GlaxoSmithKline: New initials to learn, in an orange pill?

A use of identity, by a leader

New: GlaxoSmithKline, and its GSK logo

Launched: January 8, 2001

Story in brief:
Farewell Wellcome & Beecham, as the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham is consummated.

Credits:
C.E.O. - Jean-Pierre Garnier
Identity design - Futurebrand's London office

First Impressions:
Coming from these two companies, the naming solution is to be expected... "Pile up the names, and it's too long so let's push the initials." Functional, but disappointing.

The same can be said for the logo, nicely executed if a bit trendy in color and shading; it'll work. But it's hardly the "radical departure from those logos and other visual representations normally associated with the pharmaceutical industry" that GSK's news release claims. Pfizer got there first.

Incidentally, I thought the shape was a pill. The company, however, thinks of it as a heart... which makes it more interesting.