In a recent post, GOOD Business editor Tim Fernholz calls Wolff Olins out for its dedication to choosing clients who meet our ever-evolving standards of social impact.
Fernholz writes:
Actual authenticity is a more valuable marketing tool than clever presentation, and Wolff Olins is trying to capitalize on just that by finding clients who share their interest in social impact—or are willing to start moving in the right direction.
GOOD is particularly impressed that the same ethos that’s brought Wolff Olins success on pro bono projects like (RED) and Dr. Hayat Sindi’s i2nstitute For Imagination and Ingenuity has also become part of our corporate work.
Wolff Olins CEO Karl Heiselman is quoted:
We don’t think you have to either work for charity or big business, but you can put this idea of positive impact at the center of what you do, that’s how you can achieve commercial success as well.
In December, Wolff Olins was one of the first selections for the GOOD Company Project, a program that seeks to highlight companies that are changing business for the better.
We’ll continue to share updates on our blog about our work with the GOOD Co. Project.
Scientist, inventor, Harvard and Cambridge graduate, Saudi Arabian native and pioneer—Dr. Hayat Sindi is an inspiring woman, a powerful force in the advancement of science, social good and a sign towards the emerging cultural shift in the role of women in a conservative region.
Today at PopTech, Sindi launched her latest project, the Institute for Imagination and Ingenuity, (i2 institute) which focuses on encouraging entrepreneurship in the Arab community amidst an unemployment rate of over 40% and a rapidly growing youth population entering the workforce. The website states “Our mission is to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and social innovation for scientists, technologists and engineers in the Middle East and beyond.” Wolff Olins and PopTech collaborated with Sindi to develop the brand and identity around her platform.
“I believe that we can put science and society hand in hand and we should customize science for the benefit of the developing world. Small people can achieve big dreams.” Sindi stated. She also hopes that “i2 will make stories like hers less exceptional and more possible for every young innovator.”
I’ve lived in Islington for about 3 years now, over which time the high street has evolved. Predictably, the number of mini-supermarkets (a depressingly familiar oxymoron) has increased. But so has the number of craft shops. In a neat reflection on the ‘make do and mend’ attitude that follows any recession, savvy storeowners have spotted an opportunity for a new type of consumerism. Less buy, buy buy. More do, play, make.
Sunday was an exciting day for WOLO’s latest venture – the Honey Club. We had a stall at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank, taking part in the London Honey Festival alongside lots of other bee-keepers from in and around London. From 12-5pm, we were descended upon by enthusiastic honey-lovers, asking questions about our bees and the social enterprise. Turns out there’s a lot of bee keeping lingo we need to bone up on!
New York City is a notoriously smelly city. In such a densely populated area, you can pretty much expect to walk down the street and become subject to odors ranging the gamut from gourmet food to day-old rotting waste. That being said, the other day, some coworkers and I were overwhelmed on our way to lunch by the incredibly strong odors wafting out of some of the restaurants we passed. This got me to thinking – do restaurants intentionally use “smell branding” to draw crowds in off the street, or are those the scents that naturally waft off the food? I also wondered – how do consumers feel about companies that use scents to attract customers?
When using a scent as part of a brand, companies take an extreme risk that can have wide reaching impact. Yes, you can smell a Subway sandwich shop from two blocks away, but does that make it appetizing? For a brand to gain value from scent, it must be able to conjure the right mood at the right time. I decided to do a bit of research on three companies’ approach to scent branding (Subway, Westin Hotels, and Abercrombie & Fitch) to see how consumers perceive them through brandtags.net. I looked for the top scent- and taste-related tags to see if their use of scent branding enhances or detracts from their brand by looking at the keywords.
The first company I wanted to investigate was Subway. Unlike some other restaurants and shops, it’s hard to walk past a Subway and not notice what you’re passing. I checked out Subway’s slogan “Eat Fresh”, which is resonated by the freshly baked bread at each location as well as the counters stuffed with freshly cut vegetables. The smell is definitely unique but can sometimes be overwhelming. Brandtags.net told me that the top keywords consumers associate with Subway sandwich shops are: fresh, bread, tasty, and delicious. The tags all give off a positive feel that their scent branding adds strength to the brand through the public’s eye.
I chose Westin Hotels because I remembered that they use a scent called ‘White Tea’ at all of their locations, presumably to soothe and relax their guests. I remember the scent being quite refreshing from the last time I stayed at a Westin and checked the web to see what people thought about it. I was surprised when I found out that the scent has been so successful, that their guests wanted to bring the ‘Westin Experience’ home. So, Westin created the “Westin at Home” brand, which allows customers to subscribe to a yearly service, which allows consumers to feel the same luxurious relaxation that they felt while staying at the hotel. When I checked out Brandtag.net Westin’s keywords were: heavenly, clean, smells good, and white tea. These keywords show that the smell branding is having a positive impact for the brand and is something that the customers definitely enjoy.
