Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Artist of the Day, August 24, 2021: Wally Olins, a British practitioner of corporate identity and branding (#1346)

Wallace "Wally" Olins, (1930 – 2014) was a British practitioner of corporate identity and branding. He co-founded Wolff Olins and Saffron Brand Consultants and served as their chairman. Olins advised many of the world's leading organisations on identity, branding, communication and related matters including 3i, Akzo Nobel, Repsol, Q8, The Portuguese Tourist Board, BT, Renault, Volkswagen, Tata and Lloyd's of London. He acted as advisor both to McKinsey and Bain. He pioneered the concept of the nation as a brand and has worked on branding projects for a number of cities and countries, including London, Mauritius, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, and Lithuania.

Olins was educated at Highgate School in North London. After studying history at St. Peter's College, Oxford he went into advertising in London. His first big job was as head of the agency that became Ogilvy and Mather in Mumbai, where he lived for five years.

He returned to London and in 1965 co-founded Wolff Olins with Michael Wolff where he served as a chairman. He founded Saffron Brand Consultants in 2001 with Jacob Benbunan, an ex-colleague from Wolff Olins.

He was a visiting professor at many Business Schools around the world and spoke on branding and communications issues globally. Olins died at the age of 83.

Olins was appointed a CBE in 1999. He was nominated for the Prince Philip Designers Prize in 1999 and received the Royal Society of Arts’ Bicentenary Medal in 2000. He was given the D&AD President's Award in 2003 and the Reputation Institute's first ever Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. Olins was an Honorary Fellow of St. Peter's College Oxford and in 2013 was awarded an Honorary Professorship at UPC in Lima, Peru.

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