Aspirin (brand)

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aspirin
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Owner / user Bayer AG

owner Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH, Monheim am Rhein
Introductory year 1899
Products Medication
Markets Worldwide
Website www.aspirin.de
Aspirin vial, 1899

Aspirin is a brand under which the Bayer AG different acetylsalicylic acid drugs are sold. As a family brand, it is one of the oldest and most well-known drug brands worldwide and is also the generic name for the active ingredient acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in large parts of the world .

history

The brand name Aspirin was introduced on March 6, 1899 as a pharmaceutical product (today Nice Class 5) in the trademark role of the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin for the paint factories. Friedr. Bayer & Co. registered under file number F2818. It is made up of A for acetyl and spir for Spiraea ulmaria and then in use for medication final syllable in . However, patenting of the active ingredient acetylsalicylic acid, which was also applied for in the same year, failed in Germany because Chemische Fabrik v. Heyden started selling the substance as a remedy as early as 1897. The early trademark registration is seen in the economic literature as a wise decision, because even with a successful patent application the patent protection expires after a certain time, to which the trademark protection can be extended regularly. The awareness and reputation of the brand to be built are therefore of crucial importance for future economic success.

In the USA too, trademark protection was applied for as early as 1899 and granted a little later, as well as in a large number of other countries. In some cases , there were regional deviations in the brand name, such as Aspirina or Aspirine. In Austria the brand was registered under no. 12233 on April 17, 1949, whereby the priority of the German entry of February 1, 1899 could be used.

France

In France, aspirin was initially imported through the Laboratoire Vicario (17 Boulevard Haussmann , Paris ). Vicario was given the right to sell the drug under the name Aspirine Vicario , while in an early form of co-marketing, Aspirine Bayer was offered in tablet form specifically for the French market. In 1902, the Société Chimique des Usines du Rhône (SCUR) acquired the right to manufacture acetylsalicylic acid and used the Rhodine brand (No. 5099 from 1902-09-18) for this. Only Bayer and its business partner Vicario use the Aspirine brand ; all other competitors chose the international non-proprietary name or fantasy name. In 1910 a regular subsidiary was founded, the Laboratoires des Produits Bayer, 52 rue Sedaine in Paris. Vicario continued to produce some specialties such as Aspirine and Héroïne under license .

With the outbreak of World War I, Bayer's property in France was confiscated. With reference to a precedent (pyramidon) , it was found that aspirine was an abbreviation of a scientific name and a generic name in the common domain. This allowed the SCUR to register the trademark Aspirine Usines du Rhône (No. 159602) on January 14, 1915 . More than 40 brands of aspirin were registered by October 1915, including Aspirine Bayard, Aspirine Désallié, Aspirine La Française and Aspirine de France . Even if some were of poor quality, it was perceived as a patriotic duty not to take Bayer aspirin. In Spain, Bayer warned consumers about French counterfeits. After the end of the war, the assets that had been confiscated since the beginning of the conflict were auctioned on May 2, 1923, and Bayer bought back the assets on offer. As a generic name, the Aspirin brand was not affected. However, in Belgium, Italy and Portugal - signatory states to the Versailles Treaty - it remained the property of Bayer after the war.

United Kingdom

In 1906 the subsidiary Bayer Products Ltd was founded in London. On February 4, 1915, the Aspirin brand was declared public domain by the British Board of Trade.

Canada

In Canada in 1924 a legal dispute was decided for each trademark portfolio - even if the trademark owner was not the German Bayer, but indirectly Sterling Products , Inc., the parent company of the North American Bayer companies. The Canadian trademark was registered on April 28, 1899 and was transferred from Germany to the US subsidiary Bayer Company, Inc. (NY) on June 12, 1913. After the establishment of a Canadian subsidiary by the American Bayer Company, the trademark rights were transferred to the Canadian Bayer Company, Limited, on May 30, 1919.

