Johnson & Johnson is unveiling a new look as part of its British birthday bash. 100 years after setting up shop in the U.K., the drugmaker is refreshing its branding and visual identity as part of a global switch.
Following the international blueprint J&J adopted in September, Janssen, the company’s pharmaceutical segment, will be known as Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine in the U.K. J&J’s medical device wing will continue to be known as Johnson & Johnson MedTech. The change brings both sides of the business under the J&J name at the expense of the storied but likely less widely known Janssen brand.
J&J said the changes mark a new era in the U.K. with an “updated visual identity.” The global changes saw the company replace its calligraphic logo with a new, blockier font and outline plans to build “more equity around a short-form ‘J&J’ to show up in a more personable, contemporary way.”
The changes affect brands that have existed in the U.K. for many decades. J&J opened its first overseas operating company in England in 1924. Janssen Pharmaceutical incorporated in the U.K. in 1971, 18 years after being founded in Belgium and a decade after it became part of J&J.
J&J used the rebrand to emphasize its long history in the country, noting that it has “stood alongside the U.K. through world wars, disease outbreaks and natural disasters.” Roz Bekker, managing director of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine in the U.K. and Ireland, added more details of the company’s relationship to the U.K.
“Over the past 100 years, our first responsibility has always been to the patients, doctors and nurses that we serve. Our support for the health system reaches back to before the inception of the NHS, and we recognise that only through enduring partnerships can we continue to make a positive difference to the lives of patients and their loved ones,” Bekker said in a statement.