Page 66 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

Image as a Part of Corporate Strategy 47
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Communicating what you stand for

Here’s an example from a complex assignment during media training
with different members of the oncology team at Pfizer. Their mission is
to be a world leader in developing new medicines for the treatment of
cancers where patients are without treatment or have limited or
diminishing options.
The following three core values emerged from several hours of
brainstorming and analysis:

1. Pfizer is committing US $7.5 billion a year to pursue new medi-
cines – a level unmatched in the industry.
2. Pfizer has assembled the best and the brightest cancer scientists
from around the globe – a United Nations of recognized leaders in
drug discovery and development.
3. Pfizer scientists are committed to success, often pursuing cures for
a decade or more until they find the one success out of a thousand
promising compounds.

From those core values, the scientists had impressive research projects
in the pipeline that would provide positive supporting evidence. For
example, in the US $7.5 billion core value, they can add how much it
costs to develop a drug, the rate of failure, the need for new tech-
nology to speed the discovery process and other details on cost of
equipment, etc. In 2, they can refer to published works of their scien-
tific teams and successful new products. In 3, they can give personal
anecdotes, such as one scientist who started pursuing a new com-
pound to treat cancer when his first daughter was born. That same
compound is now entering Phase III (the last stage of clinical trials
before applying to the Federal Drug Administration for approval) as
his daughter enters middle school! The scientists also talked about
getting up early or staying up late for teleconference sessions with col-
leagues around the globe, or travelling inordinately to meet and
advance the science.
Core values are the foundation for benefits that are delivered to
your different constituencies. They are the major ingredients of
success. General Electric wants to be number one or two in each
market it serves because of its culture of innovation, customer focus
and ability to deliver the highest quality on a consistent basis, using its
internal process called Six Sigma. From those three pillars of the
image, GE provides ongoing evidence for each core value. It intro-
duces new products. It upgrades existing ones and replaces defective
products. It also promotes its Six Sigma process to other companies as