Saffron helps transform brands and businesses with the clarity of rigorous thinking and the courage of bold ideas. We started Saffron in 2001 with a simple but compelling vision: to build a brand consultancy as strong in its strategic thinking as it was in its creativity. We believe that great brands that capture people’s imagination and make a difference to their lives are built on a powerful mix of IQ + EQ. The IQ part is the rational, evidence-based analysis – the fundamentals without which the brand simply couldn’t function. The EQ part is the emotional and more intuitive, judgment-based understanding – the insights that can propel a brand from simply being in the race to winning it. We see it ...

We hosted the infamous Bruno Maag – from Dalton Maag – as a lunchtime guest at Saffron. The self-named Helvetica Killer, Bruno is a passionate speaker who encouraged us to throw on our lurid, silky, typo-nerd anoraks, pulled out from the closet, for a joust in the boxing ring with bloody words set in bloody type.  We heard inspiring stories, from Bruno’s early days as an apprentice typesetter to his recent work in China where he crafted over 27,500 type characters for a major global brand. www.daltonmaag.com

We are excited to share that our work for the Turkish Exports’ Association (TIM) got a mention in the Haberturk, a Turkish leading daily, last Saturday. TIM recently appointed Saffron to help define what ‘Made in Turkey’ stands for and to create a strategy to promote Turkish products and international trade.  We worked with the Ministry of Economy and over 70 of Turkey’s most prominent business leaders, including the CEOs of Turkish Airlines, Do & Co, Ulker, Arcelik and many others, to co-create a proposition for the country brand. TIM Chairman, Mehmet Büyükeksi said ‘This is the first opportunity to create Brand Turkey from scratch, reinforce Turkey’s perception internationally and build a positive image worldwide’.

Brandemia has named Saffron The Best brand agency in Spain and Latin America in 2012. The awards, led by Brandemia and the Spanish Association of Branding Agencies (Aebrand), recognises the best work of professionals and agencies in the Spanish-speaking world. Our recent work for MTel, Coinc, Evo and Volotea got a special mention. Full report on www.brandemia.org

Our Senior Strategist Sahil Sachdev was on BBC World News recently, discussing the impact of some negative news stories coming out of Brazil on the nation’s brand. With the World Cup 2014 and Rio 2016 just around the corner, and with international attention focused on Brazil more than at any time in its history, how can the country manage its reputation when long standing issues such as police violence continue to make the headlines?

Jacob Benbunan, Saffron’s CEO, recently spoke at ESADE Business School. The talk was part of a series of presentations by Agencias de España Executive Committee aimed to help SME businesses develop strong brands. Jacob discussed how brand can become a key commercial asset for small enterprises and shared his experience working with Saffron’s client Phibo, a leading SME with global reach.

Jacob Benbunan, Saffron’s CEO, was speaking at ESIC Business and Marketing School in Madrid on Friday,15th March. Jacob discussed how Spain nation’s brand is a key commercial asset for the country and, beyond that, for Spanish headquartered companies – big and small – that operate internationally. More information here.

Mondragon Corporation, Saffron client, has won this year’s Boldness in Business Award from the Financial Times. The company won the Drivers of Change category for being a ‘role model for contemporary capitalism’. Mondragon is one of Spain’s largest companies and operates a co-cooperative model of more than 250 companies across finance, retail and manufacturing. According to the FT, ‘ Co-operatives and conglomerates are often regarded as dinosaur concepts. But in Mondragon, the conglomerate structure seems to have added security and diversification, as intended, and the co-operative model has not obstructed the company from behaving boldly. There is a lesson for others in this’. Read the full article at here.