According to Retail Week, sales of Sainsbury’s Basics own-label value range are 50% higher than a year ago. This is on top of a 30% growth for the previous year. Sainsbury’s Basics was named and designed by Williams Murray Hamm and features simple graphics with a witty product doodle and strapline.
Richard Murray, founder of WMH, puts the success of the Basics range down to the way the packs ‘highlight the product compromise in a witty way and let the consumers fill in the gaps’.
‘Given that price has become such a key driver, there are limits to what anyone can expect packaging to do. Brand-owners can’t rely on a familiar logo to sell products; they need to demonstrate why a product is different, better or more appropriate’ he adds.
It is also worth noting that there is a Facebook group ‘It’s all about the Sainsbury’s Basics’ which boasts more than 1000 members, all praising the range, with some creating WMH inspired slogans, such as ‘Mushy peas – more mushy, still lovely’.
The success of Sainsbury’s Basics is further proof of the business value of ideas driven design.
Williams Murray Hamm also created the name and packaging for Sainsbury’s SO organic range which restored Sainsbury’s to the No1 own label organic brand.
About Williams Murray Hamm
Established in 1997, Williams Murray Hamm set out to offer clients an alternative to the intrusive logos and graphic formulas that had become commonplace in the world of 80s and 90s brand design. It seemed to us that robust ideas were of much greater value to clients than decoration and derivation.
With the help of some fearless clients, WMH has gained an international reputation for creative and commercial success. We have won major awards at D&AD, Design Week, Clio and New York Festivals and been named No 1 for Branding in 2004/05/06/07/08 (Design Week) and No.1 for Design Effectiveness 2003/04/06 by the DBA for work with clients like Clipper Teas, Cobra and Sainsbury’s.
This has led to Garrick Hamm being appointed D&AD President for 2008/9 and WMH featuring in The Guardian’s ‘Top 50 Hottest Names in Design’.
Visit www.creatingdifference.com to view more of Williams Murray Hamm’s product packaging design work.