United States

While the trademark rights for Germany always remained with the legal successors of the Bayer paint factory, Bayer lost the trademark rights in a number of other countries. When the USA entered the war in 1917, the American Bayer subsidiary was confiscated and the business including the trademark rights to Aspirin was auctioned off. The pharmaceutical company Sterling Products acquired the rights to aspirin . However, soon after the purchase by Sterling, the name Aspirin was able to establish itself as a generic term for preparations based on acetylsalicylic acid in the USA, so that the Aspirin brand could no longer create any special differentiation from the products of other manufacturers. It was not until 1994 that the Bayer Group bought back the aspirin-selling division for non-prescription drugs, including the trademarks (including the cross logo) from the company, which had since been renamed Sterling Winthrop . Bayer sells the products of the Aspirin line in the USA today under the name Genuine Bayer Aspirin, whereby the name Bayer is in the foreground.

Bayer also lost its trademark rights in Great Britain, Russia and France after the First World War due to confiscation by the Allies and was subsequently unable to do business again under the name of Aspirin, or only indirectly . In France, for example, Bayer bought the “Aspirine du Rhône” brand from Rhône-Poulenc in order to be able to return to the French market with the name.

Russia

In the course of the Russian Revolution in 1918, the pharmaceutical company was nationalized and the Aspirin brand was deleted from the register. In the USSR it was possible to register trademarks - the USSR joined the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1965 and the Madrid Agreement on the International Registration of Trademarks in 1976 - but for this purpose, trademarks from the Tsarist era had to be registered again. However, many foreign companies, including Bayer, decided not to. Aspirin was not registered by Bayer until 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, a number of pain reliever manufacturers in the Soviet Union had meanwhile used the drug name aspirin . Therefore, following an objection by French competitor UPSA (Union de Pharmacologie Scientifique Appliquée) in 1994, the Appellate Chamber at the Committee of the Russian Federation for Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent) determined that the word aspirin can no longer serve as a distinguishing trademark for the Bayer drug.

Brand management

Aspirin products from Bayer in the USA

Aspirin has been widely advertised by Bayer AG since 1899 and is now one of the most economically successful pharmaceutical brands. Even the confiscation of trademark rights in some countries after the First World War ultimately only led to aspirin becoming a generic name or synonym for the active ingredient acetylsalicylic acid and thus writing brand history. The historian Markus Feiks justifies the success on the basis that the brand substance represents the actual value of the brand and the consumer is ultimately not interested in a painkiller, but in a solution to eliminate the headache.

In 2002, according to a survey by Reader's Digest, aspirin was the pain reliever most trusted by European consumers in 2002, even if cheaper generics contained identical active ingredients. According to a study by MDR-Werbung and IMK from 2015, Aspirin is the brand for non-prescription drugs that consumers in Germany trust the most.

Since the beginnings of aspirin , the standard dose of the main active ingredient acetylsalicylic acid has practically not changed and is 500 milligrams for pain therapy . Only with the knowledge that the agent for inhibiting and blood clotting and atherosclerosis - prophylaxis can be used by Bayer also weaker dose were aspirin -Präparate launched, üblicherweis at a dosage of 100 milligrams per tablet .

With regard to appearance, dosage form and taste, Bayer pursues country-specific marketing approaches under the Aspirin brand . Initially, aspirin was offered to pharmacies in vials containing 250 grams of powder. The brand's recognition value was initially low because pharmacists weighed the drug marketed in powder form in accordance with the prescription and then filled it into neutral bags, with the product being partially stretched with flour or completely replaced by flour. In response to this, Bayer began producing tablets as early as 1900 with the dose of 500 milligrams of active ingredient per tablet that is still used today. This also made it possible for Bayer to emboss the Bayer logo on each tablet and to provide the tablets with packaging that always kept the brand name and the color and design language of the newly developed Aspirin brand visible to every customer.

Bayer currently offers dosage forms and variants that differ from region to region under the name Aspirin . In Spain, for example, raspberry-flavored effervescent products are sold , while in Italy Asprin is successfully offered in suppository form . In Argentina, the demand is met with powder products, while in the USA products with glossy pill covers are offered.

