Wally Olins Editorial Photo

Wally Olins is Chairman of Saffron Brand Consultants. He is one of the world’s leading practitioners in corporate identity and branding. After studying history at Oxford he went into advertising in London. Wally was sent to India and his first big job was as head of what became Ogilvy and Mather in Mumbai where he lived for five years. India influenced him hugely. He came back to London and co founded Wolff Olins. He was Chairman until 1997. Wally has advised many of the world’s leading organisations on identity, branding, communication and related matters. These include 3i, Akzo-Nobel, Accor Hotels, C&A, Coca Cola, Forte Hotels, Fujitsu, Goldman Sachs, Orange, Repsol, Q8, The Portuguese Tourist Board, BT, Prudential, Renault, Volkswagen and Tata. He has acted as advisor both to McKinsey and Bain on branding and marketing. He has worked for a number of cities and countries on national brand image including London, Poland, Lithuania, Northern Ireland, Spain Portugal and West Bengal. Wally has written several books including the seminal work ‘Corporate Identity’. His book ‘Wally Olins On Brand’ is being published in 20 countries. ‘Wally Olins Brand Handbook’ was published in 2008. He has taught at many Business Schools including London Business School, Said Business School at Oxford, Lancaster University, Imperial College Business School, Copenhagen Business School and Duxx University in Mexico and he holds seminars on branding and communication issues around the world. He was awarded 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. He was given the Reputation Institute’s first ever Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.