Lamb Weston, a ConAgra Foods business with more than 60 years on the job as one of the leading suppliers of value-added frozen potato products to restaurants and retail stores around the world, is sporting more than a new visual brand identity these days.
A year or so ago its signature marque was updated with the significant addition of ellipses symbolizing potatoes and the infinite possibilities they represent for consumers. More recently at its Richland, Washington production facility, where over $200 million is being invested to build a new french fry processing line to significantly boost output, the company unveiled a state of the art innovation center with co-creation spaces, fully functioning kitchens, a pilot line, interactive areas and a resource for employees.
Having already started the building phase for the project, Lamb Weston approached long time collaborating agency Williams Murray Hamm (WMH) in March of 2016 to create the overall theme and interiors. The Center opened to employees on June 24 and to Lamb Weston customers soon thereafter.
WMH is the London-headquartered creative talent house that had previously helped Lamb Weston relaunch its global positioning and identity along the theme of “the most inventive potato company in the world.” The Innovation Center would express this purpose and help find new, more inventive ways of collaboration between customers and the company’s staff.
Intended as a flagship Lamb Weston US building, the Innovation Center needed to be a place that captured one’s imagination and be worthy of the claim: “If you dream it, you can make it here.”
Using the playful design it had created for the brand identity, WMH produced a fully sensory experience for the many spaces in the Center. Bright and light, visitors encounter witty and striking wall graphics at every turn. Interactive areas have been created to bring to life the history of the business, its vision and values and to relate employee stories. Breakout rooms inspire new and innovative ways of working together.
Garrick Hamm, creative director of Williams Murray Hamm, said: “We love working with Lamb Weston. Once again, WMH has been there to help them bring their Innovation Center to life. Their strength of purpose, reflected in the Innovation Center design, really encourages their employees and customers to be as inventive and imaginative as they like – the possibilities are endless.”
Dr. Deborah L. Dihel, senior director of research and innovation at Lamb Weston, commented: “Our new Innovation Center is absolutely incredible. The design elements set the stage as soon as our visitors see us from the street, and their experiences are enhanced further as they enter and work in the space. WMH’s design communicates our history of successful innovation, yet at the same time, inspires all who enter to be futuristic, be inventive and make their potato dreams a reality. “
About Williams Murray Hamm
WMH has won numerous awards for both creativity and commercial effectiveness. Awards received in the United States include Type Directors, New York Festivals and Clios, while European awards include two coveted D&AD Yellow Pencils and a Cannes Lion as well as DBA Design Effectiveness Grand Prix and a Marketing Magazine Design award.
The company has a long history in brand design, culminating in the recent global relaunch of Castrol motor oil. It has also created retail identities for London’s iconic Fortnum & Mason store and Jamie Oliver’s ‘Recipease’ in Notting Hill Gate.
