Wolff Olins Blog

Is trolling the new branding? Buycott is a new app designed to support voting with your...

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:13:00 -0400

Is trolling the new branding?

Buycott is a new app designed to support voting with your wallet.

Created by Los Angeles-based developer Ivan Pardo, the app helps people scan the barcode on a product to see which companies own it, and avoid companies whose principles they disagree with – such as those owned by the Koch brothers, or who oppose labeling GMOs. The app provides contact information for each company, and includes a family tree of corporate lineage, linking smaller brands to the bigger ones that own them, and as Fast Company points out, “reminding consumers that seemingly indie brands are owned by much larger companies” – i.e., that size is often a branding effect.

Buycott’s “knowledge is power” approach to consumer activism reminded me of the recent New York magazine profile of Buzzfeed’s CEO Jonah Peretti, in which I was surprised to read that Peretti had actually started out as an internet artist and activist. In fact, his first notoriety came from culture-jamming Nike in 2001, by trying to make a pair of Nike iD sneakers that said SWEATSHOP. The resulting email correspondence, in which Nike repetitively refuses, went viral.

Since then, Peretti has reconfigured the line between activist and capitalist. An interesting moment in the New York magazine profile describes how he had created a mass-email tracking program called ForwardTrack, and although it was originally intended for liberal political groups and charities, “when Procter & Gamble wanted to adopt it for use in connection with a detergent promotion, he confessed no hesitation.”

I realized I’d first heard of Peretti in the excellent book Brands: The Logos of the Global Economy by Celia Lury, where his Nike iD sweatshop stunt is put in historical terms. Coincidentally enough, the same chapter in Lury’s book includes an earlier, much weirder run-in between Proctor & Gamble and viral activism: the 1985 redesign of their 134-year-old logo in response to rumors that it as a mark of the devil. (When viewed in a mirror, the man’s curly beard was said to resemble a devilish 666, which is totally true if you look at it that way.) After a multi-million-dollar anti-rumor campaign that included private investigators, lawsuits, and a toll-free hotline, the company gave up and changed its logo to today’s plain old P&G.

At the time, the decision was described by marketers as “a rare case of a giant company succumbing to a bizarre and untraceable rumor” (New York Times News Service). Today, it’s clear that it was an early example of trolling – an effective, asymmetrical assault levied by an anonymous source on a visible public body. Which might not be so different from how branding works, itself:

“Traveling anonymously, without clear meaning, authority, or direction, rumors colonize the media in much the same way that commercial trademarks do, subversively undermining the benign invisibility of the trademark’s corporate sponsor while maintaining the consumer’s own lack of authorial voice.” –Intellectual property expert Rosemary Coombe

To put it another way, rumors, trolling, and corporate branding have two important features in common: anonymity and amplification.

Whitney Phillips, an anthropologist who wrote her PhD thesis on trolling, has a lot of great perspectives on this topic. She did an interview in The Awl that does a good job of showing how the new landscape of branded content is troubling what we take for granted in “authentic” media – specifically the elements of spontaneity and immediacy. Phillips defines memejacking as “the process by which marketers attempt to tack brand identity onto an existing meme, like some sort of unholy game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey” as well as The Buzzfeed Effect (paging Peretti) as the behavior of a “nest of insanely influential organizations acting as ex post facto gatekeepers who have the power to make a meme by saying that something IS a meme—a process central to any smart ad-revenue-based business plan.”

The difference between memes and brands, of course, is that brands usually have a much more intelligible source, if you know where to look. And it’s precisely this possession, in the case of corporate branding, that the Buycott app is designed to figure out, cutting through the information soup to the money source. Let’s see if it works.

XOXO,

Gossip Girl

Future Patrol is a series of macrotrend posts by Emily Segal, a strategist at Wolff Olins New York.

What's a Nano for?

Thu, 16 May 2013 07:09:57 -0400

By Zia Patel & Aditya Julkat

Touted as the ‘People’s Car’, when Mr. Ratan Tata unveiled the Nano in 2007, it was expected to be the next big thing for the Indian automotive industry. All the ingredients were there to make it a huge success but somehow it never took off. Some said it was “too cheap for its own good” while others tagged it as a “poor man’s car”. Though most would pin the blame on the poor marketing strategy and the negative PR, Tata lost the game on the operational front as well. Delay in deliveries, long booking periods and design problems have plagued the Nano ever since the first car rolled off the assembly line in 2009. Some feel that Nano is a lost cause for Tata, or is it?

Despite its poor performance, most people actually still want Nano to succeed. However, the underlying problem is that those who want it to succeed the most are the ones who are not buying it. A car is an aspirational product for most Indians, especially for the ones that Nano targets—two wheeler owners looking for an upgrade. Nano makes sense for them, but no one wants to be associated with something that is considered cheap. Tata is struggling to change this image. Maybe Ratan Tata himself driving a Nano is the only solution, but most of us know that’s pretty unlikely to happen.

What the world needs

Tata cars are very popular with taxi operators across India because of their high reliability and mileage. When Nano was announced, many even expected it to be a welcome replacement for the popular ‘auto rickshaws’. Tata has often tried to break that stigma and design cars that are more appealing to families, but in the process they may have overlooked an opportunity. In this era of growing traffic congestion and the green revolution, could Nano have all the right ingredients to be a smart solution to the modern world’s public transport needs?

Who thinks you’re special

We see another opportunity in European and American markets, where the microcar segment has growing popularity. Unlike India, where the length of your car sometimes seems directly proportional to your social standing, European and American markets might welcome the Nano as a symbol of innovation and usefulness. And, instead of looking at it as an opportunity to ‘take India to the world,’ Tata should look to ‘bring the world to India’. In our experience, we see a natural tendency for Indians to prefer foreign brands and tastes. If Tata could make Nano a hit abroad and then bring it back to India, the Indian consumer might start to see it in a new light.

What is the Nano really for?

There’s a lot for Tata to be excited about, still, Nano’s Achilles heel is a lack of clarity on its purpose. Since Nano’s launch, Tata has let the media and the rest of the world drive it they way they liked. What Tata needs to do is to go back to the drawing board and answer three key questions- Was the original idea brilliant? Is it still relevant to today’s context? And can Tata take this thought and make it work across segments? Apart from answering these questions, Tata can also take inspiration from what Mercedes did for Smart.

This will be the hardest truth to admit for anyone at Tata but the key to bringing a sputtering Nano to life may be “Going back to the future” and finding its true purpose.

Zia Patel is a senior strategist at Wolff Olins Dubai. Aditya Julka is a management student at IIM Lucknow and is interning with Wolff Olins.

