The Challenge

The ability to monitor what’s happening in our bodies has revolutionized how we live; for those living with long-term health conditions, and for those wanting to optimize their overall health. Healthcare giant Abbott is a pioneer in this space, and through its wearable technology that continually monitors biomarkers in our bodies, it saw a huge opportunity to not only empower consumers, patients, and HCPs alike, but to fundamentally transform the wearables market. It had a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) in development, but the path to market was still murky—Abbott needed to clarify its business vision and align on the business models + branding approaches for consumer and medical audiences. Anomaly partnered with Abbott to bring clarity to these fundamental questions, and to provide a recommendation on how to position, brand, and launch this exciting new product offering. 

The Strategic Opportunity  

We first needed a product positioning that was bold enough to stand out in a nascent but competitive market, and broad enough to stretch across consumer and medical offerings—this meant steering away from the category tropes of shouting about product features and instead focusing on consumer benefits—giving control back to the user, and ultimately enabling them to reach their full potential. It also meant leveraging the clinical expertise of Abbott but avoiding the unapproachable and complex semiotics of most medical brands, and the dumbed-down ‘blanding’ of most consumer brands. Second, we needed a GTM approach, which would need to be different for a consumer versus medical audience, and for specific use-cases and needs. Entire branded ecosystems would be necessary for specific medical use-cases (e.g. Diabtes)—app + sensor + support system—with Abbott as its parent brand and FreeStyle Libre as its product sub-brand. The naming architecture developed was clear, simple, and descriptive. For consumer use-cases (e.g. sport performance), Abbott could choose between joining an existing brand ecosystem (leveraging an existing brand app but providing the sensor) or creating a completely new consumer brand ecosystem. In either case, Abbott should be heroed for its clinical credibility, ultimately driving recognition for Abbot as a household brand name. 

The Execution

Following our strategic work, Abbott has launched several CGM products, with a clear demarcation between prescription-only products, OTC products, and consumer products. Its CGM for Type 1 diabetes launched in 2020, under the Freestyle Libre sub-brand—its positioning is focused on ‘living with diabetes on your terms’, and its naming architecture differentiates between parent brand, Abbott, platform sub-brand, FreeStyle, and product name, Libre. The overarching identity has been modernized, balancing scientific credibility with a more welcoming, intuitive feel. A new, highly relatable and distinctive campaign was also launched by Anomaly in 2022, highlighting that knowledge is power with its “Now You Know” tagline. Abbott then launched its consumer product in 2024 under a new brand, Lingo—more distant from Abbott yet still able to leverage its credibility / reinforce its equity. Abbott announced an OTC CGM product for the US market in 2024, due to hit shelves in late 2025. 

Results

• Since its 2020 launch, Abbott FreeStyle Libre is now used by over 6 million people worldwide

• As of August 2025, Abbot’s Diabetes Care business is one of its most dynamic growth engines, driven primarily by its FreeStyle Libre CGM platform. In a relatively short span, FreeStyle Libre has achieved global leadership among CGM systems for both Type 1 and Type 2 users.

• In Q2 of 2025, FreeStyle Libre sales rose nearly 26%, and 2025 YTD Abbott shares surged 19.7%, outperforming the industry’s 7.9% growth

• In 2024, partnerships were announced between FreeStyle Libre and various insulin pump makers, including Beta Bionics and Twiist  

• In 2025, development of the first dual glucose and ketone continuous monitors for OTC were announced

Approach Highlights

• Learn—cross-functional stakeholder interviews; in- and out-of-category immersion (medical and non-medical); product, business, and consumer / patient immersions

• Build—multiple cross-functional workshops for positioning, business model, and brand / naming architecture were held, culminating in a final recommendation to executive leadership 

• Deploy—final recommendations shared with products teams for full endorsement