Merck KGaA announced today that it has published a new brochure depicting how the company successfully transforms new ideas into innovative products, services and processes. The brochure concisely presents Merck innovations in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and life sciences that help to improve quality of life. Yet the 36-page publication entitled "New. Since 1668." is more than just a print medium. On certain pages, readers using a smartphone can activate animated photos and entertaining pieces of additional information.
"Innovation is a central element of the Merck culture," says Walter Huber, Head of Corporate Communications at Merck. "With the brochure, we'd like to show what makes Merck, its employees and products so innovative as well as what constantly creating innovations and useful new products means to us." The individual examples given in the brochure stand for an entire series of Merck innovations in a wide range of fields. They include injection devices for pharmaceuticals, rapid tests for food, liquid crystals for modern flat screen TVs, services and products for researchers, as well as developments in traditional pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. Readers also learn why Merck forms research and development partnerships and which achievements date back to Emanuel Merck, the founding father of industrial production at Merck.
Readers who have a smartphone or iPad 2 can, for the first time, use augmented reality technology with a Merck brochure. By starting an app and holding the device camera over a specially marked photo, the static page contents transforms into animated photos. A short video or a bit of 3D animation then explains the page content in a playful manner, offering information beyond what is contained in the text. The "junaio" app runs on smartphones that use the Android operating system as well as on iPhone and iPad 2 and can be downloaded from the Internet free of charge.
Readers without one of these devices can also experience the interactive features of the brochure: a special Web version offers a few surprises.
The brochure is available in German, English, French and Spanish. A new edition of the company profile "The Merck Group. An Overview" has also been published. Together with image brochure "The Merck Way", which was published last year, the publications answer the following questions: "Who is Merck?" "What does Merck do?" "What does Merck achieve?" All three brochures can be ordered together in a single folder.
About Merck KGaA
Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with total revenues of € 9.3 billion in 2010, a history that began in 1668, and a future shaped by more than 40,000 employees in 67 countries. Its success is characterized by innovations from entrepreneurial employees. Merck's operating activities come under the umbrella of Merck KGaA, in which the Merck family holds an approximately 70% interest and shareholders own the remaining approximately 30%. In 1917 the U.S. subsidiary Merck & Co. was expropriated and has been an independent company ever since.