Yahoo can turn the spotlight into a stage for brand

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:00:00 -0400

By Nick O’Flaherty

Yahoo is the slowest-growing U.S. Internet company in its class—a trend the company is furtively trying to reverse. With Marissa Mayer at the helm, and former Goldman-banker-turned-‘Chief Development Officer’ Jacqueline Reses at her side, Yahoo has been busy restructuring and acquiring. With its latest high-profile acquisition, Yahoo has specifically promised not to “screw up” Tumblr. It’s a big bet, but there is still a ways to go.

In recent months, the magnifying glass on Marissa has kept the company even more tight-lipped than usual. Obviously a company in Yahoo’s position can’t reveal all of its strategies, but if the leadership have a clear purpose and vision for their brand, then it’s time to leverage the attention, and start to tell that story. Here’s a way to go about it:

First, define your journey.

We know Yahoo wants to win in mobile and personalized content, its last six acquisitions have been about building the capabilities, products and people to help get them there. Those bets are good – and are an indicator that Yahoo is moving from click centric to consumer centric, but it needs to reconcile the fact that at its core it’s still an ads-for-content company– and that core is not doing so well.

From the outside, its efforts could be seen as a series of quick fixes to magically shape shift, while it leaves its core business to languish (maybe Yahoo Stream Ads will change this!). As a perpetual optimist, and believer in Marissa - I don’t think this is the case - and the Yahoo journey of transformation is well planned. They just haven’t let anyone know about it yet. Let us in! We want to know where the business is going, why – and how the legacy business will play a role along the way. We’re not asking to give away all the secrets – but get us excited, and admit when you’ve gone off the path a bit. A bit of honesty and humility would also be welcomed in a world of platitudinal investor chatter and empty press releases.

Defining a brand purpose that explains Yahoo’s role in the world will show customers that this journey is rooted in the needs of real people, and it will motivate and focus the business along the way.

Second, remember what made you great.

Most companies begin with an ambitious leader on a mission to solve a problem, to fill a gap in the market, or bring a genius idea to reality. They are new, exciting, different. Customers flock to them, everyone wants to work for them, they grow at a dizzying rate, they go public, get rich, they are hugely successful, mission accomplished – or is it…? Wait, what was that mission again?

But it seems a law of physics— as many businesses get older, bigger, more diverse, more complex, more siloed, have more mouths to feed, and increasing pressure to serve shareholders – they slip into a gentle, sometimes imperceptible, state of decline. Think of a struggling Starbucks in 2008, before Howard Shultz returned as CEO to bring them back to customer-centric strategies and their original, neighborhood feel.

Yahoo’s problem, similarly, was not adapting its collegial, quirky, creative DNA into a sustainable competitive advantage. And now more than ever, with all of Marissa’s focus on the new, she can’t afford to forget the old. Not only is it disheartening for Yahoo’s legacy employees to see the focus on the new kids and their toys, there is a treasure trove of value in Yahoo’s history and culture that seems to have been neglected.

They were once the pioneer who defined the creative, non-corporate culture of Silicon Valley. To consumers, Yahoo has never been “evil” or abused its size and power (when it had it) and many want to see them win. Channeling the atmosphere of a younger Yahoo will set the right conditions for their new people to thrive and work together with their existing teams. That DNA will lend them credibility and authenticity not just with talent, but with audiences and advertisers too. Its low ego and willingness to collaborate are exactly right for the next era of this tech company’s growth.

Finally, build your brand on collaboration.

Collaboration is fundamental to Yahoo’s DNA, and it’s key to winning in tech. Already, Marissa has made overtures to partner with Apple to take on Google which is a great first step. But it’s not just about business collaboration – it’s collaborating with the public too.

Yahoo should take a cue from one of its contemporaries in the tech world, Mozilla— a brand that’s built entirely on collaboration from inside and out. Mozilla’s mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web is their ultimate decision-making filter. They have a global community of thousands of volunteer contributors whose opinions and perspectives are at the center of all their business moves. Moreover, they trust that community to be stewards of their brand – to share it, improve it, and love it like their own.

Yahoo needs to realize that people have a stake in their success too. And if they want to understand what would “make their daily routines truly delightful,” they’ll need to get way more intimate with their consumers. Beyond users, beyond clicks. A passionate partnership that leverages all of the ways a brand can listen to and work with its audience today is the best way to build products and programming that are thoughtful, relevant and attention grabbing.

Despite the media scrutiny of Marissa, I feel people are genuinely excited to see where she can take Yahoo right now (I know I am!). And the path could be a bright one by clarifying where you want to go and building a brand purpose to get you there.

Nick O’Flaherty is strategy director at Wolff Olins New York. A version of this article originally appeared on iMedia Connection.

Infosys: Back to the Future?

Tue, 07 May 2013 06:40:00 -0400

By Zia Patel and Mayanka Sharma

In India Infosys is a 21^st century Icarus- like Icarus they were highly ambitious and wanted to fly high. They were a firm which soared above everything else but soon lost its wings and fell steeply.

In 2006, though Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was larger on paper, it was Infosys that was considered the poster boy of India’s IT industry. It was known for delivering excellence while conducting business in a legal, transparent, and ethical manner. It epitomised corporate governance in India and was a favorite of investors, job seekers and clients alike. Infosys was aggressive, innovative and growing. TCS, on the other hand, was a huge but ailing incumbent facing stiff competition.

Fast-forward to 2013 and the difference in the condition of the two companies is stark. Infosys is struggling to maintain its growth as well as margins. Market value of the firm has fallen by 20% in a short period of one month. Attrition is alarmingly high at 20% and management itself doesn’t appear much optimistic. TCS on the other hand, has turned the tide to become the undisputed leader again. What happened in the time span of a few years?

Recession happened, some argue. Others say that as the world is becoming more technologically advanced, IT is becoming a more dynamic industry in which to work. Firms need to adjust accordingly, in order to sustain growth and remain profitable.

TCS restructured itself into a simpler but more customer-centric organization. It started utilizing its workforce better, improved employee engagement, decreased its dependency on its US-based clients and became more innovative and aggressive. Margins improved as operations and management became crisper. Not only did it survive the recession, TCS used it to prove its resilience and strength.

The turnaround stories of greater technology giants like IBM and Apple need not be retold. These firms were hailed initially as innovation masters but suffered with crises of identity and purpose.

Infosys has good resources in terms of employees and cash reserves. Many Fortune 500 companies are its clients and although investors are quite skeptical, they are not yet hopeless. If IBM, Apple and TCS can do it, investors want to believe that Infosys can do it too. It might not be wise to use the approach taken by other firms, because one size fits none. But what then could be the way forward for Infosys?

