A world leader in diagnostics. Technically undisputed, but only half perceived.
Esaote is an international leader in medical imaging: more than 40 years in ultrasound, dedicated MRI and healthcare IT, present in around 100 countries. And yet there was a gap between its technological leadership and a fragmented brand perception, too “technical” and not human enough. We realigned the identity with the new mission — “Complexity is simple” — and the vision “Health with Care”.
WHO ESAOTE IS
Who Esaote is.
An established name in international medical technology, with more than 40 years of history in ultrasound diagnostics, dedicated MRI and healthcare IT. A presence in around 100 countries and solid revenue. But with a subtle problem, the kind excellent companies struggle to see: the technological leadership was beyond question, the brand perception was not.
Fragmented, accumulated over time, unable to reflect the global nature and the human impact of the solutions. Three different souls — hardware, software, services — speaking different visual and narrative languages.
THE CHALLENGE
Not a restyling. A transformation.
The brief was not to redo a logo, but to align the identity with a new mission. The challenge: carrying Esaote’s image from a purely technical perception to a more empathetic one, able to speak to the global market and to bring the company’s three souls under one visual and narrative code — removing the overlaps and inconsistencies layered up over the years.
In a sector where precision is everything, the risk was staying prisoner to the technical alone, forgetting that behind every diagnostic machine there is a person, a relationship, a duty of care. What was at stake was not “looking better”, but becoming recognizable and consistent at every point of contact, in every subsidiary in the world.
WHAT WE DID
Research first, then the mark.
We avoided off-the-shelf solutions, starting from a rigorous phase of research and analysis. A scenario analysis across more than 15 direct and indirect competitors, to map the market positioning. Active listening, with surveys of employees and stakeholders, to measure the internal and external perception of the brand — because a repositioning that does not start from the people inside the company does not hold.
And a visual analysis of the existing graphic elements, to check how much they actually resonated with the audience. Only after understanding where Esaote really was — not where it thought it was — did we start designing.
ADAM phase: Analyze
Scenario analysis (15+ competitors)
Internal/external listening
Visual analysis
THE SYSTEM
A brand personality, defined with method.
The brand personality was identified through Kapferer’s model, with a precise transition: from the previous configuration to a “Logistician” profile — an organized, structured, efficient brand, but finally able to open up to empathy. From there, the work on the code: a modernized logo, keeping the historic naming but lightening the forms to express dynamism and technology; the payoff “Health with Care”, to carry internationally the value of care and closeness to the patient.
A photographic style that abandons staged images in favor of authentic moments, with people and their relationships at the center; and a rationalized typographic system (Raleway for the marks, Gotham/Aptos for communication) to guarantee uniformity at global scale.
ADAM phase: Design
Brand personality (Kapferer)
Logo
Payoff
Photographic style
Typographic system
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BUILT
WHAT WE BUILT
A system that works in every subsidiary in the world.
01
Brand Identity manual
A universal operating tool, designed to actually be used.
02
Digital ecosystem
Templates for presentations, newsletters, web banners and social.
03
Offline materials
Letterhead, brochures, trade fair material and office branding, all coordinated.
04
Architecture & sub-brands
A consistent logic for the subsidiaries (e.g. Suitestensa), under the Esaote umbrella without dispersing its value.
05
Assets reachable by QR
Immediate access to the production files from the manual, to streamline the flows between subsidiaries worldwide.
→ THE PRINCIPLE
Branding and industry, kept apart
Branding directives (web, print) distinct from industrial constraints (products, casings): clear rules that genuinely apply.
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THE MANUAL
BROWSE THE PROJECT
The brand manual, page by page.
THE HEART OF THE PROJECT
“Complexity is simple”: consistency as a strategic choice.
The heart of the project is an idea that sounds simple and is in fact extremely hard to pull off at global scale: making what is complex consistent. Three souls — hardware, software, services —, dozens of subsidiaries, industrial production constraints, and an audience running from the radiologist to the head of a hospital.
The strength of the work was not “making a nice logo”, but building a system that works everywhere: able to separate what is pure branding (web, print) from what has to respect industrial constraints (application on products and casings). That is how a mission becomes a concrete experience, instead of staying a slogan hung in a meeting room.
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THE RESULTS
CONSISTENCY, NOT COSMETICS
An identity people recognize, subsidiary after subsidiary.
Communication
Global consistency
an identity people recognize at every point of contact, worldwide.
Internal culture
Strong adoption
a sense of belonging to the new direction, confirmed by internal feedback.
Foreign subsidiaries
Immediately operational
clear rules and accessible tools, easy to apply.
Branding & industry
Aligned
separate directives for communication and product, respecting the production constraints.