Pharmaceuticals

Allergan

Creating a bold new brand for the maker of Botox

Allergan case study

Allergan, after a series of mergers, acquisitions and spin-offs, needed a brand platform to support the growth-oriented pharmaceutical company. Soon after merging with Activis and spinning off its generics to Teva, the company was charting an aggressive path for growth. CEO Brent Saunders was pursuing a vision of a “bold culture” that meant more than an aggressive M&A program. He wanted to shape a fresh identity for various pharma audiences, expressed in visual and verbal form. The brand had to convey the strategic direction in a compelling way and also align employees around a clear and genuine internal culture. The company also needed an approach to that to drive continued organic growth and to accommodate future acquisitions.

Allergan needed a new corporate brand to unite its disparate cultures, reinforce its commitment to quality, and strengthen its positioning with investors. Our “Bold for Life” positioning idea helped their leadership team achieve all three objectives.

We connected an extensive discovery process involving all stakeholders and industry analysts which included  competitive benchmarking. The gathered insights formed Allergan’s unifying, higher, human purpose. Straightline created a compelling brand story with universal resonance and relevance around the idea “Bold For Life.” The strategic idea for the brand inspired a singular visual identity and a design system that departed dramatically from industry clichés. Bold For Life became an organizing principle and rallying cry for the new culture, informing employee behavior, values, recognition, training and performance.

Deliverables

  • Brand assessment
  • Qualitative study
  • Core idea definition
  • Culture definition
  • Design system
  • Brand guidelines
  • Employee communications

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