Learning from one’s own mistakes is good but learning from one’s own success is better, though rare. All Infosys might need to do is to go back to the future it aspired to create. The firm that started as Infosys Consultants went on to become the best-of-its-class software service provider during the next phase of its growth. As the IT industry evolves with cloud computing ensuring that more emphasis placed on software than ever, Infosys could also enter a new phase of possibilities.

It still has the potential to deliver on its initial promise of providing complete solutions and not just isolated software to its clients. Infosys started as a dream, a vision. It would be a dream come true for all stakeholders if it became a global IT consultancy brand that gave innovative solutions to its clients and hired best talent world has on offer.

As branding is increasingly more about purpose, would Infosys offer a reason for its existence and success which clients, markets, employees and people around the planet would not be able to resist? In the world of Indian IT, where ‘cut, copy, paste’ is employees’ inside joke for innovation, could Infosys be the game changer? We all have our fingers crossed.

Zia Patel is Head of Strategy Wolff Olins India. Mayanka Sharma is an intern at IIM Lucknow.

Disrupt the commute

Thu, 02 May 2013 16:59:53 -0400

By Rebecca Dersh

We love a good story of positive impact. So of course when we heard about Yazmany Arboleda’s latest global art project, we couldn’t help but share.

For the fourth installation of his Monday Morning series, the Colombian-born artist is planning to distribute 10,000 pink biodegradable balloons to commuters in Kabul, Afghanistan. Partnering with local and global human rights organizations, the pink balloons will represent women’s rights.

For all the New Yorkers out there, check out the 10,000 Balloons Pop Up Event happening on the Lower East Side next Monday, May 6, to help celebrate and participate in this incredibly unique experience.

10,000 balloons stands apart from Arboleda’s other Monday Morning pieces because for the first time, the series will be financed by people around the world. One dollar buys one balloon - an effort to create equal ownership of the project by all who contribute. Additionally, inside each balloon there will be a message from the person who bought it.

Arboleda calls this campaign a “living sculpture” that brings joy, wonderment and a new sense of awareness to people.

Rebecca Dersh works in marketing at Wolff Olins New York.

Acela means business...

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:00:16 -0400

…Or so the new “Take Off” advertising campaign for Acela Express would have us believe. And maybe they’re right. According to the New York Times, 75% of travel between NYC and Washington DC occurs on Amtrak trains. And Acela ridership specifically accounts for nearly 3.4 million passengers on Northeastern corridor rail transit every year.

Here’s a video from the campaign:

When Acela was launched in 2000, it focused on business travel with its offer of speed, efficiency and flexibility. Today, the new “Take Off” advertising campaign hits this proposition well, with a sharp elbow-jab toward the Northeast corridor airlines that comprise the main competition for the business travel dollar. But the “Take Off” campaign pitches Acela even more ambitiously – it speaks of “reimagining business travel”. We wondered if Acela is really doing that and what it would take.

To create a brand experience that delivers on that promise, Acela needs more than a well-articulated ad campaign. They have to start looking for ways to use innovative spaces, better services, and powerful partnerships to shift the current perception of business travel time from “wasted” to “optimized.” Here’s how we’d get started…

The basics matter

In some ways, today’s Acela merely represents the basic standards that business travel should be delivering. What could their “reimagined” business travel look like? Could Acela be the ‘ultimate mobile office’, and what would it take to be that? Maybe it isn’t so much about luxury or premiums, but about the most reliable basic necessities.

Could Acela ensure that every passenger has a super clean and comfortable seat that doesn’t remind you of the 3.4 million other passengers who are using them? And of course…a working power outlet, maybe even two per passenger?

And how about consistently reliable hi-speed Wi-Fi? While both the Delta Shuttle and many express bus services also offer Wi-Fi, Acela’s ‘ultimate mobile office’ would need to go the extra mile to deliver a fast, consistent service. (Easy for us to say, as we don’t have to figure out the location of cellular towers, router reception, demand load, etc.) Acela could look for an opportunity to partner with a best-in-class mobile Wi-Fi provider, and create an utterly compelling Wi-Fi delivery that locks them in as the go-to choice for Northeast business travellers. Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa, Italy’s state-owned TGV, gets high customer ratings for its Wi-Fi Internet, an experimental network available through a co-operation between Trenitalia and Telecom Italia.

Delight with fresh food and dining

Given that many busy business travellers often have to travel during mealtimes, quality, healthy food and beverages could go a long way in this “reimagination” of business travel. Would a franchise partnership with Whole Foods or Le Pain Quotitiden enable Acela to differentiate from the low-grade food options served on most airlines? Acela’s café car facilities, compared to airplanes and buses, could provide their brand a real advantage. The ‘ultimate mobile office’ might even offer its first-class passengers the option of hot or cold gourmet meals served directly at your seat. They could take a cue from Virgin Rail’s Intercity line in the UK and the TGV in France for example, which both offer a gourmet food service that creates a distinctly enjoyable travel experience.

Optimizing the space advantage

Given that air or bus travel makes most think of cramped and stuffy space, could Acela maximize its comparative space advantage to help reinvent business travel? We played with some more ideas to put space to work in a way that would change the game.

Conference Call Pods:

Acela’s Quiet Cars are wonderful – no need to blast music in your earphones to drown out your fellow passengers’ important discussions or telephone calls. But given the reality that business travellers do indeed have pressing matters to discuss, could Acela take full advantage of the space offered by a train and provide a car fitted with sound-safe conference call pods?

Executive Meeting Room:

As time-optimization is high on the list of priorities for all business travellers, wouldn’t it be cool if you could simultaneously nail a key meeting or presentation whilst traveling? Could Acela offer executive meeting rooms equipped with conference table, Okamura or Aeron inspired seats, and a large-format HD screen that connects to a PC for video projections.

Workout Car:

Building on our imaginary executive meeting room, could Acela further optimize its space advantage and offer a fitness car? Maybe partner with Equinox Fitness or CrossFit and install stationary exercise machines so travellers could optimize their time and workout while traveling instead of sitting still.

Legendary service

One of the great things about an Acela journey is the low number of service announcements compared to the seemingly never-ending in-flight announcements suffered on your average flight. Could Acela further focus on reducing travel stress and become known for memorable and delightful employee service? Could they model a program on the Ritz Carlton’s “Legendary Service” training program for employee and customer engagement? Or survey their passengers to really understand what comprises the ultimate in service on-board Acela? Per our service-announcement point, they might find that less is more.

21^st century rail travel

Rail travel in the US has a long way to go to catch up to European and Asian standards, and perhaps that is more a political question than brand experience. But hi-speed rail tracks that are designed for hi-speed trains would really help Acela deliver on its core promise of speed. And ensure it could truly differentiate from the legacy of Amtrak and freight trains! As the US becomes increasingly conscious of carbon-foot printing (again some way to go to catch up to European standards), hi-speed/hi-efficiency rail travel could give Acela a valid advantage in offering business travelers the greener mode of transport.

