PHARMACIA: A placeholder? Maybe not...

A use of identity, by a leader

New: Shorter name, new logo

Launched: April 3, 2000

Story in brief:
The merger of Pharmacia & Upjohn with Monsanto provided the opportunity finally to 'lose' the Monsanto and Upjohn names, settling on the simple declarative "Pharmacia."

It was also an opportunity to lose the purple rock launched by a previous CEO in 1996. It had come to symbolize the clash of cultures in a troubled merger, whose American contingent called it "the Upjohn tombstone." (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 4 1997)

Credits:
C.E.O. - Fred Hassan
Identity design - Landor Associates

First Impressions:
I was among the crowd who found the purple rock on the weird side. The stronger strategy is to focus on the powerful "Pharmacia" name, rendering it in a distinctive and appealing way.

But this solution, stolen from the Searle subsidiary's logo, doesn't cut it. The 'A' device works in the shorter Searle, alone and centered, but it's lost here (and bumping up the 'P' clashes with it). Fortunately, this appears to be a placeholder, while Landor works on a stronger expression.