Wolff Olins Sets Out Vision for the Future of Brand as It Debuts Its Own Global Refresh

Global brand consultancy Wolff Olins is evolving its business transformation offer with brand, culture and experience at the heart of its approach for a new era of brand building.  

As part of reshaping the business, the creative consultancy - renowned for rebranding many of the most transformative global brands over nearly six decades since 1965 - is also undertaking a refresh of its own brand expression including a new visual and verbal identity, wordmark, website and assets. 

The evolved brand, culture and experience offer has been redefined through the lens of shifting client needs and the necessity to create more holistic brands fit for the future. 

As well as opening up in LA this year, the global consultancy has also made a raft of new hires across experience and culture in recent months, as part of a drive to deepen its focus on these core areas. Taking this integrated, holistic approach, means brand is both a catalyst for creating change as well as a critical driver in overcoming silos, connecting people and accelerating growth.  

Sairah Ashman, global CEO, said: “We’ve been defining and pioneering new eras for brands for nearly 60 years. As the world, society and clients shift it’s important to keep things fresh and evolving. There’s such an amazingly diverse range of clients and talent out there and we want to make sure they know who we are and what we’re all about. That’s why we’re refreshing the way we go to market to better reflect what we believe and do, and continuing to build a global team of the most amazing talent to serve our clients with an integrated, holistic offer.” 

Ashman added that the team at Wolff Olins are committed believers in the power of brand to drive transformation, thanks to its central role in guiding experience and culture. 

“Experience and culture go hand-in-hand when building brands: A single powerful future vision and ethos made true inside your business through your culture and employee experience and outside through each and every interaction with your audience.

“The right internal culture brings a brand to life; and the right brand attracts people to that culture. Through well conceived and designed experiences, a brand is made real, inside and outside the organisation. That’s a powerful virtuous circle if you can make it all work in harmony. If you take the right approach, you can use brand as a tool to unite people and partners across an organisation and get them working as one, towards one common goal. And with your direction set and your people aligned and inspired to act, you can design and deliver experiences for customers and beyond, that make a real impact. That’s how you achieve transformation,” she explained.   

The brand refresh and creation of the new website has been led by global principals for design, Wayne Deakin and Thomas Wilder, along with creative director Tyler King. 

“The world’s been through a significant moment of reckoning politically, socially, environmentally and economically - it’s profoundly changed the way people feel,” explained Global Principal Wayne Deakin. “People are feeling disconnected, burnt out and undervalued. It’s harder than ever to captivate employee’s hearts and minds. And people are seeking out more meaningful connections in their lives. 

“The new identity signals how we are looking at today’s challenges and finding answers for our clients. This journey is far from straightforward, especially in today's fiercely competitive and messy landscape but it's one we enjoy and thrive in.” 

The W and O of the new wordmark represent the maths and the magic, the fusion of the creativity and rigour that has always been at the heart of Wolff Olins. 

The W of the new logo captures one of Wolff Olins’ core pillars, enjoy the ride - inside the business as a team and externally with its clients. It also reflects the non-linear journey it goes on with clients, the value it places in experimentation and diverse perspectives - it’s not about the easy or most direct path to find the solution but about the search for what will create transformative brands for clients and give them their competitive edge.

The O of the new logo represents its commitment to strategic rigour and precision. This combination of creativity and rigour has driven Wolff Olins from day one, along with a deeply rooted commitment to find better and more positive ways to do business and make a difference in the world. 

Global Principal Thomas Wilder added: “We find enjoyment in the wild, weird and wonderful during the creative process as we search out what’s special. When it boils down to the core essence of what we do at Wolff Olins, it starts with the alchemy of curious individuals we have here who want to make magic for our clients day in and day out.  

“Ultimately, our goal is to help brands become transformative. As our approach evolves, our offerings expand, and new offices open, we felt it’s timely for a transformation ourselves. We hope you enjoy it as much as we’ve enjoyed the ride getting there.” 

The new website, which was developed in partnership with product studio Oak, showcases some of Wolff Olin’s most recent transformational work across an array of sectors, including work from GSK, LG, Instacart, TikTok, Uber, The Met and Leeum Museum of Art. 

Boosting its culture and experience talent in the past year has been Martin Hargreaves and Markus Nonn, who joined as Creative Director and Associate Creative Director for environmental design, respectively; Alex Bradley, who joined last month as Executive Strategy Director for Experience; and Kwesi Blair and Julia Race, who joined in the summer as Senior Strategy Director and Senior Director of Culture, respectively, both with a remit to deepen the culture and employee experience offer globally. 

Bringing the offer and brand expression to life has involved a large team of dedicated people across the business.