. As Karl says, ‘in the past, corporate identity was about control and consistency. With too much control, people tend to forget about content. In the era of blogging, social networking and user-generated content, a bit of flexibility is essential’. Read the full article at www.nyt.com
18 October 2007
New identity for a new New Museum
New York City’s only museum devoted entirely to contemporary art today launches its new and progressive brand. The identity designed by Wolff Olins boldly moves and flexes, behaving as a billboard to announce the new museum, new art and new ideas. Designed by Tokyo architects Sejima + Nishwaza/SANAA, the museum has attracted much attention as a landmark and cultural destination, and for catalyzing the transformation of New York’s Lower East side. The New Museum will open the doors of its breathtaking new building to the public in early December. More at www.newmuseum.org.
1 October 2007
(RED) roasting
The Advertising Club today honors Bobby Shriver, co-founder of (RED), with the 2007 Advertising Person of the Year award. He was toasted by many good friends including Russell Simmons, who described the feeling one gets when Bobby calls: ‘you know you’re going to get shaken down!’. The show was stolen by surprise guest Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Nigerian finance minister and recent appointee of the World Bank, who described the (RED) effect as the beginning of a re-branding of Africa. Become a member of red at www.joinred.com
24 September 2007
Adidas joins London 2012
Sportswear maker adidas today becomes a major sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games. adidas brings a huge passion for sport and is the only brand to make sportswear for 25 out of the 26 London Olympics sports. Wolff Olins helped link the adidas and London 2012 brands, combining the adidas attitude ‘impossible is nothing’ with London 2012’s ambition to be everyone’s Olympics. The launch day featured athletes performing out on the street in London. adidas have invited people to video their own sporting challenges and share them online. More at www.youtube.com/adidasandlondon2012
20 September 2007
Future sensing
Global interface company Wacom today launches a strategy to change the way we all interact with computers – beyond keyboard and mouse to much more human, natural and intuitive things like pens and beyond. Until recently, only design specialists used these new devices, but soon – particularly with the new version of Windows Vista – we’ll all be wanting them. To help Wacom grasp this opportunity, Wolff Olins has transformed its corporate brand, under the idea ‘Open up. Sense more.’, and created a new consumer brand, Bamboo More at www.wacom.com and www.wacom.com/bamboo
13 September 2007
Wolff Olins author on Booker shortlist
Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist is one of the six books shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize. When he’s not writing, Mohsin is head of consulting at Wolff Olins in London. For more, visit www.themanbookerprize.com
7 September 2007
Three new strategists in NY
Three strategists join the Wolff Olins team in New York this month. Britt Bulla, senior strategist, arrives from Accenture where he worked with clients in technology, retail communications and consumer goods. Jean Yves Minet, senior strategist, worked at Vivaldi Partners and L’Oreal Group in Italy, and has just finished his Master’s at Harvard Business School. And George Crichlow, associate strategist, joins from AKQA, where he worked with Smirnoff, Xbox, Coca-Cola, Captain Morgan, Comcast and ESPN.
1 September 2007
NYC logo launches
The new NYC identity, designed by Wolff Olins, launched this month. The strategy is based on ‘there’s only one New York City, but there is no one New York City’, and the identity is designed to show the rich tapestry of people, places and experiences that exist in and across the five boroughs. To show diversity, the mark itself is moveable and ever-changing and can be used as a frame that can be populated with this different content.
21 August 2007
New head of talent joins
Camille Burrows joins Wolff Olins today from PepsiCo as global head of talent. Her role is to help the business grow by attracting, developing and keeping the best people, in both London and New York.
2 July 2007
Creative director returns home
Martin Brown rejoins Wolff Olins today as a creative director. He returns to the company after a spell at Imagination, where he rebranded Aston Martin. At Wolff Olins in the 1990s, he was one of the creators of the Orange brand.
18 June 2007
London 2012 brand hits the world
The new London 2012 brand, created by Wolff Olins, is launched today. For more, go to www.london2012.com
4 June 2007
Wolff Olins helps V&A celebrate
The V&A – the world’s leading museum of art and design – tonight celebrates its 150th anniversary. The V&A has invited 150 designers, architects, photographers, fashion designers and artists to contribute a page to an anniversary album, conveying in words and images what they find most inspiring about the V&A and its collections. Contributors include Mary Quant, James Dyson, Will Alsop, Quentin Blake and three designers from Wolff Olins: Adam Throup, Marina Willer and Patrick Cox. Browse through the album at, www.vam.ac.uk
26 May 2007
Historic Royal Palaces wins identity award
Historic Royal Palaces tonight wins the Marketing Campaign category of the Museums and Heritage Awards for Excellence 2007 for the identity created by Wolff Olins. For more, go to www.hrp.org.uk
10 May 2007