Amersham
2002
A common idea for a diverse group
In 1997 world-leading research-based pharmaceutical business Amersham International merged its Life Science division with Pharmacia Biotech to form Amersham Pharmacia Biotech. Three weeks later, Amersham International merged with Nycomed to form Nycomed Amersham plc and Nycomed Amersham Imaging. The new group of companies was now a world-leading business in life sciences and diagnostic imaging. Wolff Olins was to create a common idea for the group.
Bringing vision to medical discovery
Wolff Olins started by looking at what lay at the heart of its business. We decided that the word ‘vision’ was one key element of the group. In essence, Amersham was about visualizing life at all levels. Equally important, Amersham was about ‘vision’ in terms of predicting where medicine is heading. This eventually resulted in the phrase, ‘Bringing vision to medical discovery’ – which encompassed the whole group. This established a strong idea around which we could build the brand. At the same time, the decision was made to continue using the Amersham name to link the companies.
Creating a $9 billion business
The brand was launched on 16 October 2001 and in less than three years was bought by GE Healthcare for $9 billion. It is also the first GE business unit headquarters to be situated outside the United States.
