Lambie-Nairn

Lambie-Nairn was a British branding and design consultancy founded in 1976 by Colin Robinson and Martin Lambie-Nairn. The firm became particularly associated with corporate identity, television branding, broadcast graphics, and the creation of coherent visual systems for organizations operating across multiple media. Its work occupied the space between traditional graphic design, strategic brand consultancy, and the practical design of on-screen identities. The company emerged during a period when organizations were increasingly treating identity as a coordinated system rather than a single logo. Lambie-Nairn developed a reputation for connecting naming, typography, motion, color, information design, and broadcast presentation. This made the firm relevant to broadcasters and media organizations as well as to commercial and public-sector clients. Its broadcast heritage was especially significant because television presentation required identity systems that could function in motion, across schedules and channels, and within changing technical formats. In 1992, Lambie-Nairn entered a strategic relationship with Brand Union, then known as Enterprise IG, creating a broader cross-platform arrangement intended to combine branding and identity expertise with broadcast and media design. The relationship reflected the increasing overlap between corporate branding, television presentation, and international communications. In 1999, Enterprise IG became the holding company for Lambie-Nairn & Company, bringing the consultancy into a larger WPP-connected international network. The business subsequently operated within a group that expanded through acquisitions and maintained offices across a number of regional markets. Martin Lambie-Nairn left the company in 2008. The Lambie-Nairn name nevertheless continued as part of the wider Brand Union network. In January 2018, Lambie-Nairn, Brand Union, The Partners, Addison, and VBAT were combined to form Superunion, a global brand and design consultancy owned by WPP. This merger ended Lambie-Nairn's existence as a separately structured agency while preserving elements of its expertise and client heritage within the new organization. In 2023, Superunion merged with Design Bridge to create Design Bridge and Partners. As a result, Lambie-Nairn is best understood today as a legacy agency brand and body of work within a succession of larger WPP design organizations, rather than as an independently operating consultancy. Its historical importance lies in helping establish broadcast identity and motion-led branding as specialized disciplines within the modern brand-consulting industry.

Lambie-Nairn was established in 1976 by graphic designers Martin Lambie-Nairn and Colin Robinson. The firm developed during a period when companies, broadcasters, and public institutions were beginning to view design as an integrated management and communications function. Rather than treating identity as a standalone mark, the consultancy worked across typography, layout, color, motion, signage, and presentation, helping clients create systems that could remain recognizable across different channels. Its most distinctive area was broadcast design. Television identities require more than a printed logo: they must work in animation, station presentation, program junctions, promotional material, and changing technical environments. Lambie-Nairn became associated with this form of motion-based identity and helped establish broadcast branding as a professional specialization. Its practice connected graphic design with the temporal and technical requirements of television, while also applying lessons from broadcast to broader corporate branding. In 1992, Lambie-Nairn partnered with Brand Union, then operating under the Enterprise IG name, to create a relationship capable of combining brand and identity work with the agency's broadcast heritage. The arrangement reflected the industry's shift toward international, multi-platform brand programs. Enterprise IG later became the holding company for Lambie-Nairn & Company in 1999. Through that relationship, the Lambie-Nairn business became part of a larger WPP-associated network that expanded through acquisitions and established a presence in numerous markets. The wider network incorporated design businesses in Australia, Singapore, Sweden, Germany, South Africa, the Netherlands, France, and Ireland, among other locations. This gave the Lambie-Nairn name access to an international operating structure while retaining its association with identity and broadcast design. In 2007, Enterprise IG formally adopted the Brand Union name. Martin Lambie-Nairn left the company in 2008, although the brand continued within the broader organization. A major restructuring occurred in January 2018, when Brand Union, Lambie-Nairn, The Partners, Addison, and VBAT were brought together to form Superunion. The consolidation was intended to create a larger global brand and design consultancy with capabilities spanning strategy, identity, digital work, packaging, experience, and motion. Lambie-Nairn therefore ceased to function as an independent agency, with its people, expertise, and historical work becoming part of Superunion's collective platform. In 2023, Superunion merged with Design Bridge. The combined organization was named Design Bridge and Partners. This transaction marked the latest stage in the corporate succession of the Lambie-Nairn business. The Lambie-Nairn name is now primarily historical and represents a legacy of British identity and broadcast design within the WPP design-services group.

