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"When people are thinking about Union Minière, they are still thinking about mining and Congo, and that's just no longer reflecting our activities" said Thomas Leysen, managing director of Union Minière, when presenting the half-year results in February 2001. This observation paved the way for the the corporate identity change six months later. On 3 September 2001 Union Minière, a name that had lasted for almost 100 years, was changed to "Umicore."

By 2001, Union Minière had converted itself into a modern metals and engineered materials group -- but not many people were aware of this evolution. The dramatic name change was meant both to draw the public’s attention to the new direction, and to shed the bad image that was associated with the name of Union Minière due to their controversial role in the "development" of Belgian Congo.

The new vision, to provide “materials for a better life”, refers to the Group's commitment to sustainable development, and specifically to developing products and industrial processes which are as environmentally friendly as possible. Because a stakeholder survey found that only a small minority of Union Minière's stakeholders were fully aware of the core activity of the Group, the new corporate identity was launched through an image-expansion advertising campaign.

Interbrand

Submitted by: Tom Vanderbauwhede, 5/03/2007
Status: Estimated by Tom Vanderbauwhede
Category: Chemicals
Country (HQ): Belgium