GSK Consumer Healthcare is being rebranded globally as Haleon, pronounced “hay-lee-on,” and will be demerged from parent GSK by mid 2022.
The new name comes from a mash-up of the words “hale” and “leon,” merging good health with strength, and it was all done with help from employees and consumers — at least they had the sense to put some vowels in it, unlike a lot of recent rebrands. There’s no mention of a branding agency but presumably one was involved along the line.
GSK’s consumer healthcare division, which rejected a £50bn bid from Unilever last month, made an operating profit of £2.2bn in 2021. Its brands, which focus on oral health, pain relief and vitamins, include Aquafresh, Sensodyne, Panadol, Advil, and Centrum.
Haleon CEO designate Brian McNamara said: “Introducing Haleon to the world marks another step in our journey to become a new, standalone company. Our name is grounded in our purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity and to be a world-leader in consumer healthcare. We are on track to launch Haleon in mid-2022 and our business momentum is strong.”
Dave Lewis, former CEO of Tesco, was made non exec chair of Haleon in December, soon after the business announced its move from West London to Weybridge in Surrey, also home to P&G.
