Along with Wally Olins, an era in branding is gone — a golden era, when brands had guts, vision, authenticity and loyal fans. However, he left us with all his learning and the blueprint for the future. It’s not for nothing that his last book is titled “Brand New: The Shape of Brands to Come”.
He always seemed to know the future, and was happy to share it with everybody. But, unlike the prophets of old, he didn’t speak in riddles, but in plain English. So plain that some people told me after his first conference in Bucharest in 2003: “What’s the big fuss about Wally? All that he said, wealready knew.” Sweet innocence! — only two hours of Wally were enough to sweep away their previous confusion and ignorance, just like an injection with branding truth serum. His congenial approach encouraged even his most unconditional admirers to take his greatness for granted: “he will always be here, we can always ask Wally about it”. Sadly, not anymore. But we still have his books, over which he confessed going through twenty times, back and forth, before publishing: “the first draft was twice as thick, and finally it got thinner”. In the process he also avoided the occult, esoteric jargon so exhausted by the lesser gifted in the industry.
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