Pre-pandemic, Medtronic leadership was on the cusp of a key inflection point in their evolution. They knew strategically that future growth would come from harnessing capabilities at the intersection of data, digitization and medical technology. Enter Lippincott—not only to guide Medtronic’s long-term evolution with a new brand positioning, expression and experience—but to help tell its story in the shadow and wake of a pandemic. The challenge was clear: Energize a brand and culture built on a heritage of engineering excellence while rallying its 90,000+ employees worldwide. Do so by connecting on an even greater emotional level with every key audience, especially a new one—consumers.

The shift began with a new brand promise: We engineer the extraordinary to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. While alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life had long been the foundation of the Medtronic Mission, the addition of engineering the extraordinary elevates and emphasizes the company’s legacy of innovation.

We then helped energize and contemporize the brand’s communication style through strategic storytelling and a new brand expression that integrated visual, verbal, and experiential components. ​

The brand’s visual and verbal expression doubles down on storytelling and reinforces its purpose at the intersection of humanity and engineering. Its brand voice draws audiences in by being more provocative, engaging, and plain-spoken. The visual identity speaks to Medtronic’s customer-centricity and technological savvy, with dynamic movement throughout, a color palette centered on electric blue and an imagery style that emphasizes people-first.

We reinvigorated the company’s legacy symbol—an image of a person being brought to full life—by infusing it with new energy and forward movement. Lastly, the brand’s experiences create opportunities to surprise audiences with the unexpected, motivate action and drive impact with every interaction.

Every step of this process, from our initial discovery phase to facilitating internal adoption through a thoughtful change management strategy, was achieved through deep collaboration with Medtronic executive leaders and the global marketing team. We constantly inspired and challenged each other along the journey, yielding a strong balance of outside counsel and inside ownership.

Revealed to the world on October 11, 2021, the transformed Medtronic brand is poised to continue engineering the extraordinary for a new generation of employees and patients alike.

“Over 18 months ago, we embarked on a journey to find a strong, strategic and capable partner. We couldn’t be prouder of the partnership we formed with Lippincott. It began with the belief that Lippincott instilled in all of us—we needed to create a movement to drive perception, distinction, differentiation and more trust.” Tamara Johnson, Vice President, Global Brand and Marketing Centers of Excellence, Medtronic