Capsugel is the type of brand that is not to be trifled with. The company has been around in some shape or form for almost a century. Over the last 30 years, it didn’t just become the leader in capsules and encapsulation – it became the leader by some considerable margin. It was owned by Pfizer, and has gone from strength to strength since spinning off  five years ago. It manufactures 200 billion capsules  a year and serves over 4,000 customers. The majority of people that make or fill capsules do so with  Capsugel products on Capsugel equipment. It is respected. To reiterate — it is a powerful brand and changing it should be done lightly.

Therein lies the challenge. Capsugel itself had  been visionary and recognized that while its capsule and encapsulation engineering expertise had carved out a very strong business, future opportunities  lay in integrating that know-how and the company  DNA with formulation services and the ability to  design, develop and manufacture dosage forms.  A series of acquisitions between 2013 and 2016 provided technology assets and complementary expertise that provided this capability, with strong positions to tackle bioavailability enhancement  and targeted delivery. 

Market Research

An extensive research project was undertaken — involving internal stakeholders worldwide, customers, and a target audience across the spectrum of traditional and new services —  to measure the equity found in perceptions of the Capsugel name, identity, brand associations and acquired brands. The decision was made to stick with the Capsugel name but to develop a strategy to migrate perceptions of the business with new visuals and messaging. When a brand is so strong and so heavily associated with one historical service line, it can require a shock strategy to initially elicit recognition that there’s change – before messaging drives absorption of  the new positioning. 

Strategy

While we saw the need for a quantum shift in perception, we also recognized that messaging had to clarify that Capsugel’s expanded offering still embodied the company DNA — science and engineering expertise, ingenuity, credibility and flexibility. We had to be careful with the messaging. So we devised the idea to do the attention-grabbing with evolution in the visual side of  the brand. 

Bringing It To Life

Conceptually, we had explored the idea of interpretations of incredible engineering in nature. Visuals explored the natural engineering that gives a hummingbird its unique characteristics. This became key art, with the engineered bird emerging from a matrix made up of fragmented chemistry symbols. The tagline, Engineering Medicines To Life, conveys the position of being able to design today’s personalized medicines to meet target profiles, while also complementing the image in conveying actually bringing them into existence for the people that need them.

Following rollout into the public domain just prior to  and during CPhI 2016, the careful but impactful evolution of the brand continues. There’s a new logo and colors, although both show respect for the legacy. Website updates, advertising, booth presence, video, literature, sales presentations and PR all contributed to its launch. This will extend to full implementation — including building signage, packaging and all global marketing — within a year.