SQM's actual corporate identity is the result of a historic process. Through the
years the company had to re-invent itself once and again to successfully meet the
changing demands from its markets and customers. This development had many faces,
of which the characteristics were embodied in the successive logotypes that today
tell the story of SQM.
The origins: Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A.
The ear of wheat crossing the central letter Q in the logotype clearly indicated
the company's orientation towards agriculture and in particular towards extensive
crops, such as wheat, oat and barley.
The company's most important product was sodium nitrate, which competed with commodities.
There was no market for more sophisticated products, as they were targeted towards
smaller producers, who focused on achieving high production outputs at low cost,
rather than offering products with an important added value.
But the company's goal was clear in its logotype. The ear of wheat was born at the
bottom of the letter Q, from where it grew beyond its contours, thus dominating
the entire logotype. The perfect metaphor for the mission of the Sociedad Quimica
y Minera de Chile: expanding business in agriculture, to produce better fruits and
to harvest success.
During the eighties a real metamorphosis took place: the company started investing
in the production of potassium nitrate, a natural fertilizer that was rapidly and
successfully positioned in the market, and later on embarked upon the production
of iodine. Thus, SQM expanded its target market, in which the main competitor -the
commodities- remained present but with a systematically decreasing market share.
The nineties: Soquimich
In the nineties the colour green invaded the company's logotype. And certainly not
by coincidence, because the colour green is still used by SQM for it represents
the company's intimate relation with nature, which is both the source and the final
destination of its products.
The logotypes kept reflecting the image of firmness and determination, but they
were reduced to their basics, hence the tight styling, which were fully in line
with the ruling guidelines: rectangular shapes reflected the era of industrialisation
in which the new corporate identity took shape.
Soquimich's growth accelerated, product lines were expanded, new production processes
were discovered and applied, and the plants were modernised. Thus a new era of expansion
was born, during which Soquimich no longer only focused on agriculture but also
started integrating industrial products that were successfully commercialised and
significantly contributed to the sales figure.
Soquimich thus rapidly acquired an important market share, which led the foundations
for the development and establishment of the four business areas, which are still:
fertilizers, iodine, lithium and industrial chemicals.
This period, characterised by a constant drive to produce at low cost and to improve
the production processes, reached its peak at the end of the nineties. Soquimich
had then increased its product range on so many levels, that it became necessary
to focus on a new task: to differentiate, to create added value and to communicate
its competitive advantages to its consumers.
Today: SQM, The Worldwide Business Formula
The actual SQM logotype personifies everything the company stands for today: it
was deliberately designed with many curved elements to suggest movement. It reflects
the company's evolution towards a new goal, where the focus is no longer on the
product, but on the customer needs.
Its curved lines point upwards as a graphical metaphor for the accelerated growth
of the company, which, being confronted with the vigorous growth of the world economy
and its new challenges, started to refurbish its structure and position which finally
led to a new corporate definition in 2004.
The colour green remained: it could not be other than green because SQM stands for
nature, life and movement. But today that green is more intense, more organic, more
contemporary.
A new slogan was launched: “The Worldwide Business Formula”, which exactly
reflects what SQM stands for:
- The Worldwide: SQM is present all over the world, by means of fully owned companies,
affiliated companies, or joint ventures. That way, SQM stands for global solutions
but at the same time local tailor-made solutions.
- Business Formula: SQM intimately knows the business of its customers and exactly
knows how to make them prosper. Its proximity, commitment, experience and know-how,
allows SQM to deliver business formulae that guarantee their growth.
This business formula, which is based upon the high quality products and services
that SQM provides and which is targeted at meeting the needs of every customer among
the 350.000 customers worldwide, is powered by its new warranty seal: “The
Element Q”.
It is the element that differentiates its business formulae, is the element that
summarise in just one concept all the benefits that SQM offers to its customers
worldwide: Qonfidence, Qnow-how, Quality, Qloseness, Qommitment, and Qreativity.
“The Element Q” is the heart of SQM. It is the element that unites more
than 3.300 employees into one big family: the SQM family. It is its emblem, its
spirit and its signboard. It is its unique warranty seal.
Therefore, from now on, SQM stands for: The Worldwide Business Formula.
Therefore, from now on, we are all Powered by The Element Q.