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2002


old logo

For decades, American Home Products (AHP) was the biggest unknown company in America, and a great frustration to identity consultants: William LaPorte, its legendary leader in the 50s -70s and successor John Stafford firmly denied the relevance of a corporate brand, and AHP, comfortable as a self-described (but very hands-on) holding company, enjoyed the quiet reputation of a 'widows and orphans' stock.' But by the mid 80s, its food and saucepan businesses were gone and AHP was becoming a pure play drug company.

To his credit, new CEO Robert Essner knew that success, as a freestanding pharmaceutical leader, would require a stronger and more clearly focused corporate brand. He chose 'Wyeth,' the name of a subsidiary acquired in 1926 and added the descriptor "Pharmaceuticals." "We thought about a coined name but decided we already have good equity in a name we already have," he said (in a NYTimes interview). "This is a name that 80 percent of our employees already have on their business card."

Three Divisions were expressed (Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health Care and Animal Health) and although the Fort Dodge name was retained for Animal Health, the new Wyeth logo (an unadorned typographic wordmark) would visually brand them all. 

Landor

Submitted by: Tony Spaeth, 13/02/2007
Status: Estimated by Tony Spaeth
Category: Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
Country (HQ): United States