The last company I wanted to check out was Abercrombie & Fitch, which also uses a distinct propriety scent in their locations. A&F branded perfume and cologne fills the air of each retail location to emulate the feeling of promiscuity and beauty that their brand is built around. The brandtag.net keywords include: too much cologne, overdose in perfume in the shops, smells nice, and cologne. In this case it seems to have both a negative and a positive effect on the customers. Some think that the scent is too overwhelming while others enjoy it. This is a prime example of scent branding deterring potential customers by taking away from the brand’s other strengths.
Scent branding can be a powerful tool used to build brand value, as was demonstrated in the cases of Subway and Westin, but there is also a huge risk in using it. Companies must take care to find the correct scent to reflect their brands’ strengths without overpowering the consumers’ senses and negatively impacting brand value. In the case of Abercrombie & Fitch, when a smell becomes overwhelming, it can make you not want to come back.
If confronted with the prospect of smell branding, ask yourself: could this brand experience be elevated by a scent, or will the smell drive people away to other stores where the brand experiences are less dependent on scent? Personally, I find that subtle smells are more soothing and enjoyable than overpowering ones. I’d much rather go to a sandwich shop where I can smell fresh basil and prosciutto than be overwhelmed by the faux smell of “fresh bread” in a Subway. The same goes with Abercrombie & Fitch - they make nice clothing but I avoid going to their stores because I’m too sensitive to the cologne that they spray. Even entering the store gives me a major headache and makes me feel sick. My advice to the brands out there is the same advice I got from a fortune cookie: everything in moderation, even moderation.
In May 2011, JWT made an extreme data visualization move with the launch of BrandToys, an online platform that generates “playful visualizations of the personality and online buzz of brands” in the form of cartoonish toys. The toys’ silhouettes and features vary in relation to social media data from SocialMention and info from the Millward Brown’s BrandZ survey. Users can do side-by-side comparisons, share findings, and get the toys rendered in 3D printing by Sculpteo.
I was thinking about brand and Brandtoys when I entered MUJAM (Museo del Juguete Antigui de México), the Museum of Antique Toys in Mexico City, which I visited recently on a friends’ recommendation. Since 1955, Roberto Shimizu, the museum’s Japanese, DF-born curator, has been “keeping, not collecting,” thousands of toys from the stationery and toy store his family ran for decades around the corner.
MUJAM is in the business of preserving cheap, plastic, “uncollectible” toys, specifically those that are Mexican-made (these days almost all Mexican toys are made in China). To Shimizu, the museum’s location in Colonia Doctores, a working-class neighborhood full of funeral parlors and chop shops, is crucial – the museum is a repository for disposables in a disposable part of the city. On the top floor, there’s the entire line of Mexican Barbie and her boyfriend Riccardo (Ken sounded “too foreign”); downstairs, the Mexican manufactures and wild display cases that include a gutted electric reactor and Twin Towers replica. “Mexican toys are naive,” Shimizu explains. “Now we call them outsider art, or Art Brut.” Freed from the constraints of American choking-hazard regulations, the tiny parts and precise detailing on the Mexican toys are awesome.
The main floor holds the international goods. “German toys are perfect replicas. German toys are designed – no, devised. Look at this, a perfect stove, a toy for parents. But this funny talking monkey? Japanese toys, they have a dream.” The museum is a special foreign prism for global/American brand culture, a chance to see the ways little kids in Mexico handled Coca Cola, Ronald McDonald, the Hulk, and UFOs among German model cars and Luchadores.
Haven’t toys always been a kind of data visualization? Ever since Disney stuffed Mickey and Hess sold its first toy truck, toys have operated at the nexus of consumer marketing and daily play. But MUJAM shows how these brand currents cross international lines, getting reshuffled and remixed in the process. For example, the museum is packed with Batman, but not always in his intended configuration: in the gift shop I bought a set of 12 tiny, evil plastic superheroes from the 80s, arms held out at the sides like Vegas showgirls, with plastic capes and pasted-on Batman heads.
Noticing my admiration for a particular Star Wars alien, Shimizu explains that it’s the Mexican rip-off of the American original. He tells me, gravely, that it’s “rarer than the collectible version,” since all the others in the Mexican series have been lost or thrown away.
Though perhaps not as rigorous (or objective) as the JWT variety, playthings are brand at its most crucially lighthearted. We better look out for the data in our trash!
