‘Reputation is earned in drops and lost in buckets’

Takeaways from the IABC World Conference Keynote with Pfizer’s Sally Susman on making the impossible, possible  

Written by Andrew Barclay, Senior Communications Manager at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and IABC NSW member.  

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For Sally Susman, the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer & Executive Vice President at Pfizer, attending the G7 in Cornwall last month was a moment of immense pride.  

“It says a lot that President Biden wanted Pfizer to stand next to him on the global stage,” she recently told the virtual crowd at her opening keynote for the IABC World Conference from New York.  

“That was the sign that Pfizer’s reputation had changed.”  

Just a year prior, the scene would have been unimaginable given big pharma's reputation.  

A 2019 report from analytics firm Gallup ranked the pharmaceutical industry as “the most poorly regarded industry in Americans' eyes, ranking last on a list of 25 industries that Gallup tests annually – with Americans more than twice as likely to rate the pharmaceutical industry negatively (58%) than positively (27%).  

So, what is behind the dramatic turnaround?  

In a fascinating behind-the-scenes story named "The Vaccine Race - A Story of Collaboration and Communication", Susman explored the answer to that very question - providing an insider’s story of making the impossible, possible – and the role that communications can play.  

           Purpose is everything  

For Pfizer, its purpose - “to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives” - is brought to life through employees keeping photos of patients or loved ones on their desks. In Susman’s case, this is a photo of her mother who has Lupus. She says this played a key role in ensuring alignment to purpose.   

Doing things differently  

But equally as important was elevating the role that communications would play ensuring the public remained confident in the process of bringing the vaccine to market.  

“It would be tragic if they created the vaccine and people didn't trust it, so supporting the vaccine became priority number one.”  

This meant doing things differently.  

Susman pointed to how she pushed for the company to publish its vaccine protocols – something it had not done in the past. To do this, she had to convince the scientists who saw the data as their intellectual property.  

Susman said she knew she did not want to have to argue publicly about why they didn't release the information - potentially fuelling unwanted speculation.   

“Our commitment was full data, no shortcuts,” added Susman.   

“Science will win.”  

Building bridges  

When it comes to combating misinformation, the company also took a different approach.  

“Don't go on the attack and question motives. That’s why I don’t use the term ‘anti-vaxxer’.”  

Susman said testing messaging and messengers was crucial in determining how to communicate.   

“You need simple, compelling statements that can break through.”   

On the messenger, Susman said the research challenged some interesting assumptions.   

“It's not the superstar celebrity. It's the teacher, the preacher or the lady next door.”   

Thanks to IABC Asia-Pacific for the opportunity to attend.