Mexico was the first country in Latin America to receive Pfizer’s anti-Covid vaccine.
The brand purpose was made visible by vaccinating the first person on December 23, 2020.
Social impact strategies target reputation and human leadership in the pharma industry.
On the second day of the largest marketing event in Mexico, organized by Merca2.0, Paola Fontanelli was the voice of Pfizer’s experience and professionalism, American pharmaceutical company recognized by the more than a thousand attendees who learned about corporate communication with humanity.
With a small remembrance of what March 2020 was like, the Media Director managed to contrast the disruptive change that was generated in just two years worldwide, touching the hearts of dozens of students and professionals by talking about the difficult work she experienced the company before the audience, governments, doctors and patients who stood up against the new virus.
And it is that if there was a moment in which there was a greater risk of a reputational or brand crisis in the pharma industry, it was precisely at the beginning of the pandemic, when the fake news traditional media and social networks dominated, while social panic took hold of children and adults, without distinction by race, culture, country or age.
“I have a story very present. Imagine Albert Bourla who, with only 15 months of having left Pfizer as Global CEO, when it all started, in March 2020, receives a call from President Donald Trump and says: ‘doctor, I am scheduling a meeting at the White House to see what we can do’. In that meeting, with several pharmaceutical companies, leaders and scientists, solutions were being considered on how to deal with the virus after the first patient in the United States who died of Covid-19 was revealed.
This story is one of the most relevant of Pfizer’s leadership, which, per cent, left its purpose impregnated in the corporate walls and in the DNA of all those who work for the brand: “innovations that change the lives of patients”
In this scenario, the communication was not only internal, it also exploded in the minds of all consumers who calmly observed the company’s development and prevention process with the highly acclaimed anti-Covid vaccine that arrived for the first time on December 23, 2020 .
“It was a very emotional feeling. We responded with realities, we privileged information about the exhibition, collaboration over protagonism, we began to activate social impact campaigns, donation campaigns, because it was no use talking without supporting people. All of this was essential for the vaccine to reach people’s arms”, explains the expert.
All this reminder made the attendees of the Digital Marketing Congress 2022 put on the table the weight that this industry had when it came to generating strategies, not only commercial, but human and transformative, even fighting against public opinion and against strong misinformation images .
However, the biggest challenge was when Pfizer had to make a tough decision: contradict a president or remain silent to avoid conflict and controversy.
“It was difficult when, I remember, the President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, said that the Covid vaccine could turn you into a reptile… We decided to tell the truth even if it caused discomfort to high-level people who were making damaging statements.”
“Science has always been on our side, nothing was a coincidence,” says Paola Fontanelli, exposing the great and successful communication campaign generated by the new Pfizer technology that adapted and acted “at the speed of light” to immunize the world .
The conclusion of this talk could not be any other: it all boils down to the reputation that reporting with purpose generates in a brand.