Wolf Olins: Taking on the World June 22, 2010

The challenges of running an innovative global branding firm
By Wolff Olins Global COO Steve Richards

Wolff Olins has been described as ‘the world’s most influential brand business’. Started by partners Wally Olins and Michael Wolff in 1965, the business quickly established itself as a major player in the world of corporate identity and now has a string of very high profile successes to its name. From game–defining branding projects like First Direct (1989) and Orange (1994) through to their more recent work for New York City (2007) and AOL (2009), Wolff Olins has proved that although the eponymous leaders went their separate ways some time ago, the famous Wolff Olins creative DNA is still well and truly intact.

And of course, with such high profile clients comes high responsibility and visibility, and Wolff Olins has also had its fair share of controversy, not least for their work for London 2012 which still divides audiences.

Wolff Olins describes itself as a brand consultancy which is ambitious for clients, optimistic for the world and aiming to create a better reality, not just a nicer image. Through its offices in London, New York and Dubai, the company still blazes a trail for progressive and un-formulaic global branding.

Steve Richards joined the consultancy in 2004 after a long career in advertising, taking in J Walter Thompson, McCann Ericsson and Grey Worldwide. Steve heads up global operations, looking after people, P&L, policies and supporting the brilliant talent to create useful stuff for the world. However, when pressed for a biography, Steve sticks with: happy, international, dad, Welsh, cat-herder and Lazarus.

This is a rare opportunity to discover an insight into one of the most talked about design companies in the world (and there’ll be plenty of time for questions).