Merck KGaA : Launches "Proud to be an Original" Employee Campaign

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• A world map of Merck originals is being created on the Web

• The objective: To conduct an employee dialogue in the social media environment

Darmstadt, Germany, September 30, 2014 - Merck, a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in the pharmaceutical, chemical and life science sectors, has launched a communications campaign entitled "Proud to be an Original". The campaign offers Merck's 39,000 employees worldwide the opportunity to express their pride in working for Merck.
"With the campaign, we want to highlight the secret of Merck's success - our employees. For the first time, we thus also making use of an external campaign website in conjunction with Facebook and YouTube," said Walter Huber, Head of Group Communications at Merck. "We want to conduct the dialogue with our employees in the social media environment globally, with a touch of self-irony, and also beyond the borders of our established internal media."
The basis of the campaign is a specifically developed website www.original.merck.company(United States/Canada: http://www.theoriginal.company/www.theoriginal.company). Here, Merck employees can document their pride in the company by posting selfies, videos and texts. This is creating on the Web a world map of Merck originals from the
66 countries where Merck operates. At the same time, Merck informs website visitors
about what makes the company unique and a true original.

Merck KGaA

Frankfurter Strasse 250 Head Media Relations -62445

64293 Darmstadt Spokesperson: -9591 / -7144 / -6328

Hotline +49 6151 72-5000 Fax +49 6151 72-3138 www.merckgroup.commailto:media.relations@merckgroup.commedia.relations@merckgroup.com

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The leitmotif of the campaign is a frog in the Merck color blue, which in an animated music video illustrates in a humorous manner the topic of being an "original". The campaign is being accompanied by extensive internal communications activities at Merck. One of the many posts on the website recently came from Karl-Ludwig Kley, Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck.

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Merck is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors. With its four divisions Merck Millipore, Merck Serono, Performance Materials and Consumer Health, Merck generated total revenues of € 11.1 billion in 2013. Around 39,000 Merck employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to further the success of customers and to help meet global challenges. Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company - since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70% interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany is holding the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are Canada and the United States, where the company is known as Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

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