The Truth About Williams Murray Hamm.
Our purpose is to use creativity to make brands
prosper. Established in early 1997,
Williams Murray Hamm offered clients an
alternative to the intrusive logos and graphic
formulae so commonplace in the ’80s and ’90s.
Our iconoclastic convictions remain as strong today as
they were then. We work with clients who want to create
remarkable brands and have delivered extraordinary
profits for them. This has led to numerous awards for
commercial effectiveness and international recognition
for our creative work.
There’s a ruthless simplicity to WMH’s work, because
we believe that everything must be based on one
single-minded brand truth.
Hi Richard / Picked up your name from the Creative Review blog…Thought I’d let
you know I’m still in the land of the living!! Pleased to see you are still guideing
Sainsburys along the right lines. What did you think of the Own Label book reviewed
in the Sep issue of CR ? It seems to have created a lot of interest so far although I
fail to see what all the fuss is about!!!…it came as a big surprise to me that anyone
would want to publish such a book. I’m getting a bit long in the tooth now [ 82 ] but
still get out for 9 holes of golf twice a week, weather permiting, Hope you are well
and the company continues to prosper…wih my best wishes…Peter.
Hi Peter,
I will forward your message to Richard.
We did indeed see the CR issue with Sainsbury’s and commented:
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Although the 1960′s designs still look great now, we agree that they might miss the point on the current supermarket shelf. Especially considering that there are now double as many products on offer as in 1965. When designing the Basics range, we were of course inspired by the simplicity Peter Dixon’s design and his coherent use of colour.
Coincidently our own Richard Williams started his career in the 60ies under Peter Dixon at the Sainsbury’s inhouse design team.
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I am sure Richard will be in touch with you soon.
Wybe @ Williams Murray Hamm
This message took my breath away.
Peter was head of the Sainsbury’s design studio when I left college. I was desperate to work there since I loved their work. Peter’s team invented modern own label design and did it with imagination and tremendous style.
I finally got to meet him and show him my folder. I was terrified and heard nothing for months and imagined that I’d blown it. I was in a dire job in Uxbridge and could see my career going swiftly down the pan. Remarkably, Peter hadn’t forgotten me and I was taken on as a senior packaging designer the moment a vacancy came up and loved every moment of working with him.
Instead of having to wade through endless meetings with buyers, defending your work and having it pulled apart, Peter was the most supportive person to work for and had created a brilliant system to get our work through the business. Buyers were banned from the studio and even chased out on occasion. Every Monday morning, Peter went to see Sir John Sainsbury and they went through all the work together. If Sir John didn’t like it, you did it again and if he did, it went to print. Bingo.
They both understood that packaging was a corporate vehicle. It wasn’t about copying the brand leader, it was another tool to describe what Sainsbury’s stood for.
Peter gave me my big break and I’m eternally grateful to him.