New direction from “Drug Discovery Pharmaceutical Company” to “Healthcare Provider

The SHIONOGI Group has been supporting Japanese healthcare for over 140 years. The SHIONOGI Group has made many achievements in the field of drug discovery, including the recent emergency approval of a therapeutic drug for the new coronavirus, and has always developed its business extensively in response to the changing times.

The SHIONOGI Group’s vision for 2030 is to “create the future of healthcare on a new platform. In order to evolve and grow as a healthcare provider that can provide comprehensive solutions to the problems of patients and society, rather than a drug-discovery pharmaceutical company, the SHIONOGI brand was restructured and the group brand mark was refined. BRAVIS provided total branding support.

An important point in corporate branding is to distinguish between the points that should be changed to achieve the vision and the unchanging DNA that should not be changed. Based on interviews, discussions, and past documents, Bravis decided that the basic policy “SHIONOGI will always provide the best medicine necessary to protect people’s health,” which has been cultivated over the company’s more than 140-year history, and the “minute body” mark that has been used as the group brand logo, should be maintained as DNA. The project was carried out in the belief that the “SHIONOGI brand logo” should be maintained as part of the Group’s DNA.

The SHIONOGI Group’s weight mark, based on the motif of a weight used to measure the amount of medicine in a balance, is a symbol of “accuracy,” “honesty,” and “trust” and is the very essence of our corporate spirit. However, as the mark has come to be used widely, including by group companies, there has been a gap between the definition and the actual situation. We therefore took this opportunity to examine to what extent it is appropriate for group companies to use the weight mark. This led to the realization of more effective group branding.

In terms of visuals, the spacing and shape of the weight mark, its outer rim, and the SHIONOGI logotype were adjusted to give the logo a sophisticated modern feel, and the logo was updated to ensure that it can continue to be used for many years to come. In addition, the outer rim has been renamed “Dynamic One Ring” to reflect the story of “the SHIONOGI Group and its stakeholders becoming one and expanding dynamically. The new design was used as a sub-graphic in a variety of applications, from daily items used by employees such as business cards, envelopes, and employee ID cards, to items seen by stakeholders such as websites and PR materials, and was sublimated into a design that all SHIONOGI employees can talk about and be proud of.

In addition, we are also involved in inner branding, including the creation of a brand book at BRAVIS for the purpose of spreading the brand throughout the company.