The Graphics History of Unum.    By Bob Anastasoff   

This article traces the use of images and logos of Unum using the Union Mutual Life 
Insurance Company lineage since its inception in 1848  to its most recent change in April 2007.
The following were used as sources:
   * Cheryl Chouiniere, Archivist at The History Factory in Chantilly VA;
   * Sheila Coyne, Eileen Farrar and Renee Amadore-Thomes at Unum;
   * A Maine Heritage.  The History of the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company.
      by George S. Jackson; Portland, Maine, 1964.

The images and logos are presented with an estimate of the span of years the image or logo was used.
Where available, background information is given on the influences on design.

1848.  Union Mutual Life Insurance Company is founded.

        1849-1941.
       Union Mutual's first business was actually done in 1849, 
       the year of the Gold Rush.
       The first use of an image/logo was the Seal of Maine.  
       This emphasized that fact that Union Mutual was a Company
       formed in Maine.
       The use of the Seal of Maine continued until 1941.
      
      1878-1879.

      Union Mutual had financial troubles in the 1870's.
      There was a great depression in 1873.

      Union Mutual constructed their own building in Boston 
      in 1876.

      A major reorganization occurred in 1876-1877.

      Union Mutual moved its headquarters from Boston
      to Portland in 1881.
 

 
                         1887.

  

      
                                1896-1918.
      Beginning as far back as 1896, there had been an
      increasing tendency to use as symbol an engraving
      of the lighthouse built on Portland Head.

 

 
                       1929-1935.
    In 1934, Rolland Irish, then President of
    Union Mutual, suggested to the Board of
    Directors that the Company adopt the
    Portland Head Light as the Company’s symbol.		       
                         1935-1937.


 
                 1938-1941.		     
                                              1941.
    For many years before 1941 (since 1896) the old lighthouse 
    on its solid rock foundation had been associated in the public 
    mind with the reliability of the Union Mutual.
   With the passage of a Maine law in 1941 forbidding use 
   of the State Seal for private purposes, the Portland Head
   Light was adopted as the official Company logo.


   
              1941-1955.		          
                    1956-1967.     		      
                          1967-1969.


 
                        1970-1985.		     A new business mission was adopted in 1970 to present
    the Company as “an aggressive, fast-growing, modern
    organization,” with a new “modern abstraction of the
    Portland Headlight” as the logo.
    Later in 1970, President Colin Hampton announced
    a new corporate identification program and the
    adoption of the Unionmutual name.

   January 11, 1985  UNUM Corporation was organized
   under Delaware law for the purpose of holding all of the
   outstanding stock of Unionmutual after the conversion.


 
                        1986-1993.		     The stock conversion took place in November 1986.
    The name of the Company was changed to UNUM Life
    Insurance Company, owned by the publicly held UNUM
    Corporation (NYSE: UNM).


 
                  1993-1999.		               
               The tag line was added soon
               after the introduction of this logo.
            
                          


 
         1999-2001.		             Provident and Unum merged in 1999.

           The Company name became UnumProvident.

           The tag line changed to emphasize income protection.
 
                  May 10, 2001 - 2002
  A new brand name and logo is launched.



            January 14, 2002 - 2007
UnumProvident introduces its four-stripe
logo refinement.  The previous logo had
too many stripes and didn't fit into marketing
and other materials/forms.

    The UnumProvident logo reflected the strength and
   flexibility of the three leadership companies – 
   Provident, Unum and Paul Revere.  
   UnumProvident now had a business model that 
   reflected the future needs of customers rather than
   the market place traditions of these three companies.

   The previous strategy of using  UnumProvident Corp
   on all holding-company material and Unum with the
   lighthouse as its marketing brand created some 
   confusion in the marketplace.  The new mark was
   used for both the holding company and the marketing
   brand in North America.   GENEX and Colonial
   maintained their own logos.

   


                 April 2007 -

 Unum introduced its present logo in April 2007.  
It also introduced a new tagline "Better Benefits at Work."

The dots over three of the letters in the logo are intended to
invoke the image of three people,  representing the company's
emphasis on three groups:
1. Unum's Customers, which are companies that provide
    Disability Insurance and other benefits to employees;
2. The Employees of Those Companies;
3. Unum's Own Workers.

The new tagline, "Better Benefits at Work," is supposed to
convey that Unum offers more than just Disability Insurance.
The "at work" reference intentionally creates a double
meaning: improved benefits at the workplace and benefit
packages that are working for those covered by Unum's
insurance and other products.


The Seal of Maine was used as the Company's logo  for over 90 years (1849-1941).   
The Lighthouse was officially used as the Company's logo for a lesser 60 years (1941-2001).
It should be anticipated that the new logo will be used for a considerably shorter time due to the
evolution of  the marketplace, ever-shortening product/market life cycles, the Company's evolving
strategies and business models and further mergers.