Acela brand potential

We wanted to play with the possibilities that a meaningful brand experience could deliver, and imagine what it might really take for Acela to “reinvent business travel”. By providing innovative spaces, services and powerful partnerships that enable business people to travel and work more efficiently, Acela could potentially reinvent the current perception of business travel time as wasted, and reinvent business travel in a way that delivers high value with a low carbon footprint.

We’re onboard, are you?

Angela Riley is a Strategy Director at Wolff Olins New York.

Five questions with Zena Bruges

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:15:00 -0400

In the first of a series of interviews with inspiring female leaders, Wolff Olins’ global COO, Sairah Ashman, interviews Zena Bruges.

Zena Bruges is managing director of The Future Laboratory, a business that helps clients look into the future to understand how consumers will behave. After studying at Edinburgh University, she has led a number of successful creative consultancies.

What are the most significant shifts influencing your business?

The need for speed and flexibility. We’re increasingly working at an accelerated pace and need to be agile in our business planning, so we can adjust and adapt easily. Clients are relying on us to help them understand what the world will look like in 2, 3 and 5 years it used to be 10. Consumer tastes change far more swiftly now with product innovation and cycles needing to keep up. This is definitely influencing the needs of our clients and how we work.

What do you see as the key growth accelerators for you over the next 12 months?

We’re sitting on a product that not a lot of people know about, so we’re very focused on raising our profile as a way of unlocking growth. We’re also looking at expanding into new markets where our offer is attractive and effective which means mature markets rather than developing ones.

What role do you see brand playing in helping achieve your goals?

We’re hugely aware of the power of brand in the marketplace for ourselves and for our clients. Studies continue to reinforce this and and it’s especially the case for younger generations. Brands are very much an integrated part of life. Like you, we believe brand is an entire experience and not simply a corporate identity. Staying true to this philosophy as we promote ourselves and grow will be critical.

What or who inspired you in the early years of your career?

I spent an early part of my career in New Zealand. It exposed me to a really positive can-do spirit and gave me a sense that anything is possible. My boss at the time was also really good at helping me stretch, giving me room to deliver, encouraging me to trust my own judgement and to just get on with stuff. It’s really stayed with me and stood me in good stead as I’ve set up and run multiple businesses that sense that everything is possible.

What advice would you pass on to others just starting out?

Be entrepreneurial. Think about what’s good for the business you’re in. And what could be a new business even if you don’t want to set one up. Develop ideas and be an opportunity spotter. Be curious and confident, but never arrogant. And have fun!

Sairah Ashman is global COO of Wolff Olins.

The worst thing since crustless bread

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:30:03 -0400

By Chris Moody

I went shopping the other day. To Sainsbury’s, but that’s not important. As I ambled along the aisles I saw two things that made me question if what I do for a living is evil and a third that restored my faith in the power of brand and design. Let me tell you about them…

The first was in pride of place in the bread section – a little poly-wrapped loaf of ‘crustless’ bread. Now don’t misunderstand me, I like my snacks to be maize based, my wheat in puffed form and my MSG bountiful. A man who eats as many crisps as me is no food snob but, really, crustless bread? That’s one step away from me getting a trolley full of baby food every week because ‘it all goes down the same hole’.

It’s not the quality of the loaf or the packaging that was unnerving – it’s the brand idea. What is this in the world to do? The fact it exists at all means someone thought the idea had legs. I blame all of us.

This is a product not born of passion and determination but of consumer research and focus groups. We asked the public what they wanted and they said this. Not everyone can make their own hummus or sun-dry their own tomatoes but this isn’t about convenience, it’s about laziness; too lazy to cut, too lazy to chew. This is Henry Ford’s premonition of faster horses brought to life as an anaemic blob of carbohydrates.

Focus groups are fascinating places to be - in an anthropological sense. The ones that I have been in seem to always follow the same patterns. Loud person dominates the room for a bit, then everyone turns on them, nothing much gets resolved and the occasional bit of gold comes from the quiet one in the corner. Focus groups have their place but not as a way of ‘testing’ a brand. You can’t test the unknown. You just bring a carousel of baggage from other things to it. Viewpoints from a wider audience have to be baked in as you develop a brand idea but not taken wholesale as the answer. A large part of what we do at Wolff Olins is to balance what the world thinks it wants with what we think it really needs to succeed in the future.

The second thing I saw was a copy of a national newspaper. Its entire front page was devoted to the split of a band who were runners up in a talent contest in 2008. It’s a shame. But is it the single most important thing 3.13 million people need to be told about on Wednesday 24 April 2013?

I know tabloid newspapers are there to entertain as much as to inform, so it’s not the paper or even JLS that bother me, it’s how the JLS brand came to be and the plain safeness of it all.

The band are universally liked; sister, brother, granny, mother, everyone agrees they are/were definitely OK. And that’s the issue. Like the crustless bread JLS were born of consensus. 28 writers are credited on their first album. 34.66% of 8 million viewers thought they were better than Alexandra Burke. Of course Marvin and JB will sell more papers than Syria – it’s a safe bet.

The Manic Street Preachers once said “we don’t want to be anyone’s second favourite”, all or nothing, you’re with us or you’re with someone else. The best brands think and act like that – fearless and peerless, they take risks and know that if they are striking out on their own they are, at least, doing one thing right.

Bringing a great brand to life needs strong creative leadership and similarly bold approach with singular decision-making. A clear vision for people to get behind, coupled with a desire to not play by the rules. It’s about maintaining that passionate startup mentality no matter how mature your business is.

Which leads me to the final thing I saw (not surprisingly, in the drinks aisle). A single bottle of Swedish Vodka by a 134-year old brand, and next to it another perfectly un-identical version, row upon row of discordant bottles, sat like interlopers at a tea party.

The idea of limited edition bottles is nothing new but this bottle was one of four million, each one different from the next. I saw the idea for this a few months ago at an awards ceremony. Naturally, it did well but on the shelf it makes even more sense. I watched an old woman put three in her trolley; the care with which she chose each specific bottle from the shelf implied she wasn’t planning to get off her head. What I like the most is this is a perfect extension of the spirit of the brand. A brand that has spent years building the idea of their bottle being a canvas for creativity and now, in an ultimate act of confidence, taking their production line apart to make it a reality. It’s different, brave and it just works.

