Dive Brief:
- French drugmaker Sanofi SA this month debuted a brand campaign, rolling out a corporate signature for the first time in more than six years to help unify the multinational company's five businesses around a single message of "Empowering Life."
- Launched on Oct. 18, the campaign website includes stories about the health challenges of malaria, diabetes, influenza and pain — all key therapeutic areas that align with Sanofi's vaccine and pharmaceutical portfolios.
- Sanofi plans to launch paid media on digital channels in the U.S., France and Germany beginning in early November, to be followed by a TV campaign in France.
Dive Insight:
As debate over pricing continues to pervade public perception of the drug industry, it's hardly surprising that Sanofi has chosen to use its rebranding exercise to emphasize the company's role as a partner in health and disease.
"We see Sanofi as a health journey partner," company CEO Olivier Brandicourt said in a video introducing the campaign. "From protecting people with our vaccines, to easing their pain and suffering with our treatments."
Creative material supporting the campaign focus on people rather than products. In that sense, it differs from other recent branding campaigns from the industry that emphasize science and bold medical discoveries.
Videos debuting the signature center on the simple question 'How are you?," asked by people looking directly at the camera.
Sanofi isn't the only one in the industry trying to shift attention to the more positive aspects of the industry. In the U.S., the powerful lobbying group PhRMA has launched a multi-year marketing and outreach campaign, called Go Boldly, that focuses on the pioneering efforts of researchers and clinicians to cure disease.
Pfizer, Inc. has stuck to a similar theme in its "Before It Became A Medicine" advertisements.
On the other side of the industry, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association has kept the focus on price, rebranding as the Association for Accessible Medicines early in 2017 to emphasize the lower cost of generics and biosimilars.