• 2023

  Superunion joins Design Bridge

  [1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  Superunion merges with Design Bridge to form Design Bridge and Partners, the organizational successor to Lambie-Nairn.

• 2018

  Lambie-Nairn is merged into Superunion

  [1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  Lambie-Nairn, Brand Union, The Partners, Addison, and VBAT combine to create Superunion, a WPP-owned global consultancy.

• 2008

  Martin Lambie-Nairn leaves the company

  [1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  Co-founder Martin Lambie-Nairn departs from the consultancy he helped establish.

• 2007

  Enterprise IG adopts the Brand Union name

  [1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  The wider international identity network formally becomes known as Brand Union.

• 1999

  Enterprise IG becomes holding company

  [1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  Enterprise IG takes on the holding-company role for Lambie-Nairn & Company, placing the business within a larger WPP-connected network.

• 1992

  Partnership with Brand Union

  [1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  Lambie-Nairn and Brand Union establish a cross-platform relationship linking broader identity work with broadcast and media design.

• 1976

  Lambie-Nairn is founded

  [1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  Martin Lambie-Nairn and Colin Robinson establish the branding and design consultancy that becomes known as Lambie-Nairn & Company.

A specialist branding and design consultancy known for integrating corporate identity, broadcast presentation, motion graphics, and cross-platform visual systems.

• Brand consulting

  Corporate identity systems

  Lambie-Nairn developed identity programs that coordinated logos, typography, color, layouts, signage, motion behavior, and usage rules. The emphasis was on creating repeatable systems rather than isolated graphic marks, allowing organizations to present a consistent identity across print, broadcast, digital, and physical environments.

• Broadcast design

  Broadcast identity

  Broadcast identity was the consultancy's defining specialist area. Work in this category addressed channel presentation, animated idents, on-screen graphics, transitions, promotional elements, and other parts of television presentation. The discipline translated brand strategy into visual behavior over time and across technical broadcast formats.

• Motion and identity design

  Motion-led branding

  The consultancy treated movement as part of the identity system, not merely as an embellishment. Motion-led branding could define how a mark appeared, changed, transitions operated, and information was organized in video or broadcast contexts. This approach helped connect traditional identity design with emerging screen-based communications.

• Brand consultancy

  Brand strategy and implementation

  Beyond visual execution, Lambie-Nairn participated in broader brand and identity assignments. Such work typically connected organizational positioning with naming, visual expression, communication standards, and implementation guidance for internal teams and external partners.

• 2023

  Merge Superunion with Design BridgeM&A

  Background

  WPP continued to reorganize its specialist design and brand-consulting businesses.

  Action taken

  Superunion merged with Design Bridge to create Design Bridge and Partners.

  Aftermath

  The Lambie-Nairn legacy became part of Design Bridge and Partners.

  Source

• 2018

  Consolidate into SuperunionM&A

  Background

  WPP sought to assemble a larger global brand and design consultancy from several of its specialist agencies.

  Action taken

  Lambie-Nairn, Brand Union, The Partners, Addison, and VBAT were merged into Superunion.

  Aftermath

  Lambie-Nairn ceased independent operation as a standalone agency brand and became part of Superunion.

  Source

• 1999

  Join Enterprise IG's holding structureM&A

  Background

  Lambie-Nairn was operating within an industry increasingly shaped by international networks and agency consolidation.

  Action taken

  Enterprise IG became the holding company for Lambie-Nairn & Company.

  Aftermath

  The consultancy gained a place within a broader WPP-connected international design network.

  Source

• 1992

  Form a cross-platform relationship with Brand UnionStrategy

  Background

  Brand and broadcast design were increasingly converging as organizations communicated through television and other screen-based media.

  Action taken

  Lambie-Nairn partnered with Brand Union to combine broader identity capabilities with its broadcast-design heritage.

  Aftermath

  The relationship anticipated the later integration of the consultancy into Enterprise IG and then Brand Union.

  Source

• 2023

  Superunion and Design Bridge merge to form Design Bridge and Partners[1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Superunion and Design Bridge completed a merger that created Design Bridge and Partners, absorbing the organizational successor to Lambie-Nairn.

• 2018

  Lambie-Nairn becomes part of Superunion[1]Superunionen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Lambie-Nairn was merged with Brand Union, The Partners, Addison, and VBAT to form Superunion, a new WPP-owned global brand and design consultancy.

1. 1Superunionen.wikipedia.org