This is particularly relevant for the UK in 2013. Hell, we even run a government on a consensus driven timeshare basis. But today, more than ever, we need great brand ideas and innovative design to hurl us forward rather than nanny us with vanilla blandness, telling us what we want to hear. We should be making a concerted effort to shake ourselves out of a triple dip funk by embracing the different and difficult. There’s a great opportunity in these times of austerity to break the rules, make some new ones, to put some noses out of joint.

Great brands are peerless, they rebel. They say ‘I’m doing it this way, you do what you like.’

Let’s be more like that.

Chris Moody is Creative Director at Wolff Olins London.

Start your content engines

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:05:00 -0400

By Sam Wilson

A few colleagues and I just attended FastCo’s Innovation Uncensored in NYC. Much of the discussion was focused on the disruption of almost every category by changes in media - here are a few of my key takeaways on what this all means for brand:

A smart content strategy has to start with brand purpose

When there are a million things you could do to engage with consumers, focusing on what will make a difference to your brand is critical. The starting point should be a powerful and differentiated brand purpose that can act as a lens for decision-making and a brief for content. Your brand purpose will be the jumping off point for populating an entire content calendar and informing every piece of content. Speakers from Intel, Dove, and Oreo each honed in on how important their purposes have been to content creation. For Intel it’s enriching the lives of everyone on the planet, and for Dove it’s making women feel more beautiful. The VP of Global media and consumer engagement for Oreo said, “Brand drives what you listen to, and therefore the insights you build ideas on”.

Brands doing this well:

+ Evian’s recently ended their silence and have come out with a slew of baby ads.

They’re well produced and have returned to the brand’s ‘baby’ heritage. “Baby and Me” launched earlier this week and has already gotten over 30 million YouTube views.

+ Chipotle’s “Back to the Start” video is another example of a company leading with purpose, was instantly a viral hit.

Chipotle’s purpose – food with integrity – made the video feel like a genuine extension of everything the brand is working to achieve.

+ And Fiat’s appealing to mothers across the globe and using its brand to reach new audiences with “The Motherhood”.

Your brand is the company you keep

Companies will be successful in these brand-building endeavors if they are clear about their own role and select the right sort of company to keep. Often the brand’s role is creating and funding a platform, but access to the right tribes of people to engage with will come from partnering strategically with an organization or agency that understands what will appeal to that specific audience. Intel has partnered numerous times with Vice on Creators Project (a global tech arts and music festival). Nancy Lublin from Do Something also reinforced this point when she explained the partnership between Dosomething.org + Aeropostale that’s combating homelessness in a way where everyone gains.

Brands doing this well:

+ Vimeo (a community of filmmakers) and Lincoln Motor Company (an old iconic American brand) have come together to create the “Hello Again” project that invites filmmakers to reimagine iconic brands via Vimeo.

+ Soundcloud is partnering with Red Bull, Blue Bottle Coffee (& others) to provide access to their huge community and create new revenue streams, all whilst protecting the integrity of their own brand and respecting their members.

You have to be geared up differently to act in the moment

For Dove’s latest campaign, the client had to sign off on a ‘social experiment’, not a carefully crafted script.

They shot real women in real time, and the marketing team had to be on set to make decisions in real time.

Oreo was able to react so quickly during the Super Bowl blackout this year because they were able to rely on the social strategy they’d already had in place. 18 months ago, Oreo marketing created the ‘Impulse Lab’ (a team of cross-functional brains from insights, brand and legal teams) that set them up to react in right the moment. The payoff was the tweet that became one of the most memorable moments of the Super Bowl.

It’s increasingly clear that in the moment scenarios like this are becoming more and more important for brand. Social media teams are being built up and invested in unlike ever before. In the past 5-10 years, ‘social’ jobs have become commonplace.

And rising star companies like Salesforce are even evolving these roles – they’re changing the title to ‘social strategists’.

So to wrap up the ‘so what’ of it all – get your purpose right as it’s the fuel for everything. Work directly with the people you want engage with your brand. And reengineer your marketing capabilities and processes to suit the new context.

Sam Wilson is managing director of Wolff Olins New York.

Designing Democracy

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:41:00 -0400

By Tom Petty

Last week it was announced that gov.uk — the government’s new digital presence — was the winner of the Design Museum’s Design of the Year award, making it the first website to claim the prize.

Gov.uk (designed by the government digital service) aims to combine all the UK government’s websites into a single entity, the idea being to save public money and make vital services simpler to use.

A lot has been made of gov.uk’s design — its stark functionality, and the simplicity of the visual language. It all adds up to a product that is very, very fit for purpose. It could be said that great design feels inevitable, but this goes one step further. The experience of using gov.uk leaves you with no opinion on the site whatsoever, only the information you were looking for. It’s moved beyond inevitable, and become invisible.

This success shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, we have form when it comes to big, civic design initiatives: the London Underground map and our road signage systems being the two obvious examples. No lost tourist in a car full of screaming children has ever stopped to appreciate the reassuringly clear hierarchy of our motorway signs when looking for their hotel; they just get where they need to go. The design itself has become invisible. Gov.uk is merely the latest in a long line of Great British design projects (in fact, Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert’s Transport typeface has been re-worked and used by the government digital service).

This history of ‘getting it right’ is the best part of the whole affair. It speaks volumes about our nation, our abilities and our sensibilities. Successes like these do wonders for our soft power, and help create ‘Brand Britain’. This particular win goes further than anything before it, as there now exists a visual language, tone of voice and set of guiding principles for the Government of the United Kingdom. Gov.uk is so much more than a functional website: it’s defined the visual identity of an entire country, and is defining how a government interacts with its citizens (it just doesn’t know it yet).

Where we go from here is really exciting. The Government Digital Service have created something with the potential to define and improve the experience of everything from voting in a local election to receiving treatment from the NHS, and they’ve done it in an open and collaborativeway. Gov.uk as a site is great, but what it’s doing beneath the surface is what’s truly game changing.

Tom Petty is a designer specialising in experience and interaction at Wolff Olins London. You can follow him on twitter @tp

WO London looking for senior strategists

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:26:00 -0400

There’s no formula for game change

Can you be a ground-breaking thinker, doer, leader and influencer day after day?

We’re a highly ambitious business determined to help clients across all sectors better address the challenges and opportunities presented by today’s turbulent world. We’re also one of the Sunday Times’ Top 100 Best Small Companies to work with.

We’re committed to transforming existing markets, creating new markets, to helping businesses and organisations responsibly grow. And the responsibility bit is important. We put positive social impact at the heart of what we do.

If you see yourself as a game- changer and have a brilliant mix of imagination, logic, resilience and a special talent to make things happen then we may be your perfect fit. If you feel that others - inside Wolff Olins or in client organisations of as many as 100,000 people would follow your lead, we would love to hear from you.

