Of interest to editors and journalists covering:
Advertising/Marketing, employment/HR, pharmaceuticals, NJ Business 
						
 
Spotlight On Employees: In A Sluggish Economy, Corporate Culture Gets New Focus To Improve
Individual And Company Performance

Montclair, NJ - April 20, 2004 /Send2Press Newswire/ -- Like most companies today,
pharmaceuticals leader Organon USA is continually looking for ways to drive their performance
upwards. In a general market environment where sales are down, stock prices across the board
are dipping, and companies in all industries are cutting jobs, forward-thinking Organon made it
a priority to figure out a way to differentiate themselves from their competition. Bringing NJ-
based design and communications firm UP Design (www.updesign.com) on board, they turned their
focus on the employees and corporate culture to gain competitive advantage.

ACTION, the acronym for the company's culture, stands for accountability, communication,
transparency, initiative, objectives, and now. These values embody the standards and behaviors
that are expected of all employees, at every level in the organization. This culture is not
necessarily a new one for Organon, it just became formalized and strongly reinforced this year.

"Normally in a down economy, companies turn away from human resources or communications
initiatives and focus narrowly on hardcore financials. But it is during the down times that we
need these programs the most. Performance is performance -- whether in a good economy or bad,"
says Andrea Sarkisian, associate manager for Internal Communications at Organon.  "What people
tend to forget is that there is solid evidence that a company's bottom line is directly linked
to its culture."

The ACTION culture was launched and communicated to employees via a series of posters,
brochures, t-shirts, articles, and multimedia -- all of which were created by UP Design. Each
of the values of ACTION was articulated through smart, punchy messages and compelling, on-
target design.

"Working on this initiative was very rewarding because it was all about progress," commented
Gary Underhill, vice president of UP Design. "The entire campaign remained completely employee-
focused, which really drove home the fact that Organon values not only its profits but also its
people."

Organon USA, subsidiary of Akzo Nobel, has a strong commitment to human health care, developing
and producing innovative prescription medicines for women's health, mental health, and
anesthesiology. Its new, state-of-the-art headquarters are located in Roseland, New Jersey.

UP Design is a leading design firm that provides a wide range of branding, marketing, and
communications services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base. Established in
1991 and located in Montclair, New Jersey, the firm is celebrating over 12 years of business
success. For more information, visit http://www.updesign.com.

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