The perception of the brand in different countries also diverges greatly: Aspirin is widely perceived as a cold remedy in Italy and as a pill for headaches and for heart attack prevention in the USA. In Latin America, the focus is on the treatment of headaches with the invigorating combination preparation cafiaspirina .

The aim was to rejuvenate the brand with the introduction of the Aspirin effect product line . It is an orange-flavored granulate containing ASA that dissolves in the mouth and can be taken without water. The positioning was targeted as a product that should fit perfectly into a modern life with stress and multiple stresses and thus became interesting for target groups who could no longer be reached with the classic Aspirin line.

Current products

As a (fake) range brand , Aspirin originally developed as a mono brand , from which a number of variants were then derived as part of the product differentiation.

Today, a large number of products are offered in Germany, Austria and Switzerland under the name Aspirin (as of September 2019). In the classic analgesic area, products are offered as oral tablets, chewable tablets (Aspirin Direct) and effervescent tablets (Aspirin Migraine) , either with the only active ingredient acetylsalicylic acid or in combination with vitamin C (Aspirin Plus C) or caffeine (Aspirin Caffeine) . In addition, aspirin products are offered specifically for the inhibition of blood clotting with reduced dosage and enteric-coated dosage form (Aspirin Protect) . In the Aspirin Effect line , the active ingredient acetylsalicylic acid is offered in sachets with effervescent powder (see Alka-Seltzer) and claims to be particularly effective. The Aspirin Complex line is marketed as a combination product, which uses acetylsalicylic acid as a further active ingredient, pseudoephedrine .

Economical meaning

The brand equity can generally gain in importance in the course of a technological life cycle. When the next technological revolution occurs or innovations emerge in competition, brands can act as a protective shield to help established companies survive the change.

Bayer AG's business is conducted through the three business areas Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health and Crop Science. The company generated with products of the Aspirin brand in the consumer health sector, which are medical products for self-medication such as. B. Painkillers, in 2018 around 418 million euros in sales (previous year: 462 million euros). Added to this are the sales of the products sold under the Aspirin umbrella brand in the Pharmaceuticals division, e. B. with the Aspirin Cardio line . In total, sales of all aspirin products in 2018 amounted to 975 million euros (previous year: 1.042 billion euros). In terms of sales, it is the third-strongest brand in the pharmaceuticals division of Bayer AG after Xarelto (3.6 billion euros, 2018) and Eylea (2.2 billion euros, 2018).

public perception

Advertising campaigns (selection)

  • In 2014, the Düsseldorf advertising agency BBDO developed a campaign for the market launch of a new aspirin tablet under the title He is gone . In addition to outdoor advertising , a 28-second TV spot was developed that was filmed by the cinema director Simon Verhoeven with actors Wanda Badwal , Sina-Valeska Jung and Mathias Harrebye-Brandt , among others . Contrary to the norm, the spot does not focus on the problem of pain, but on resolving it. According to IP CreaKompass , the spot set the benchmark for the pharmaceutical industry at the time.
  • In 2015, actress Sarah Alles stood in front of the camera for Aspirin.

criticism

In 2008 Bayer had to pay a fine of EUR 10.34 million for anti-competitive behavior in the so-called aspirin cartel . Bayer offered a 3% discount on aspirin and other non-prescription Bayer drugs if pharmacies adhered to Bayer's recommended retail price. 11,000 pharmacies of around 21,000 in Germany took part in the aspirin cartel, and it presumably lasted from August 2005 to its discovery in September 2007. According to the Federal Cartel Office , Bayer has “anti-competitive influence on the resale prices of non-prescription drugs in pharmacies taken ". The fine was relatively low because Bayer was cooperative in the investigation from the start. Only an amount of 5% of the turnover of the subsidiary concerned was applied and not the regular penalty of up to 30%.