You may be from big business, from a start-up or you may run your own show. You need solid business know-how, true creative flair and an ability to not just re-define the purpose of an organization but to re-tune its culture, processes, products, services and end goals accordingly.

We work across all sectors – technology, finance, government, professional services, arts and non-profit and we hope you would be up for some sector experimentation too. Unusual mixes of experience and expertise is inherent to our approach.

Currently, we’re on the lookout for strategy team members at our most senior levels:

Strategy Director

Our strategy directors are outstanding leaders. They work alongside the CEOs of the world’s major organisations. They successfully manage the balance between social and commercial impact. They can think with crystal-clear simplicity but also manage extraordinary complexity and they run large multi-dimensional projects which span the full range of deliverables - from long-range envisioning through to the detail of web experiences and produce design. Most of all they have the stamina to work for months and often years taking a client on the journey of profound, market defining change. Most come to us with at least 9 years of hands-on experience.

Seniors

Our seniors are the drivers of our biggest projects. They are responsible for some of the most significant areas of our impact – conceiving new products and services, building new businesses, devising new revenue streams always with a view to giving more customers a better experience and an improved belief in the companies that serve them. Often they bring an injection of new knowledge to Wolff Olins – as experts in product innovation, culture change, digital experiences, emerging markets or sustainability. We welcome focused areas of knowledge, especially if it can be applied to the wealth of opportunities we take on. All our senior strategists are inventive, disciplined, inspiring and results focused. Most have at least 7 years of experience

Beyond the impact our strategists have on client projects, they each contribute a great deal to helping us grow as a business internally. There’s all to play for in this respect. We have a highly entrepreneurial culture and we respond well to vision and initiative. We back people’s ideas and help them grow…

If you are interested in being part of Wolff Olins, please send your CV and a covering letter outlining the kind of extra firepower you can bring our business to peoplelondon@wolffolins.com - with Strategy Director or Senior Strategist in the header. Thank you!

The Quiet Leader

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:38:00 -0400

By Melissa Andrada

Rosa Parks. Bill Gates. Warren Buffett.

What do these three popular figures have in common? All three are introverts – quiet leaders who have had a tremendous impact on the world.

A quiet leader sounds like an oxymoron. However, Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts, would argue that quiet leaders have always existed – and often are more effective than extroverted leaders.

Introverted leaders tend to be more reflective and considered. “Ghandi said his shyness stopped him from saying something stupid.” They listen more and lead by consensus. In work places where employees are more proactive, quiet leaders are often more successful in empowering people to take initiative and make ideas happen. This is especially important as more companies try to foster entrepreneurialism.

Cain’s work on quiet leadership has many takeaways whether you fall into the introvert, extrovert or ambivert camp. Two that stood out to me:

Rethink brainstorms. The loudest person in the room doesn’t always have the best ideas. Enable people to brainstorm in solitude first, then come together to share their ideas as a group.

Redesign your workspace. We’re encouraged to work in open floor plans, but the best thinking often happens alone. Design a flexible workspace that allow for periods of quiet contemplation.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t a place for extroverted leaders, but that we should recognise leadership takes many different forms.

—

Melissa Andrada is an ambivert and strategist passionate about creating businesses that inspire people, do good and make money.

Image via The Next Web

Has this generation missed the boat?

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 04:52:00 -0400

By Sairah Ashman

The results of the latest report from the Cranfield International Centre for Women leaders came out last week. You’d be forgiven for not noticing and it doesn’t really make for happy reading.

New FTSE board appointments have slowed and there are just 32 female executive directors of FTSE 250 companies, compared to 558 males. It is rather disappointing, but not at all surprising. Two things struck me in reviewing all the data. Firstly, that the pace of change is still positively glacial and needs continual attention just to keep up at its present speed. Secondly, appointments of non-execs may be moving, but executive director appointments (CEO, etc.) are proving much slower.

All of which makes me wonder if a generation of talented women has missed out (or moved to more welcoming businesses abroad) and if we now need to focus on how to give the next generation a proper shot at the top?

If so, I’ve got a couple of suggestions on how we, as business leaders, can help them:

Recruit smart

Make sure that your recruitment process is meritocratic, interviewing with a broad range of people will help you avoid the trap of recruiting in your own image. The idea that there are not enough suitable women for senior roles self-perpetuates, but we can begin to address it at the earliest stage.

Nurture female talent

Sustainable and long-term change won’t be achieved by focusing on a few big-hitters, but by creating a business environment that offers platforms for every woman to build their confidence in voicing their opinions and taking risks.

Create female role models in senior positions

A lack of women in visible positions of seniority creates serious aspirational disparity, with only 46% of women aspiring for top roles compared to 64% of men.

Role models help give us a sense of what is possible, they prove that women are respected, admired and have a deserved place at the table.

Lead well

Make sure that the leadership acts comfortably and with generosity in operating with senior female leaders. Full access to formal and informal networks, mentors and sponsors within the workplace creates a sense of value, belonging and a reassurance that they can succeed to their optimal potential.

Let’s hope the 2014 report paints a brighter picture.

Sairah Ashman is COO of Wolff Olins. Follow her on Twitter at @sairahashman

Appleshift: Trope Scope

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:01:00 -0400

By Sami Mallis

Last week kinetic artists and researchers Carol MacGillivray and Bruno Mathez, collectively known as Trope Scope, popped into Wolff Olins London for our weekly Appleshift share. We had recently met with the duo at this year’s Kinetica Art fair where the group were exhibiting their three-dimensional audio-visual work “One, two, three…”. The work was a piece of their broader multidisciplinary Diasynchronoscope Project, created in collaboration with Prof. Frederic Fol Leymarie at Goldsmiths, University of London. We, like so many other visitors to Kinetica, were so enthralled with their work that we invited them to Wolff Olins London to hear more.

They opened their talk with an introduction to the aforementioned piece of work, a sculpture-cum-experiment that elegantly synthesises both traditional craft media and digital developments. The interface and overlap of these analogue and digital techniques in both sound and space works with a curious and hypnotic harmony—it even alleviated a migraine for one visitor. As with much of the group’s work, the piece is about experimentation and exploration. It is firmly rooted in science and a real appreciation and understanding of the human perceptual system.

Their work is undoubtedly a product of an interesting partnership. When they formed in 2011, they each brought their previous explorations and distinctly different and rich skill sets, both in analogue and digital technologies. Carol, had spent 20 years as an animator and film editor, largely working in claymation and stop motion animation for documentary, drama, music videos, and commercials. Bruno, conversely, has always been very much rooted in the digital, an audio-visual artist whose work has been referred to as “the visual equivalents of different types of media or stage practices”. His engaging and interactive visuals have been created for music concerts, operas, dance and theatre shows, much of which can be seen on his website.

