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B2B, Gen-X, Boomer Opps: GSK rebrands ahead of de-merger with Haleon

Wolff Olins redesigned the company's logo, which comes alongside a new "Ahead Together" tagline. The logo's curved forms suggest the immune's system adaptive nature, and the larger visual message prioritizes evolution and adaptation. The new shape was designed to engage audiences across digital, social and physical environments.

The rebrand aligns with GSK's purpose of getting ahead of disease and reflects its upcoming de-merger. Later this year, GSK will become a company wholly focused on biopharma innovation while its consumer business, Haleon, will focus on consumer healthcare. This means once they de-merge, Haleon will be doing the selling and marketing.

According to iSpot, GSK has spent approximately $31.9m on national TV commercials YTD, more than double the approximately $14.7m spent within the same 2021 timeframe. The company ended up spending approximately $44.5m on this channel last year, almost double the approximately $25.8m spent in 2020. GSK's 2022 commercials have aired during shows such as The 64^th Annual Grammy Awards, NBA Basketball, CBS Mornings, Today and Days of our Lives.

So far this year, Pathmatics reports the company has allocated roughly $60.1m toward digital ads, down 4% from the roughly $62.3m allocated by this point last year. In 2021, GSK's estimated full-year spend of $159.6m marked a 14% increase from that of $139.9m in 2020. The company has earned around 6.7b digital impressions YTD via Facebook (49%), desktop video (23%), Instagram (19%), Twitter (4%), desktop display (3%), mobile video (1%) and mobile display (1%) ads. Most of this year's desktop video ads have been placed site direct onto destinations such as youtube.com (84%), Twitch, yahoo.com, pch.com and fandom.com.

GSK tends to target Gen-X and boomers, so the increase in TV spend and decrease in digital spend makes sense. Of course, once GSK splits with Haleon, the latter will be the one focused on consumers. Since GSK is already working to differentiate itself from Haleon, we'll likely start seeing more Haleon-centered advertising surrounding the de-merger later this year. The two do not yet seem to be advertising separately, but we will of course keep you updated. Per Kantar data, GSK also invests in print, OOH, radio and local broadcast. 

Agency & martech readers - The company is still Publicis North America. It also works with brand-specific agency partners such as the following:

• Alli
• Avandamet
• Prevacid 24Hr