Wally Olins: identity is bigger than the logo

Wally Olins was born on 19 December 1930 and died on 14 April 2014, aged 83, according to Wikipedia. He co-founded the branding consultancy Wolff Olins in 1965 with Michael Wolff, and Saffron Brand Consultants in 2001 with Jacob Benbunan. This is a tribute to his work.

Why does Wally Olins matter to a brand builder?

Because he helped turn branding into a business discipline. Wikipedia says he studied history at Oxford, began in advertising and spent five years in Mumbai as head of the agency that became Ogilvy & Mather there. Marketing Week, reporting his death, quotes the Financial Times describing him as the world's leading practitioner of branding and identity. He was made a CBE in 1999, received the Royal Society of Arts Bicentenary Medal in 2000 and the D&AD President's Award in 2003.

What are his key ideas?

• Identity is the organisation's personality. His 1978 book was titled The Corporate Personality, and Corporate Identity followed in 1989.
• Brands are bigger than products. On Brand (2003) and The Brand Handbook (2008) took the subject to a business audience; Wikipedia says his books sold over 250,000 copies in 18 languages.
• Places can be brands. Wikipedia says he pioneered the nation as a brand and worked on projects for London, Mauritius, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Lithuania.
• Range of clients. They include BT, Renault, Volkswagen, Tata and Lloyd's of London, per the same source.

My take: the idea I use

This is opinion, and my reading of the body of work, not a quote from him. The idea I take from Olins is that identity is something an organisation is, before it is something it shows. A logo is the smallest part. The name, the way people answer the phone, the product and the places it appears all tell the customer who you are, and they have to agree.

That sits inside the Brand Growth OS™: Clarify who you are, then Construct every signal to match, then Connect and Convert. Small brands often start at the logo because it is the easy part to hand to a designer. The harder and more valuable work is deciding what the whole organisation stands for.

A logo is a badge. The identity is everything the badge is standing in for.

How do you apply it?

• If we removed the logo, what would still tell people it is us? List the voice, the service, the product and the places.
• Where do our signals disagree? Compare your website, your invoices and how you speak to a customer.
• Who decides what we are? Name the person who protects the identity when a new idea does not fit.

Start with the Brand Growth Audit™ to see where your signals disagree. For a related view read Al and Laura Ries on positioning. See all brand voices or about Mike Bruce.

Sources

Wikipedia: Wally Olins · Marketing Week: Wally Olins dies aged 83. Some sources date his departure from Wolff Olins differently (1997 or around 2001), so I leave it out. Opinion is Mike Bruce's. See all brand voices.