The effects and side effects of ASA-containing preparations are regularly discussed in all common media. The spectrum of media reception ranges from advice for the first-aid kit to reports on deaths. Because of its popularity, aspirin is often a synonym for the active ingredient. In November 2011, for example, the NDR showed a 45-minute documentary entitled Aspirin Myth . In March 2019, the 45-minute program W wie Wissen followed with the topic of the myth of aspirin: Does daily ASA pill prevent heart attacks and strokes? on ARD based on the Australian ASPREE study. The effects and side effects of ASA were critically questioned in both programs. Although this affected a wide variety of drugs and manufacturers, Aspirin from Bayer was the media hook here too.

Scientific reception

In addition to medical and pharmacological considerations on the active ingredient, a large number of economists, sociologists and marketing psychologists have dealt with all aspects of the Aspirin brand. For example Charles C. Mann and Mark L. Plummer in their 1991 book Aspirin - Economic Wars of the International Pharmaceutical Industry or Karlheinz Schmidt and Marion Zerbst 1997 in Aspirin: More than just a headache remedy .

In addition, the brand is described in many standard works on brand management and brand psychology. For example, the economist Werner Pepels mentions aspirin in the Marketing Handbook as an example of a fake rank brand and the market psychologist Gert Gutjahr describes the special value of old brands using the example of aspirin.

The Aspirin Brand in Culture

In addition to a series of historical advertising materials that were artistically designed and can now be found in collections and museums, there have been artists over the years who dealt with the brand or the subject of aspirin in their works. Aspirin has also found its way into everyday culture as a brand, generic name or synonym for painkillers.

Fine arts (selection)

  • The artist Jörg Immendorff created the bronze sculpture of an upside down monkey in 2006 and named it Aspirin Monkey . It is traded in an edition of 75 pieces by auction houses and galleries.
  • The neo-pop-art artist Michael Koslar , who appears under the pseudonym Malte Sonnenfeld, shows in his calm-down still life a package of aspirin in acrylic on canvas. The picture has been shown at various exhibitions.
  • The painter and sculptor CO Paeffgen painted in 1994 without a title in acrylic on canvas a bird swallowing a pill. An arrow from the label "Aspirin" in the color and style of the brand to the tablet suggests that it is an aspirin tablet.

Performing arts (selection)

Everyday culture (selection)

  • Both Maerklin and Roco produced various models of a locomotive of the DB-101 series with an aspirin plus C - wrap advertising in the nominal sizes H0 , N and Z , partly also in a limited edition. The models are based on prototypes that were used by Deutsche Bahn .
  • One of the US film director Quentin Tarantino -run interview published journalist Markus Kavka 2007 in the time under the title The aspirin conversation . He describes how to take aspirin after the interview.
  • The Bosnian-Serbian singer Seka Aleksić released the song Aspirin on her album Kraljica (Eng. The Queen) in 2007, which is about a night of partying.

Collections and museums (selection)

Historical product packaging and advertising material can still be found in the archives of museums and collectors and are traded. There are also some special exhibitions on the subject of aspirin.

  • The German Pharmacy Museum in Heidelberg Castle is dedicated to aspirin as a milestone in the introduction of finished medicinal products.
  • In the Deutsches Museum , the drug aspirin, its origins and effects are presented on the “Invention Path Research” aimed at young visitors.

literature

  • Uwe Schwäch: How Aspirin withstands the pressure of competition. In: Brandmeyer, Pirck, Pogoda: Medicine meets brand: Brand technology for the health market. Springer Gabler, 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-06654-3 , pp. 30-36.
  • Charles C. Mann, Mark L. Plummer: Aspirin - Economic Wars in the International Pharmaceutical Industry . Droemer Knaur, Munich 1993, ISBN 978-3-426-26451-5 (English: The Aspirin Wars - Money, Medicine, and 100 Years of Rampant Competition . New York 1991. Translated by Brigitte Stein).
  • Karlheinz Schmidt, Marion Zerbst: Aspirin: more than just a headache medicine. Trias, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 978-3-89373-379-8 .
  • Samuel Hopkins Adams, Isabel Leighton: The aspirin age, 1919-1941. Amereon House, Mattituck, NY 1949, ISBN 978-0-8488-1661-2 .

