Sessions @ The Dieline Conference: Wally Olins

As the date for The Dieline Package Design Cofertence in Boston nears, we want to acquaint our readers with our speakers and their contributions to the design industry.  Each of our speakers pocesses a unique point of view, style, and plenty of opinions.  Check weekly for profiles on all of our speakers and their sessions, as we lead into the 2012 conference.  We hope you enjoy learning about them as much as we did!   

"Wally Olins is “the world’s leading practitioner of branding and identity,” according to the Financial Times. Formerly chairman of Wolff Olins and currently chairman and co-founder of Saffron Brand Consultants, he has advised many of the world’s leading commercial companies, including 3i, Renault, Repsol, BT, Volkswagen, Tata and Lloyd’s of London; he has also worked with many countries, regions and cities, among them Portugal and Poland. He is the author of several successful books, including Corporate Identity, Wally Olins on B®and and The Brand Handbook."

The Session: Design Matters Live: Debbie Millman Interviews the Godfather of Modern Branding, Mr. Wally Olins

Last year, Debbie Millman interviewed Wally Olins for her book Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits. Debbie considers their discussion to be the best interview of her career. Now Debbie and Wally meet face to face—for the very first time—to continue their conversation on such topics as:

Why branding is a profound manifestation of the human condition?

The common denominators between branding and religion?

How branding demonstrates a tribal sense of belonging?

Why Wally is skeptical about advertising

Why and how the branding of nations is more critical than ever?

Whether market research perpetuates mediocrity?

Why the quality of work is more important than anything?

Select works by Saffron Brand Consultants:

London

"London is always compared with other great world cities – New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris and the others. London isn’t like them. London is like London. Almost everyone in the world has heard of London but not many people know it.

So, people pick up their ideas about London from books, television, social media and a wide variety of other influences – none of which can be controlled and many of which are misleading.

"Saffron was commissioned to create a branding programme that would bring together all the various bodies which represent London in the world – Visit London, Think London, Study London, Film London and so on and to create an overall umbrella idea which could be used by all of them in a way that was appropriate for their particular audience.

"The brand expresses the quirky, understated, confident, self-deprecating style that anyone who knows London will recognise. Have a look above."

Vueling

"Vueling began life as an idea, conceived jointly by Saffron and the airline’s founders, for the first budget airline that would compete nationally in Spain and Southern Europe from a hub in Barcelona. Low cost airlines have a nasty reputation—no assigned seat, no newspaper, no goodies, poor service, old planes and young pilots. We helped to turn these perceptions on their head.

"Cheap flights don’t have to mean lower standards. We delivered a name which is unexpected, interesting and plays with Spanish and English by combining ‘vuel’ ‘to fly’ with ‘ing’ from ‘flying’. The kind of people who say Vueling, youngish, smart, clever and worldly are Vueling’s natural customer base. And then we helped deliver the experience—direct, simple, unexpected, down to earth, low prices, great service. It’s called ‘espiritu vueling’—‘doing things the vueling way’.

"At launch, Vueling achieved the highest capitalisation ever achieved by a new airline in Europe. It reached its full year revenue target of €21 million within the first six months. At nine months one million tickets had been sold—the year’s target had been just 520,000. It’s now the second publicly quoted airline in Spain and after three years’ operations at the close of 2006, had a market value of €489 million. Highly rated by passengers, it continues to expand."

Menos es Más

 

"Menos es Mas – Less is More in Spanish – stands for what it is. It doesn’t make you taller or thinner or more beautiful. It’s just an environmentally friendly drink that delights and refreshes. Saffron worked with Coca Cola, Spain, to create the joyful expression of this mighty little drink. Menos es Mas is about optimism and joy. You can make litres of refreshment from a small drop. What more do you want?"

Litro

 

"Why are service stations all over the world so ugly and unpleasant to use?  

"Probably because most oil  companies regard retail as uninteresting and unprofitable. They just don’t care enough. That’s why it’s wonderful to get  a chance to design an entirely new service station with a new name and a new identity and a new level of service.

"Saffron had that opportunity in Eastern Europe when Rompetrol commissioned us to re-think the service station. We worked with Eight Inc, the architects of Apple Stores, we created the name Litro and a simple compelling visual identity. The Litro name and the droplet, inspired by Brancusi, the Romanian sculptor, led us to create a forecourt which is dramatically different from the competition (higher sales!) and infinitely friendlier to use. 

"You want to actually enjoy filling up? Then try a Litro station – but so far only in Eastern Europe."

Octopus Travel

"On-line branding has very specific challenges. It has to be easy to navigate, to compare with competitors, to book, to confirm, to use. User interface is vital. But so is personality and style. It’s all there. Take a look."