Honiton man given job he could relish.

A GRAPHIC designer from Honiton was given a job he could really relish - the task of designing a label for a new HP sauce.

Mat Stanbury, 24, who works for London-based Bulletproof Design, was given the saucy job after coming up with an idea for HP Guinness.

The new sauce is on sale now in Tesco and will be rolled out to other stores in time for St Patrick’s Day, on March 17, when shoppers will be invited to sample the product.

“I am looking forward to seeing it on the shelves,” said Mat, a former Honiton Community College student.

“That’s the buzz - seeing your work. My ambition was to get my work out there.”

Mat, who studied graphic design at Exeter and Somerset colleges, is the elder son of Richard and Suzanne Stanbury, of Dowell Street.

Mr Stanbury is a well-respected retained firefighter in Honiton.

When coming up with an idea for the label’s design, Mat had to remember that HP Guinness is a combination of two iconic brands.

HP Sauce is the number one ‘Original and Best’ brown sauce, with a 73.3 per cent share of the UK market, worth �37.4 million, and Guinness, is the world’s number one selling stout, with one million pints bought each day in the UK.

“I had a day to come up with an idea,” said Mat. “I drew a sketch which was chosen to go forward and I then spent a month developing it.”

Although he had previously worked on designs for Britvic, Tango and Cadbury, the label for HP Guinness Sauce is his first full project - from the initial design stage.

Jeanette Moore, a senior brand manager for Heinz, which owns HP Sauce, said: “HP Guinness will provide consumers with another reason to try HP Sauce.

“Our research has shown that not only will the new sauce appeal to male consumers in their twenties and thirties, it also researched well with existing HP consumers, particularly females who enjoy cooking from scratch.

“We are continuing to drive innovation and the launch of the new HP Guinness is proof of Heinz’s commitment to investing in the sauces category.”