Emergent BioSolutions is no doubt one of the most widely-known biotechnology companies in the BioHealth Capital Region, with numerous locations in Gaithersburg, Baltimore, and beyond. If you’re a follower of Emergent, you’ve probably noticed a change in their corporate look and feel over the past few months.

The company’s characteristic magenta logo has been updated to a sleek, modern look with a minimalistic, yet sophisticated and mature feel. Similarly, the website has dropped the magenta branding in favor of a cleaner color palette, accented by burnt orange tones.

Furthermore, look on Emergent’s LinkedIn and Twitter accounts and you’ll see the stories of employees and “Why I Go”.

Large corporate rebrands seldom happen by chance and overnight – it takes a lot of work to refresh a corporate brand, especially for a company that has been around for as long as Emergent has.

We caught up with Emergent’s team to learn more about the motivators and meaning behind their most recent glow-up.

What was the motivation and driver behind Emergent’s most recent corporate rebrand?

The company has had the same logo for over twenty years. Design continually evolves, so when we started considering a re-brand in mid-2020, we wanted to create a logo that was not only modern but that better reflects who Emergent is today.

Emergent deals with complex, serious issues including opioid overdose, pandemic response, preparation for chemical and biological attacks, and travel health. We protect those in harm’s way, including our troops overseas. We wanted to find a logo that visually conveyed the seriousness and importance of our work.

Can you tell us a bit about the rebranding process and how you landed at the new webpage design, logo, color palette, tagline, etc?

As you can imagine, at any company with a substantial history it can be difficult to let go of the past, but that really wasn’t the case at Emergent. There was real enthusiasm for change.  We spent a lot of time listening to employees about how they felt about the work Emergent does. We also spent time talking to stakeholders to understand their views of the company. Once we had some potential options, we tested them rigorously both internally and externally to help us refine our thinking.

Decisions over color and typeface can be very subjective, but ultimately, we chose a new brand that best reflected our company, values, and culture. The new logo and color scheme represent Emergent’s maturity and experience helping combat public health threats while updating the look and feel as Emergent enters its next growth chapter.

What is the significance of the downward sloping red line that’s in the new logo, the LinkedIn avatar, etc.

Our logomark represents a forward-moving line of defense. It’s representative of Emergent’s continuous work to protect others from harm.

The “We Go” tagline is short, punchy, and to the point. Can you speak more to what the tagline means and represents?

Our employees have always shown an unwavering dedication to our mission, but never was this more evident than at the beginning of the pandemic. They were willing to just go and accomplish what was needed to address the pandemic. This dedication came with tremendous self-sacrifice, including employees spending time away from their families and increasing their vulnerability to a virus which at the time we didn’t know much about.

When we started to tell the Emergent story in 2020 we wanted to find something to capture that spirit, and “We Go” not only became our tagline, but it also became a rallying cry for our employees.

Anything else we should know about the rebrand to share with the community?

The brand and the tagline are about introducing Emergent’s capabilities and highlighting the wide range of challenges we take on every day that most people don’t think about. From threats of chemical and biological attacks to pandemic mitigation to the opioid overdose epidemic, Emergent has products ready to help keep people safe. Our team works relentlessly to ensure these tools are ready if needed and continuously improves upon them while researching and developing new solutions to global public health threats.

Thank you to Cassie France-Kelly and Matt Hartwig of Emergent for their help in writing this article.