Support senior team in making our talent, strategy and culture come to life
•People - Find great talent, help onboard them, support resource managers in creating individual training programs, oversee our real time review process and nurture other ongoing development needs
•Culture – Ensure that client and employee experience is on brand and that the Wolff Olins culture is brought to life through front of house, our space and facilities, catering, flowers, marketing and employee events
•Policies – Keep us up to date with Omnicom and other relevant HR policies, ensure that we are both on brand and legally compliant with compensation, contracts and records, benefits, health and safety
Our People and Culture manager will need to build very strong relationships with the NY senior team. It will also be crucial for them to gain the trust and respect of all employees. They will need to be great networkers – knowing what talent is out there, partnering with recruiters, optimizing the Omnicom network and tapping into London and Dubai offices.
A thorough understanding of our business and culture will be essential for success, they will need to be one step ahead of the senior team in anticipating their recruitment needs, the training and develop needs of their team and the individual needs of our 50+ employees.
They will also need a strong foundation in US employment regulations, be super buttoned up and able to advise our senior team about how to best to maintain the delicate balance between legal recommendations and keeping our policies on brand.
The current role stretches from the big picture to the in the weeds details, and from people to place, and will therefore require a range of skills including managing a small reception team and working in partnership with IT, finance and the senior team.
We would hope that the People and Culture Manager’s role and team would grow with us. The People and Culture Manager will report to the MD and be a part of the senior team.
What kind of person?
The People and Culture Manager will:
•Be great at building relationships and trust with all levels of employees
•Will have strong point of view and the convictions, but also be a good listener with the instincts and judgement to know when to challenge and when to let something go
•Be a great communicator precise and clear at all times
•Be extremely detail-oriented and organized, and have the charm and tact to ensure employees deliver on their commitments
•Seek to turn problems into opportunities at all times – attacking every challenge with optimism, positive energy and enthusiasm
•Will have somewhat of a start-up mentality, they will be able to wear a few hats, juggle a lot of plates and be willing to pitch in and help others
•Will care about what things look, feel and taste like, they will have an aesthetic and creative sensibility in keeping with the Wolff Olins brand
•Will be resourceful and able to manage a budget and get things done
The opportunity:
•Freedom and flexibility to shape and grow the role around you
•Plenty of autonomy to make decisions and get things done
•Surrounded by lots of interesting, curious minded and creative people
•Access to resources and advice within the WO and Omnicom network
•Chance to help create and instil best practices in NY and other offices
•Potential to help set up additional offices and offer based teams as we grow in the future
Ideal qualifications:
•Minimum of 5 years experience administrating human resources benefits and policies in the US
•Bachelor’s Degree
•Active affiliation with HR networks and organizations preferred
Interested?
Please send your cover letter and resume to peoplenewyork@wolffolins.com subject line: People and Culture Manager.
Wolff Olins is a branding firm, part of the Omnicom network, with offices in New York, London and Dubai. For over 45 years, we have provided solutions for the ever-changing role of brand to drive growth for clients such as Product (RED), Aol, NYC, GE, Unilever, The New Museum, Mercedes-Benz, London 2012, Skype and Living Proof.
This role will be at the forefront of generating discussions and keeping top-of-mind with key new business leads.
The candidate will work alongside the Head of New Business and from a variety of sources (outreach, networking, Omnicom, conferences, press, PR partner, search consultants…) to achieve the following goals:
A/ Create a short, medium and long-term pipeline of potential clients with the right profile
B/ Build the right perception of our offer in the minds of our targets.
Specifically, he/she will be expected to:
- Work with Head of New Business to set the overall business development strategy and initiate the pursuit of selected companies
- Survey the market and identify opportunities across all practice areas (brand strategy, expression, innovation)
- Carry out outreach programs, generate meetings/conference calls and follow up accordingly
- Develop regular ‘keep in touch’ campaigns to establish ongoing dialogue
- Scan press to catch potential opportunities early on
- Contribute to the coordination of new business pitches & proposals
- Help senior team to network their contacts and make the most of their ‘rolodex’
- Attend conferences and trigger initial discussions with identified decision makers
- Manage the new business database
- Help maintain WO social media platforms
- Work with Production and PR teams to create the right marketing tools/collateral
CANDIDATE PROFILE
An entrepreneurial spirit above all. A ‘hands on’ individual with a high degree of initiative and dynamism.
Aptitude:
- Experience working in branding required
- Sensitivity to creativity and approaching brands strategically
- An ability to understand clients’ biggest marketing issues
- The right communication skills necessary to convey the WO vision
Attitude:
- Reliable and organized
- Resourceful and creative in finding the loopholes and triggering a dialogue with identified targets
- Persistent, with an appropriate sense of urgency and a high threshold for the mentally demanding task of lead generation. Not phased by rejection.
- Relationship developer
- Team-spirited, sociable, enthusiastic
- Likes to run on adrenaline and work with short deadlines
COMPENSATION
TBD
Package to include base, bonus and benefits
If you are interested please send your resume and cover letter to peoplenewyork@wolffolins.com (Subject Line: Business Development Manager)
