For the past 28 years, The Olinger Group has been a generalist firm, providing insights that have helped some of the largest and most prestigious brands in the world climb to the top of their categories. As CEO of TOG, I can’t tell you how proud I am of all we have accomplished, but that was then. Today, generalists are out and niche is in. The planet has tilted and it’s time to get off our axis – to nail down our passions and follow them.
At TOG, we make a living telling our clients that they need to evolve or die and it felt good to be taking our own advice. While change is always scary – especially when you’ve been so successful – not changing is even scarier. Even a shark dies if it doesn’t keep moving. This prehistoric predator has been kicking underwater ass for 450 billion years because they are fearless. We had to be, too.
So we turned our skills inward – researcher, study thyself – to determine how we could capitalize on our expertise, provide more value to our current clients, and attract new ones.
My prediction: The Olinger Group will be considered the leading resource for information on what people want, what they think, and how they behave when it comes to three spaces:
- Health & Wellness
- Luxury Brands
- Luxury Travel
Pack your Gucci bags, baby, we’re moving on.
How We Chose Our Specialties
Instead of trying to anticipate the market or follow the money, we looked internally – took a qualitative approach. We asked, what do we want to do? What are we the most passionate about? What brings us the most joy?
We tossed around a lot of ideas, but we always came back to Luxury Travel, Luxury Brands, and Health & Wellness.
My energy level goes through the roof just thinking about meeting fascinating people, visiting cool places, eating fabulous food, and receiving top-drawer service. Of course, the healthier my family and I are, the more we are able to enjoy these things. And frankly, my staff and I think these specialties are fun. We enjoy working on projects in these spaces.
Planting Our Flag
As it turned out, choosing our specialties and changing the business trajectory has been very liberating. We have clarity on what we are doing and the freedom to decline work that doesn’t fit our vision. That said, I am officially planting a flag in the ground. From this day forward, The Olinger Group will:
- Become the go-to experts in Health & Wellness, Luxury Brands, and Luxury Travel
- Benefit a lot of people and companies with the insights we uncover and share
- Have fun and enjoy life to the fullest
It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.
If you work in our specialty spaces, I invite you to join us on this ride. One thing we can promise: you won’t be going Greyhound.