As with much sensorial artwork, especially one like trop Scope’s, which is in a continual state of evolution, it is nearly impossible to capture the essence of it through film or photography. If you have an opportunity, we strongly recommend you to see the work in situ.

Sami Mallis works in Marketing at Wolff Olins London.

We Enjoy IPL BUT Do We Love it?

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 01:00:22 -0400

By Zia Patel and IIM Lucknow

As a follower of the IPL since its infancy, I have seen it evolve into a colossal sporting event unlike any. Right now the entire nation and Indian diaspora are engulfed in this two-month long cricketing madness and it has something to offer to everyone. The newest edition of the IPL kicked off with a grand opening ceremony last week on 3rd April.

The IPL seemed like an ultra-promising proposition, but the excitement seems to be fading with every passing season. This three-word cricketing spectacle is indeed enjoyable, but do we still ‘love’ it? I guess not.

What did IPL promise?

When IPL was conceived six years back, the entire nation went gaga over the concept. It was touted as the magic pill that the struggling domestic cricket was looking for- better infrastructure, more opportunities for youngsters and a bigger payday. Teams needed to focus on building a loyal fan base—it was the pivot around which business value would be created. Some of these dreams were realized while others were not.

Why fans are important?

IPL was conceived on the lines of the popular club format of EPL and NBA. All successful teams across the globe rely on building a loyal fan base to keep gate and merchandise revenue flowing. However, IPL has focused more on ‘entertainment’ and ignored its long-term sustainability.

Though it’d be wrong to say that IPL fans lack loyalty, they mostly flock in stadiums to watch their favourite player play than to support the home team. On a personal note, I love watching Sachin Tendulkar play, but I don’t care if he plays for Mumbai or any other team. That is just the nature of how cricket works in India but the teams aren’t doing much to help their cause.

Could we do better?

Sure! Hunt, Briston and Bashaw (1999) classified sports fans into five categories- temporary, local, devoted, fanatical and dysfunctional. If there is ever a more apt example of a representative sport, it’s Cricket. Each category of fans has a different motivation. The existing mass media focused, celebrity endorsed and entertainment centric approach may no longer work in the Indian context. It was fun in the beginning, but needs to mature into something tangible. Prioritizing each fan base and then targeting each base may be a good place to start?

Zia Patel is a senior strategist at Wolff Olins Dubai. Aditya Julka is an intern at IIM Lucknow.

A Work of Art That Works In Life

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:45:00 -0400

Here’s a film we just made about Little Sun - a work of art that works in life by bringing light to millions of people living without electricity.

Little Sun taps into the most abundant raw material in fast growth economies: the power of creative optimism. It is a raw material we think all brands need to learn to take advantage of.

We hope you can feel just a little of it in this clip.

Little Sun Wolff Olins from Wolff Olins on Vimeo.

For more information please visit the Little Sun website.

What makes you special?

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:00:22 -0400

By Melissa Andrada

You’re an entrepreneur. You’ve identified a gap in the market and come up with a product with huge potential for growth. The problem? You’re not the only one.

If everyone is trying to solve the same problem, then what’s going to make you stand out and be different? This is a tricky question for startups to answer, as you do not have the same history and heritage to draw from as the Nikes, GEs and Microsofts of the world. It’s a future-facing question that requires you to think about the principles that make your business special and unique.

Your principles should come out of your purpose – your reason for being. They should be equally inspiring and strategic. They should get you up in the morning, but also act as a guiding compass that drives decision-making. They should define your product experience, company culture, and communications.

Skillshare is a great example of a startup that has created set of principles that clearly define what makes them different. There are many wonderful startups that are trying to re-think education, from the Khan Academy to Coursera to the School of Life. What makes Skillshare different from its competitors is its commitment to principles that include “everyone is a teacher”, “teaching isn’t what you think it is”, and “learning by doing.”

Startups in other industries could learn from Skillshare’s example. I recently was on vacation in San Francisco where rideshare services are all the rage. Lyft. Uber. Hailo. Without googling them, I’m unclear on the differences between these businesses. I know that one has a pink moustache on its cars, but that’s the extent of my knowledge.

The issue of differentiation goes beyond transportation; it can also be applied to startups in crowdfunding (Indiegogo v. Kickstarter), ecommerce (Gilt v. Myhabit v. Rue La La), travel (Kayak v. Hipmunk). The list goes on.

You might be first to market, but defining what makes you special becomes especially important as your industry becomes more complex and competitive.

Where failure is the rule, not the exception, it’s important to start thinking about this question now rather than later.

For more tips for startups, check out “Brand: What’s missing from your startup strategy” by Wolff Olins MD Sam Wilson.

Melissa Andrada is a strategist passionate about creating businesses that inspire people, do good, and make money. In her spare time, she teaches classes on branding for startups at General Assembly. @themelissard

Image via Skillshare

Digital Native

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 05:00:20 -0400

By Olivia Sudjic

‘The Digital Age’ is an immersive, seamless experience so pervasive that terms like ‘the Internet of Things’ are not at all silly - but trying to think critically about it - without resorting to its proprietary tools for thought - can feel like looking at an image in the mirror. Will ‘digital natives’ become better equipped to do this, or do they lack the perspective of having ‘lived’ elsewhere?

There is a lot ‘out there’ (on the Internet) saying that the Internet is eroding concentration, so I feel I should issue a spoiler: this isn’t that.

Last weekend I went to see the British Museum’s exhibition Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind, read (two more pages of) Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, and watched the episode of Girls in which Hannah Horvath, Lena Dunham’s depressingly familiar character, shunts, sloth-like, along her floorboards in total isolation for days on end, eating condiments from the jar and googling phantom medical conditions rather than finishing (or starting) her ebook.

Each examines human response to environment. Ice Age Art argues for its contents to be considered art, not artefacts - as much psychology as art history, Kahneman reveals we are on autopilot 95% of the time, and Lena Dunham is only moved to her feet when a splinter lodges in her rear. This unholy (and atypical in self-improvement terms) trinity of a weekend set the tone for a week in which I am going through a self-conscious patch in my longterm relationship with technology.

Paris Brown. The media reaction to 17-year-old Paris Brown this week made me want to take to my Facebook wall with a nostalgic status about growing up IRL, then, on reflection, to instantly quit Facebook and learn a craft or dig up the garden. Then came Zuckerberg’s Facebook Home. A subtle but rippling change – for which a clue is in the name.

Whereas Paris Brown, in trouble for adolescent over-sharing via social media, is a strange hybrid of a teenager (she was earning £15,000 as “adviser on youth” to the Kent police commissioner) her experience of technology is anything but. Social media is home. And, as recession is writ large over the property ladder like the buttons on a telephone for the partially sighted, it is likely to be the only place digital natives can store their lives for the near future.

