750mph: “The Best Leaders In This Industry Have Always Been Uncompromising on Craft”

2020 presented some unique challenges for those in the music, sound design and audio post production industry. Sound design relies on the highest quality kit and hardware, purpose-built studios and talented engineers. Whilst remote working was available in some form before lockdowns denied usual physical access to studio locations, businesses in audio post were forced to change rapidly. For Sam Ashwell and his team at 750mph - self-professed perfectionists in their craft - the focus was whatever the solution to continue to only let perfect work out of their virtual doors. 

“There was a brief moment in March 2020 when the future looked so uncertain for everyone - what industries would even survive the next few months?” reflects Sam. “We were lucky that we have some very loyal clients and as advertising continued after a brief production pause, we were kept busy over the course of the entire year.” 

Looking at the work output from 750mph in 2020, it is arguably some of the most highly-regarded creative projects of the year - Amazon’s heartstring-pulling Christmas spot, ‘The Show Must Go On’, IKEA and Mother’s trippy ‘Tortoise and the Hare’ spot, AMVBBDO & Libresse’s ‘Womb Stories’ and W+K and Taika Waititi’s epic Coca Cola Christmas ad ‘The Letter’ to name but a few. 

This year’s work put 750mph comfortably at the top of LBB’s League Table of Creativity globally for a second time in the Immortal Awards three-year history. They are the only company in the world to hold four Immortal Awards - another testament to their ambition to produce perfection. Sam dedicates this opportunity to work on boundary-pushing creative projects to his clients - also arguably some of the best creative shops and film directors working in the business. 

“For me and the team here and I think many of our clients, our purpose isn’t advertising, it's to create content that you can’t stop watching and listening to. We’re here for the craft and it just so happens that 80% of that craft is used on adverts,” explains Sam. “At 750mph we are driven by a passion for the craft of sound design and storytelling, we want to produce the absolute best work for our clients. And we work with clients who feel the same way as we do.”

In order to keep pushing the envelope, 750mph have partnered with LBB to start a new interview series - ‘Uncompromising on Craft’ - dedicated to hearing and learning from the sharpest creative minds in adland who transfix eyeballs and steal hearts and minds.

“We’re partnering with LBB because it has always offered a place to learn. It’s a valued industry resource,” comments Sam. “When I was a runner and working my way up in the industry, it was invaluable to hear from and learn about the best in the business, not just in sound design but in every creative field. I think for a lot of people in this industry, it has always been important to learn from others and we want to support that for this generation and the next. We want to hear more from the people making the work we wished we’d done, the ones that set the industry benchmark and inspire and inform creators across the board.” 

Commenting on the new series, Matt Cooper CEO at LBB says: “We built LBB as one place to celebrate the best creative minds and work across the world. Much like Sam and the team at 750mph, we have always valued hearing and learning from the people that push the boundaries of creativity. And it's one of the reasons we have the huge global audience we have today. 750mph have always been one of those boundary-pushing companies and that’s reflected in the results of our Immortal Awards and League Table of Creativity. It makes perfect sense to us to be working with them on this topic.”