The One Percent Rule

In 2004 the highly respected brand marketing advisor, Wally Olins, was hired to create a brand for Poland. Branding a country is never easy, but after in an depth study of Poland and the Polish people, Olins and his team coined a phrase: “creative tension”. I wrote about this in 2008, a tad critically. But on reflection I came to believe that Olins was right. Here is how he described part of the reasoning:

“Polish people are passionate and idealistic and also practical and resourceful; the Polish character is ambitious and also down to earth.

These tensions create a restlessness unsatisfied with the status quo, and a boisterousness that is always stimulating and often astonishing. This creative tension is why Poland produces so many entrepreneurs, artists and sportspeople. It’s why Poland is constantly changing and evolving… And it’s why Poles have always tried to achieve the seemingly impossible – and often succeeded.”