Michael Wolff

A is for Advice

A

‘Live while you're alive.’

I’m a designer and creative
advisor,
with fifty years of
experience, an open mind
and a network of talent.

B is for Brand

B

Brands live and die in the
minds
of your customers.
I can help you
make them
vital and resilient.

C is for Curiosity

C

‘Do you think it’s an accident of history that Freemasons live in houses and we live in trees?”

Curiosity and imagination
are the
values at the heart
of my business.

D is for Design

D

I work with other designers
and with writers and architects.
Together we can express
and
epitomise your brand.

E is for Each

E

The mass market is a myth.
Brands reach each of us
before they reach all of us.

F is for Failure

F

If you’re just in it for the money
you’ll probably fail.

G is for Growth

G

‘I want it all’

My purpose is to help my
clients expand their horizons,
grow their businesses and
enrich their customers lives.

H is for Home

H

‘There will be 19 extra to lunch today.’

My office is in my home.
I take time to make my clients
feel welcome.

I is for Innovation

I

“Some men see things
as
they are and ask why.
Others dream things that
never were and ask
why not.”
George Bernard Shaw

If your future is constrained
by the present,
I can help
you
to realise new dreams.

J is for Judgement

J

‘The next case…comfort versus economy.’

Goodbye to letting the data
decide.
And a warm welcome
back to reflection, intuition
and judgement.

K is for Knots

K

‘As you go through life, Billy, remember – a moving target is hard to hit.’

Errant customers, moving
targets,
corporations in
constant change.

It’s little wonder that things
sometimes get into a tangle.
I can unravel knotty problems.

L is for Listen

L

‘Are you listening to me?’

Listen is an anagram of silent.

M is for Madness

M

The word ‘mad’ comes
from
an Indo-European
root meaning
‘change’.

Which is the most effective
agent
of change – method
or madness?

N is for Name

N

If you want a new name,
I can get to the heart of your
business and create a name
that’s distinctively yours.

A name that rings true.

O is for Oooooh!

O

‘I hope I never lose my sense of wonder.’

Much is tawdry and tired
in today’s
world. Everyone
hungers for the
experience
of delight.

I’m always trying to bring more
of it into the world of business.

P is for Promise

P

Your brand is a promise.
If you can’t keep it,
don’t make it.

I can help build authentic
and valuable brands.

Q is for Question

Q

‘Why do you think you cross the road?’

Great leaps forward come
from asking the right ‘big’
questions.

That’s why I always start
thinking with not knowing
any answers.

R is for Round

R

‘The meeting will come to order.’

I work together with my clients.
Good ideas come from anyone.

S is for Syntax

S

Take your company or brand name.
Can you turn it into a verb and into
an adjective?

Are you ‘ing’ in everything you say?
Is there
an ‘ish’ quality in everything
you do?

It’s a useful way of checking the
coherence
of your company’s
self-expression.

T is for Truth

T

Customers meet your
company
through myriad
touch points,
and
judge it
in a few moments of truth.

“You can’t talk yourself
out of
something you’ve
behaved
yourself into.”
Stephen Covey

U is for Uncover

U

‘You are generous, kind-hearted and wise, but you are perceived as stingy, cruel and thick.’

Developing a brand is
more
about revelation
than positioning.

Strategy based on truth
will get better results.

V is for Vision

V

‘We’re looking toward the Pacific Rim, Greenfield. What the hell are you doing?’

I see vision as a complete and
vivid
snapshot of an imagined
future.
It can be inspiring and
motivating.

I can help you restore your vision.

“Where there is no vision
the people perish.”
King Solomon 1000 BC.

W is for Whole

W

‘Basic economics – sometimes the parts
are worth more than the whole.’

Most people know the whole
is greater than the sum of the
parts.
But in reality the whole
can only be
expressed through
the parts,
each part representing
the whole.

I can help you ensure that the whole
is always experienced.

X is for Xenophile

X

‘Edgar, why do you insist on living in a fantasy world?’

Someone who celebrates
people
and ideas from
wherever they
come, rather
than seeing things
entirely
from their own
perspective.

Welcome to the world.

Y is for You

Y

I work for you.

You aren’t your company,
you represent it.
You aren’t
your brand, you exemplify it.

I don’t advise companies,
I advise you.
Together we
can make things happen.

Z is for Zero

Z

If we choose to work
together,
I’ll start with no
preconceptions.