Web links

Commons : Aspirin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German Patent and Trademark Office: Trademark entry for Aspirin
  2. ↑ Information on the Aspirin brand  in the register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA)
  3. ↑ a b German Patent and Trademark Office: Registered 120 years ago: Aspirin, probably the best-known brand in medicine
  4. ↑ Nikolai Kuhnert: One hundred years of Aspirin® - The story of what is probably the most successful drug of the last century . In: Pharmacy in our time . tape 29 , no. 1 , 2000, pp. 32-39 , doi : 10.1002 / (SICI) 1615-1003 (200001) 29: 1 <32 :: AID-PAUZ32> 3.0.CO; 2-G .
  5. ↑ Axel Mittelstaedt: Intellectual Property Management: Intellectual property as a management tool and success factor in the knowledge economy . Springer-Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-02992-0 , pp. 9– ( google.com ).
  6. ↑ a b c d Klaus Jennewein: Intellectual Property Management: The Role of Technology Brands in the Appropriation of Technological Innovation . Springer Science & Business Media, 2006, ISBN 978-3-7908-1599-3 , pp. 32 ff . ( google.com ).
  7. ↑ Information on the Aspirina brand  in the register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA)
  8. ↑ Information on the Aspirine brand  in the register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA)
  9. ↑ Information portal of the Austrian Patent Office , register no. 12233
  10. ^ A b c Andre Frogerais: L'Aspirine en France: un affrontement franco-allemand. In: HAL. December 29, 2016, accessed September 4, 2019 .
  11. ^ Lesley Richmond, Julie Stevenson, Alison Turton: The Pharmaceutical Industry: A Guide to Historical Records . Aldershot, Ashgate 2003, ISBN 978-0-7546-3352-5 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  12. ^ "The Board of Trade has made an order regarding the aspirin trade marks, the effect of which is to make the word 'aspirin' public property. As is well known, this is the trade name under which the Bayer Company introduced acetylsalicylic acid and the name under which the drug is best known. It is now open to anyone to sell acetylsalicylic acid as aspirin and it is to be hoped that this will not lead to any deterioration in the standard of the drug […] “(Quoted from Diarmuid Jeffreys, Aspirin: The Extraordinary Story of a Wonder Drug in Google Book Search, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005)
  13. ↑ Supreme Court of Canada: The Bayer Co. v. American Druggists Syndicate , [1924] SCR 558, 1924-06-08
  14. ↑ " Against using the word 'Aspirin' in correspondence, invoices, bills of lading, and the like, or upon cartons, labels, or other marking, in any sales of 'acetyl salicylic acid' to manufacturing chemists, wholesale or retail druggists, or physicians. The defendant will be free to sell 'acetyl salicylic acid' direct to consumers under the name 'Aspirin' without suffix or qualification. The defendant in sales to retail druggists will also be free to pack tablets in bottles and boxes of fifty or less, labeled, 'Aspirin,' provided these bottles or boxes be wrapped or boxed in containers marked 'acetyl salicylic acid manufactured by UD Co. , 'without the word' Aspirin, 'and that in making such sales the correspondence, invoices, bills of lading, and the like refer to the drug so sold only as' acetyl salicylic acid.' ”( Learned Hand , District Judge : Bayer Co. v. United Drug Co., 272 F. 505 (SDNY 1921) , 1921-04-14)
  15. ↑ a b Apotheke Adhoc dated June 28, 2010: Aspirin as reparation payment
  16. ↑ a b c Uwe Schwäch: How Aspirin withstands the pressure of competition . In: Klaus Brandmeyer, Peter Pirck, Andreas Pogoda (eds.): Medicine meets brand: Brand technology for the health market . Springer Gabler , Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-06655-0 , p. 29–36 , here pp. 30, 32 ( limited preview in Google book search [accessed on August 6, 2019]).
