Lambie-Nairn & Company Ltd. is a global branding and design agency, based in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and part of the
WPP GroupWPP Group plc , based in London, United Kingdom, is the world's second largest communications services group in terms of revenue employing 100,000 people working in more than 2,000 offices in 106 countries...
.
Lambie-Nairn is probably best known for its work in the broadcast area - creating the first broadcast brand for Channel 4 in the 1980s - and also for its innovative work in delivering screen-based
brandingLivestock branding is any technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to a hot brand for large stock, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding...
solutionIn chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. Gases may dissolve in liquids, for example, carbon dioxide or oxygen in water. Liquids may dissolve in other liquids. Gases can...
s to international organisations such as O2, the BBC and more recently the Abu Dhabi Media Company.
The company describes itself as a strategic branding agency.
Lambie-Nairn & Company Ltd. is a global branding and design agency, based in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and part of the
WPP GroupWPP Group plc , based in London, United Kingdom, is the world's second largest communications services group in terms of revenue employing 100,000 people working in more than 2,000 offices in 106 countries...
.
Lambie-Nairn is probably best known for its work in the broadcast area - creating the first broadcast brand for Channel 4 in the 1980s - and also for its innovative work in delivering screen-based
brandingLivestock branding is any technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to a hot brand for large stock, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding...
solutionIn chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. Gases may dissolve in liquids, for example, carbon dioxide or oxygen in water. Liquids may dissolve in other liquids. Gases can...
s to international organisations such as O2, the BBC and more recently the Abu Dhabi Media Company.
The company describes itself as a strategic branding agency. Their work spans strategic positioning, translation of insights and ideas into brand identity, key audience engagement (e.g. employees, to deliver the brand through their actions and behaviours), and overseeing the continued evolution of the brand (whether positioning, identity or communications).
Channel 4
Lambie-Nairn designed the famous block '4' introduced with the channel's launch in 1982, which remains in use today, though in different styles. The "4" logo was adapted from the numeral 4 in the
Clarendon BoldClarendon is an English slab-serif typeface that was created in England by Robert Besley for the Fann Street Foundry in 1845. Due to its popularity, Besley registered the typeface under Britain's Ornamental Designs Act of 1842. The patent expired three years later, and other foundries were quick to...
typeface and appeared as nine blocks which arranged themselves on screen to make up the figure, symbolising C4's role as a publisher-broadcaster in bringing together disparate strands to form a coherent brand.
The BBC
The agency has had a longstanding relationship with the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
, designing much of the corporation's output across its domestic and international television channels. The 1997 relaunch of the corporation's logo was designed by Lambie-Nairn utilising the
Gill SansGill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill.The original design appeared in 1926 when Douglas Cleverdon opened his own bookshop in his home town of Bristol, where Eric Gill painted the fascia over the window in sans-serif capitals that would be later be known as Gill Sans...
font, which has remained across most channels.
BBC NewsBBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
was also completely branded by the agency from 1997 until 2003, when the design of idents and graphics moved to an in-house development team.
The company rebranded all BBC News television bulletins and regional news programmes in 2008 as part of a major revamp and reorganisation at the organisation.
O2
The entire
O2Telefónica Europe plc is a European telecommunications company providing both fixed and mobile communication products, usually under the styled brand O2...
brand was developed by Lambie-Nairn as a new identity for
BT Cellnet, a mobile phone communication company. The agency took the view that the services the company would provide were essentially similar to how oxygen is essential for life and so the brand name, the chemical symbol for oxygen, was created. Lambie-Nairn continues to work with O2 as their only branding agency, working with O2's 100+ communications agencies ensuring the brand values and beliefs are expressed through all possible channels.
Al Hurra
Following a competitive pitch, Lambie Nairn were tasked to create a visual identity for a brand new news channel aimed at the Middle East. The Arabian horse is the main symbol for Al Hurra representing "the free one." Chairman of the
Westwood OneWestwood One is an American radio network. It is based in New York City, and it was previously managed by CBS Radio, the radio arm of CBS Corporation. The company is now owned by the private-equity firm The Gores Group and describes itself as "platform agnostic" but still focuses mostly on radio as...
network of which Al Hurra is a part,
Norman J. PattizNorm Pattiz is chairman and founder of radio industry giant Westwood One. He is also a member of the University of California Board of Regents and used to sit on the board of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He is a prominent Democratic donor, and lives with wife Mary Turner in Los Angeles...
described the visual look as "magnificent."
British Satellite Broadcasting
In the late 1980s, Lambie Nairn were given the task of branding BSB's 5 satellite channels ready for the big launch in March 1990, Galaxy, The Sports Channel, Now, The Power Station and The Movie Channel, including the generic BSB ident.