I was born nine days shy of 1989. This is apparently the official birth year to qualify as a ‘digital native’ according to 89plus, the ‘diamond generation’ project curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist & Simon Castets. On a good day this means I was born prematurely - on the red carpet - just outside the ‘digital native’ domain, but on a bad day I identify with Lena Dunham’s ambiguous relationship with internet related prefixes; the word you recognise is still there (book), but the ‘e’ part just doesn’t sit right somehow. It’s a narrow twilight zone; between our elder siblings – who were on solid foods and playing swing ball long before MSN Messenger arrived - and Paris Brown, who cut her first milky incisor on Twitter.

Whilst justifying my surgical intimacy with Facebook to, say, my granny may feel like standing behind a tourist getting acquainted with their first Oyster pass (for any non-Londoners, that’s personally affronted and frustrated), I have decided to savour these few and far between moments of disconnect. Not calling it home, she uses technology consciously, deliberately, and with purpose - like a guest politely navigating someone else’s kitchen. Plus every “brand strategist” needs to be taken down a peg by their granny.

Olivia Sudjic is a strategist at Wolff Olins London.

Account Manager, London

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:13:02 -0400

Game change is at the heart of Wolff Olins’ work and our account management team is vital to making that change happen for clients.

We’re looking for an experienced (5+ years) Account Manager who is at the top of their game in their current role but looking for the kind of challenge that Wolff Olins will deliver.

We need someone who thrives on intellectual challenge. Someone who has the potential to transform businesses, not just deliver phases of work. Someone who proactively join the dots across an account, spots connections, is an arbiter of quality. Someone who intuitively understands and resolutely delivers value for clients, for WO and for the AM resource. And finally, someone who can balance the budget with the big picture.

We have some of the most high profile, most complex clients and an ambitious, restless internal culture that never settles for second best. We need someone to match our optimism and ambition and develop as a role model for best practice client leadership.

If this sounds like you, please send your CV and a covering email to peoplelondon@wolffolins.com with the subject AM 2013.

As the skies crowd above India, what’s the secret of a successful future for Indigo?

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:37:12 -0400

By Zia Patel

In a timely manner

Indigo’s success can be attributed to its single-minded focus on service – unquestionably, this is the key strength of its brand.

Planes leave and arrive on time. Such reliability makes Indigo the dependable option for business travellers, something that is absolutely essential when managing a busy schedule that requires city-hopping across a country as vast as India. Over and above being affordable, being reliable is the brand’s key driver.

Indigo’s dedication to service and reliability goes a long way to explaining why it has such a loyal customer-based and is one of the few airlines that is making money at a time when the Indian aviation industry as a whole is struggling. Jet Airways is rather like our Indian Parliament, hampered by bureaucracy; witness the recent shocking apology on the death of James Dean, the pet cat that was entrusted to the airline but run over on the tarmac at Delhi airport. The incident reflects how Jet seems to have lost its human side and everything now seems so robotic. For Kingfisher things don’t look so rosy. And as for Air India, it holds the dubious honour of being reliably (and not fashionably) late!

The launch of the new Air Asia / Tata venture, Air Asia India, is primarily going to hurt SpiceJet, Jet Airways and may even sound the death knell for Kingfisher. Because Air Asia India is for now a South India-centric service, its entry into the market won’t affect Indigo much. However, any expansion into North India could cause a few furrowed brows at Indigo HQ.

The risk is that arrival of Air Asia India will stimulate a fresh price war, which won’t do anyone (except perhaps the consumer in the short-term) any good. The way for Indigo to beat Air Asia India’s low cost offer is to offer “real” value and not to lose its nerve. To succeed in this increasingly competitive marketplace, Indigo will need to firmly stick to its guns by keeping up its meticulous timekeeping. Not only that, the carrier should continue to develop new markets internationally. So just as Jet and Ethiad are forging links to capture a bigger share of long-haul traffic, Indigo could similarly consider partnering with Emirates to extend its reach further afield.

Inspiration – who else is getting it right?

There are inspirational models and lessons to be learned around the globe. Remember Go created by British Airways? It was a low-cost airline set up to compete with the new players like Easy Jet that were posing a serious threat to British Airways’ business. It was a strong, contemporary brand with the heritage and existing affection for BA behind it. Ultimately the strategy failed because behind-the-scenes, the logistics weren’t quite at the level necessary to enable Go to remain competitive. However, the carrier earned valuable lessons for BA, allowing it to then go on to compete in low-cost and shorthaul arenas under its own name. Indigo does not have such issues to address, in terms of logistics, it’s sorted!

In the US, Southwest Airlines is a good example of a “better value” alternative to buses, coaches and rail services, and the much-admired JetBlue based in New York features a smart, clean fleet with comfortable leather seats and helpful staff offering a small, but a quality selection of snacks. Both these airlines enjoy high levels of customer loyalty, enabling them to prosper in an otherwise challenging market. With its unwavering focus on service, it’s fairer to compare Indigo to Southwest and JetBlue rather than the likes of Easyjet, Ryanair, Pegasus or even local rival SpiceJet.

Small tweaks but beware too much tinkering

Often when creating a successful strong brand it’s the small steps and considerate, thoughtful gestures that build brand loyalty, and this is certainly true in the world of airline travel. I’m not suggesting massive change at Indigo, but rather minor improvements to the service; seemingly little, but useful, things that their customers want and that anticipate needs. Think about a full brand experience: the flight itself is just one part of the customers’ relationship with the airline and there is an opportunity to engage more with customers- not only at the booking, travel or baggage collection stages. The experience starts from the moment a customer decides to take a trip to when they return home safely.

Improvements might include making it easier for international passengers to purchase tickets, or in fact any meaningful and thoughtful additional services which could elevate it even further above the competition. Additionally, Indigo could do more in the digital space, perhaps by using social media more effectively or automatically sending an update SMS to guests awaiting passengers at arrivals with a flight’s status. The real trick will be to stay relevant, not just different.

Having said this, Indigo needs to be careful not to tinker too much with its brand and its professional business model in the way that Jet Airways has. The last thing we need in India is another Jetlite, Jetconnect, Jet-the-third! Indigo will succeed by remaining dedicated to, and focused on delivering its promise of dependability. It already enjoys high levels of word-of-mouth recommendation—the best kind of unpaid communications a company could ask for and the one that matters most. Like many people, I trust my friend’s recommendation over a glossy ad any day. Way to go Indigo! Keep us recommending you.

Zia Patel is a senior strategist at Wolff Olins Dubai.