  17. ↑ Cynthia Vuille Stewart: Trademarks in Russia: Making and Protecting your Mark . In: Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal . tape 5 , no. 1 , 1996, ISSN  1068-1000 ( tiplj.org [PDF]).
  18. ↑ Markus Ziener: Russian aspirin gives Bayer a headache . In: Der Tagesspiegel . June 26, 1997, ISSN  1865-2263 ( tagesspiegel.de ).
  19. ↑ a b Basler Zeitung of September 13, 2015: The most popular drug in the world
  20. ↑ a b Wolfgang Schiller, Michael Quell: Brand as an object of holistic risk management . In: Frank Romeike, Robert Finke (eds.): Success factor risk management: Opportunities for industry and trade Methods, examples, checklists . Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-409-12200-9 , pp. 120 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  21. ↑ Markus Feiks: The role of history in branding . Grin Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-656-11590-8 , pp. 10 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  22. ↑ Marketing of July 27, 2015: Aspirin is Germany's most trustworthy OTC brand
  23. ↑ cf. Website from www.aspirin.de
  24. ↑ ottmar Franzen: Monetary brand evaluation according to ISO 10668, Branded Articles 9/2011, pp. 100-104.
  25. ↑ Klaus Jennewein, Thomas Durand, Alexander Gerybadze: When Brands Complement Patents in Securing the Returns from Technological Innovation: The Case of Bayer Aspirin. In: Management international. 14, 2010, p. 73, doi: 10.7202 / 044294ar .
  26. ↑ a b Bayer AG: Annual Report 2018, Consumer Health
  27. ↑ Brigitte Bayer: Precise effect: pharmaceutical spots use creative potential. IP Germany, December 5, 2014, accessed September 8, 2019 .
  28. ^ Ludmilla Hauser: Aspirin cartel: Bayer sentenced to ten million euros fine. In: RP Online. May 28, 2008, accessed September 2, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Markus Grill: Bayer Group: Millions fine for aspirin cartel. In: Stern. May 28, 2008, accessed September 2, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Frank Wittig, Anke Christians: The myth of aspirin: Does daily aspirin pill prevent heart attacks and strokes? In: W for knowledge . ARD, March 15, 2019, accessed on September 7, 2019 .
  31. ^ Antje Büll: Myth Aspirin. In: ARD program. Retrieved September 7, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Werner Pepels: Handbook of Marketing . Walter de Gruyter, 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-71454-8 , p. 70 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  33. ↑ Gert Gutjahr: Brand Psychology: How Brands Work - What Makes Brands Strong . 3. Edition. Springer Gabler, 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-09160-6 , pp. 17 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  34. ↑ Jörg Immendorff. Korf Foundation, accessed September 5, 2019 .
  35. ↑ Michael Koslar (Ed.): Art is deception in small bags . Exhibition catalog. 2016, p. 58 ( docplayer.org ).
  36. ^ Markus Kavka: CO Paeffgen: Painting and paper works. In: Köln.de exhibition tips. March 2010, accessed September 7, 2019 .
  37. ↑ Quincy 93. Deadly aspirin. In: Fernsehserien.de. Retrieved September 9, 2019 .
  38. ^ Kino, Aspirin and Geier. ARD , accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  39. ^ Heinrich Oehmsen: From Hollywood straight to the Ohnsorg Theater. In: The world . April 14, 2015, accessed September 7, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Aspirin in the Internet Movie Database (English)Template: IMDb / Maintenance / Unnecessary use of parameter 2
  41. ^ Leon Schrijvers: Headache? Then an aspirin. Photo of a locomotive with aspirin advertising. In: hellertal.startbilder.de. December 7, 2018, accessed September 6, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Markus Kavka: The Aspirin Talk. In: The time. July 26, 2007, accessed September 6, 2019 .
  43. ^ The drug (presentation of the drug collection of the German Pharmacy Museum). In: www.deutsches-apotheken-museum.de. Retrieved September 19, 2019 .
  44. ↑ Aspirin. Deutsches Museum, accessed on September 19, 2019 .
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