Today, Design Bridge and Partners announces its partnership with Bayer AG, the German multinational pharmaceutical and life science company, to launch a new brand, WOMEN | Bayer.

Design Bridge and Partners worked closely with Bayer to create a transformative brand which encompasses its founding principles whilst effectively communicating Bayer AG’s deep commitment to reaching and supporting women everywhere. The WOMEN | Bayer brand, led by Bayer’s Global Women’s Healthcare team, will exist to dispel myths and misconceptions, simplify complexities, research in the unknown, and cast a light on the overlooked and misunderstood.

The brand’s intended audiences include pre-teen girls all the way to post-menopausal women, across different cultures and backgrounds, all united by what’s missing in Women’s Healthcare.

Bayer is the number one company globally in Women’s Healthcare, with a history of over 100 years in the category. WOMEN | Bayer will leverage the strong credibility, expertise, and heritage to transform into a women-facing brand celebrated for enhancing women's quality of life. Its launch indicates the global organisation’s resolute commitment to providing women with the most advanced healthcare services, and being a pivotal force in supercharging scientific and medical progress in the category. While fostering authentic connections with women from diverse backgrounds, WOMEN | Bayer will establish a bold and distinctive identity that leverages Bayer’s scale, research, and relationships to create meaningful change.

This comes at a critical moment across wider society, when 40.8% of women feel ignored by medical professionals. WOMEN | Bayer is a consumer facing women’s health brand, created to advance research, investment and consumer understanding of the health challenges women face, helping all women to understand what ‘normal’ really is and what it isn’t.

The new brand and visual identity will be launched today across all of WOMEN | Bayer’s touchpoints, including social, digital and physical owned media channels.

To bring this to life, WOMEN | Bayer recognises, utilises and reimagines the importance of the ‘Bayer Cross’ logo as a global beacon for healthcare. The original glowing 51-metre sign in the shape of the logo can be found in Bayer’s hometown of Leverkusen, Germany and has been replicated in more than 47 cities across the world. This illuminated icon inspired the creation of a new symbol for Women’s Health, and opens innovative avenues for reaching its customers and inspiring its mission of Health for All, Hunger for None.

In one simple shift the typographic cross within Bayer’s logo drops down below its circular holding shape to form the Venus symbol, widely recognised as a representation of womanhood. A subtle glow on the edge of the ring nods to the concept of enlightenment. This new symbol appears as the O in the new WOMEN | Bayer logo and is echoed in glowing graphic devices and bespoke typographic assets. Such a change to Bayer’s cherished and protected logo signifies the full strength of commitment the company is making behind this new brand.

The wider brand identity uses the visual language of illumination and strength, highlighting bright, positive solutions as well as exposing the shadowy gaps and problems in women’s health. The wide typographic style adds gravitas to the identity and a shifting gradient colour palette that moves from dark shades of purple to the glowing lightness of golds and oranges, showcases WOMEN | Bayer’s role of illuminating truth and dispelling the myths and uncertainty that has burdened women’s health. This can also be integrated into WOMEN | Bayer’s photography style; capturing the optimism of change as subjects emerge from the shadows.

This partnership is proudly part of the broader WPP integrated solution for Bayer AG.

“The creation of a category disruptive brand targeted at a historically underserved demographic instilled the team with enormous enthusiasm throughout this process. The brand effectively leverages Bayer’s long history in healthcare, whilst also emphasising its commitment to rapid progress in the Women’s Health category. The Bayer Cross, a universally recognisable beacon for health, was a creatively inspiring starting point for the brand to disrupt the expectations that exist in the pharma category. We could not be prouder of our partnership and we look forward to seeing WOMEN | Bayer making real changes in women’s lives.”

— Katherina Tudball, Senior Creative Director at Design Bridge and Partners, London

“We have a long and proud history in the Women’s Health category; Bayer has always been a beacon for health, pioneering Women’s Healthcare for more than 100 years. The new WOMEN | Bayer brand is a refreshed commitment to Women’s Health and an acknowledgment to the current challenges in the sector. Design Bridge and Partners have helped us to create a brand that nods to our history as well as our passion for future progress in improving the lives of women across the globe.”

—Burcak Simsek, Global Lead Contraception at Bayer

The term “WOMEN” is used to encompass individuals who identify as women, as well as those who many not identify within the traditional gender binary but still identify with womanhood. This usage is intended to be inclusive and respectful of all individuals who identify with the experiences and perspectives commonly associated with womanhood. Bayer acknowledges and recognises the diversity of gender identities and strives to be inclusive in our language.