Where's the Arabic superbrand?

Abed Bibi, partner of Wolff Olins Dubai, was profiled today in Media Week Middle East. Discussing the need for a modern Arabic superbrand, Bibi explains that brands within the UAE, and brands trying to break into the market, need to find new ways in order to become successful. He goes on to emphasise the need for the Arab world to reconnect with its identity. ‘Today everything is written and said in English. The Arabic language is losing its touch, its values, its identity.’ To read click here.

4 March 2009

Olympic branding in Russia

Wolff Olins strategist Melanie Mcshane today presented at the Russia-UK Olympic Partnership Conference in Moscow on the role of the brand as a delivery platform for the Sochi-2014 Winter games. Melanie showed how the lessons learnt from London 2012 could help Sochi-2014 shape this delivery on a number of fronts: by presenting a new Russia, demonstrating good governance and exporting Russian entrepreneurship to the rest of the world. The event was arranged by Sochi Organizing Committee, the British Embassy and the Moscow Times.

3 March 2009

Design award for TrueNorth

Wolff Olins package design for Frito Lay’s nut brand, TrueNorth, was today awarded the winning title at the American Package Design Awards. The competition honours work that has contributed considerably to the success of a brand, product or campaign. See more at www.gdusa.com

13 February 2009

Harry Pearce talks at Wolff Olins

Harry Pearce, founder of Lippa Pearce and partner at Pentagram, spoke today at Wolff Olins London about some of his influences and most memorable projects. The event was part of Because, a series of talks about inspiration, ideas and how they come to life. 

12 February 2009

Brand masters

The world’s first postgraduate course in brand leadership was announced today by the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. The one-year programme, which starts in September, has been created by UEA in collaboration with Wolff Olins, and aims to educate a new generation of people to use brand to lead business. More at www.uea.ac.uk.

11 February 2009

NYC opens new visitor center

New York City’s groundbreaking visitor center, NYCGO, was unveiled today by Mayor Bloomberg. The state-of-the-art information hub, located in midtown Manhattan, has been designed by WXY Architecture & Urban Design and contains everything needed to seek out the very best the city has to offer. The center is fully interactive, with wall-to-wall touch screen technology displaying up-to-the minute information in 10 languages. The NYC brand was developed by Wolff Olins in 2007. See more at www.nycgo.com

27 January 2009

Brand America on Monocle

Wolff Olins CEO, Karl Heiselman, joined Tyler Brûlé on Monocle's radio programme, The Monocle Weekly, to discuss his thoughts on brand America. To listen to the full interview go to www.monocle.com

25 January 2009

Serving 30 million customers every day

A new organisation - Lloyds Banking Group - has been founded from Lloyds TSB’s acquisition of HBOS.  Wolff Olins developed the brand strategy and visual identity, for what is now the UK’s largest retail bank.  Its vision is to be recognised as the best financial services company by customers, employees and shareholders. The group will achieve this by building deep, lasting relationships that help customers achieve what’s important to them. At the heart of this business sits a commitment to delivering on the fundamentals of banking.   

19 January 2009

Big idea v2

Robert Jones’s book The Big Idea, originally published in 2000, has been reissued today by Profile, with a new foreword that brings the story up to date. Buy it now for £7.99 or $13.95 at www.amazon.co.uk.

4 December 2008

Wolff Olins looks east

Wolff Olins today announced the opening of a third global hub in Dubai to start serving the fast growing Asian markets. The new office will be led by Charles Wright, a Wolff Olins board director whose previous clients include Airtel, PwC and Qatar Financial Centre, and Abed Bibi, a marketer who has worked in the region for over twenty years on brands such as Majid Al Futttaim, Sama Dubai and du. 

3 December 2008

Wolff Olins in The Grocer

Ije Nwokorie, a strategist at Wolff Olins, is featured today in the UK food and drink retailing magazine The Grocer. Discussing the importance of brand-led innovation during the economic downturn, Ije identified how customer behaviour and demand will change:  ‘In all sorts of sectors where businesses and consumers are questioning their spend the winners will be those that stimulate demand by using their brands to create new things that people are happy to pay for.’  Read the full article at www.thegrocer.co.uk.

15 November 2008

Branding for breakfast

Wolff Olins today hosted the first in its series of breakfast seminar in London. Twenty marketers from not-for-profit companies discussed and highlighted the importance of brand when encouraging participation from their supporters. Representatives from the National Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support initiated the discussion with a talk about the link between brand, innovation and supporter participation as the key to securing increased income.             

30 October 2008

Brand Next in Russia

Charlie Stott, a senior consultant for Wolff Olins, today told the HiBrand Conference in Moscow that a new generation of brand is required. He explained 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, has won 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.com

21 October 2008

Airtel Digital TV goes live

Bharti Airtel, today launched 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.com

8 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 has featured 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 here

18 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