Pfizer participated in this years Super Bowl 12 February 2024. The New York-based US pharmaceutical company aired its 'Here's to Science' commercial during the event, framing its work to beat cancer as part of a history of discovery dating back to the dawn of medicine.
The Super Bowl is the most anticipated sporting event in the United States, watched by millions of viewers and moving billions of dollars in sales and marketing. It is the final of the NFL (National Football League), the American football league. Last Sunday, the game was held at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, in front of 70,000 spectators, with the Kansas City Chiefs winning.
Super Bowl commercials are a spectacle within a spectacle, an opportunity for brands and advertising creatives to present their work to more than 100 million viewers.
In the 60-second spot aired during the third quarter of Sunday's game, Pfizer shows paintings, statues, and photos of such figures as Isaac Newton, its founders Charles Erhart and Charles Pfizer, Galileo, and Albert Einstein singing along to Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now'. These icons of science and medicine sing a sort of impromptu hymn to the progress of medicine.
In addition to showing many of the leading men in the history of science, Pfizer's ad highlights women who have made important contributions, often without the same level of acclaim. The posthumous cover of Time magazine portrays Rosalind Franklin, who played a key role in the discovery of the structure of DNA, as well as images of 19th century scientist Mary Somerville and pioneering black biochemist Marie Maynard Daly.
The spot, which features a scene in a female medical school, focuses on Pfizer's contribution to the mass production of penicillin and the creation of vaccines against COVID-19. Katalin Karikó, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on mRNA, appears towards the end of the commercial.
After a step-by-step tour of scientific history, the on-screen text says 'on to the next battle' and shows a link to Pfizer's cancer website. In the final frames, a girl is discharged from hospital and leaves as she is applauded by the staff for beating the disease.
"Health is an issue that binds us all together," said Drew Panayiotou, global head of marketing, in a statement. Adding that "the Super Bowl is a tremendous opportunity for Pfizer to reach a mass audience to spread the word about our progress, our vision for the future and our commitment to fighting cancer."
Pfizer spent $2.8 billion on advertising globally in 2022, up from $2 billion in 2021; according to the Ad Age Datacenter, most of the pharmaceutical company's spending was in the US.
The commercial was created by advertising agencies Publicis Conseil and Le Truc/Publicis NY. Pfizer has arguably declined to comment on how much it spent on the commercial. The Wall Street Journal reported that the brands paid about $7 million for 30 seconds of advertising at this year's Super Bowl, suggesting that Pfizer may have paid about $14 million in addition to the cost of making the video. Pfizer said the goal was to "celebrate science in a fun, engaging and uplifting way" that captured the persistence and relentlessness of scientific discovery.
The commercial comes at a time when the pharmaceutical company is celebrating its 175th anniversary and seeks to promote a dynamic and optimistic message about Pfizer's future to the public, investors and employees. But Pfizer's financial outlook for 2024 is not bright. Pfizer is known to have laid off hundreds of workers last year and the trend seems to be the same in this early 2024.
The company hopes to turn around its fortunes by focusing heavily on cancer treatment, which will become its main revenue stream, partly due to the $43 billion acquisition of Seagen.
But surveys show that the pharmaceutical industry remains the least trusted sector of the US economy. Notably, while the ad shows an image of mRNA and Nobel Prize winner Katalin Karikò, it does not mention the anti-COVID vaccine specifically. This too is probably intentional. According to some, the company avoided mentioning the anti-COVID vaccine in order not to have a negative impact on people who do not believe in the usefulness of vaccines. By focusing instead on the treatment of cancer, the advertisement may engage many people, by associating the Pfizer brand with something other than Viagra or COVID vaccines.
The spot wraps up by introducing Pfizer's new website dedicated to oncology, LetsOutdoCancer.com. The company is devoting about 40% of its R&D investment to oncology, where it has more than 45 programmes in development. Pfizer recently announced a $15 million collaboration with the American Cancer Society. Among the goals is to raise awareness of early screening in underrepresented communities. This multi-year partnership will open up more clinical trials for these communities while supporting their health outcomes. Pfizer also provides resources for cancer patients and their carers, offering ways to stay active, improve mental health, share personal stories and connect with financial support for treatment.
Pfizer states that its vision is to live in 'a world where people with cancer live better and longer'.