Overnight in Europe, the German group of companies rebranded itself, with a very erh. . . distinctive typeface, and logo scheme. No one will mistake this for the stoic US company brand, that much seems sure. But do tell -- are you a fan? Or does it look like a brand (and especially a typeface) more suited to. . . pre-school classrooms around the world? You decide -- but here is the Reuters bit [which, in paragraph two, seemingly gets it perfectly wrong(!)]:
. . . .Germany's Merck KGaA said it would scrap its divisional brands Merck Serono and Merck Millipore and do business simply as Merck outside North America. . . . Merck KGaA relaunched its visual identity. The fundamental revision of the visual appearance as well as the introduction of new logos for its US businesses EMD Serono, EMD Millipore and EMD Performance Materials reflect the transformation into a global science and technology company.
In the United States and Canada, where its U.S. namesake Merck & Co Inc holds the rights to the Merck name [Editor's Note: the two are completely unaffiliated!], the German company will continue to operate as EMD Serono in the biopharmaceutical business, as EMD Performance Materials in the high-tech materials business, as well as EMD Millipore in the life science business.
Merck KGaA and Merck & Co Inc share historic roots but are under separate ownership since World War One. . . .
Given paragraph two above, perhaps these two are destined to be forever. . . mistaken for one another. Ugh. Oh well. Is it on fleek? Do you like it? Or is it, overall, a complete "do over"?
1 comment:
I think that the two companies will be endlessly linked (and continue to cause endless confusion) as the value of the "Merck" name is too great for either company to voluntarily give up.
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