Companies Digest

GE HealthCare and global brand consultancy Interbrand have unveiled the brand strategy behind GE’s first spin-off, as the healthcare company reaches a brand value of $35 billion after two months of public trading on the Nasdaq.

The partnership saw GE HealthCare and Interbrand develop the company’s brand purpose and identity to create a standalone healthcare business, built around customer needs, patient outcomes and precision care, while retaining the 130-year equity of the iconic GE brand. GE HealthCare worked with Interbrand on a nine-month collaborative design and data-driven research process, which consisted of 20+ work streams including messaging, brand architecture, ESG, financial modeling, quantitative global research – looking at customer, investor, employee and stakeholder perceptions of the GE brand – and a global online feedback survey to engage its 50,000 employees. 

Interbrand worked closely with GE HealthCare on several iterations of its final brand purpose statement: ‘To Create a World Where Healthcare Has No Limits,’ which drew on GE HealthCare’s engineering and innovator roots with the need to fix the industry’s biggest healthcare challenges. 

The collaboration also saw GE HealthCare and Interbrand implement new design features, such as modern, open source typography, blending GE’s original blue and red logo colors to create ‘compassion purple,’ and capturing imagery that represents the humanity behind the brand rather than just machinery and technology. 

Kristin Fallon, Global Head of Brand, GE HealthCare, said: “Coming out of the pandemic, the disconnected nature of the healthcare system has been laid bare and as leaders we have an obligation to drive toward solutions. Our goal was to shift GE’s identity from that of an industrial company to one that is uniquely healthcare – with people at the very heart.”

“The decision to separate the businesses marked a defining moment in the history of the iconic GE brand, and we needed the right partner to help lead us through this journey. Interbrand’s experience and expertise in the branding space is unrivaled and we are very proud of what we have achieved together.”

William Woduschegg, Executive Creative Director, Interbrand New York, said: “Since April 2022, Interbrand has worked closely with GE HealthCare to build an iconic healthcare brand that addresses the challenges of today’s healthcare industry, while maintaining its 130-year old heritage. Our role was to bring patients, humanity and compassionate care to the center of our brand purpose and identity work.

“We are proud to have been part of such a hugely successful spin-off and we look forward to continuing our work with GE.”

In July 2022, GE announced the planned separation of its portfolio of healthcare, energy and aviation businesses into three independent, industry-leading, investment-grade public companies, in partnership with Interbrand. And just six weeks before the spin-off of GE HealthCare, GE took over the New York Times in what was one of the most iconic communications campaigns to date. It was the first single advertiser takeover in the paper’s 171-year history and saw an entire print edition provide details and imagery on GE HealthCare, GE Aerospace and GE Vernova.

GE HealthCare has already received global recognition for its spin-off as its Global Head of Brand, Kristin Fallon, wins ANA Communicator of the Year Award 2023. 

Following GE HealthCare, Interbrand is working on the brand strategy for the launch of GE Vernova, and GE Aerospace.