Pfizer Japan: Innovator Fund

Client Objective/Challenge Pfizer’s marketing department decided it wanted to create more digitally-oriented projects in the promotion of their products, however this was already after confirmation of the year’s plans and budgets by their teams of marketers. To get past the lethargy and expected frustration at another initiative a special fund was created - one with committed budget and resolve from the company’s leadership. Our job was to ensure the communication reached beyond the fatigue and connected with the enthusiasm the marketers had to work for Pfizer in the first place. Creative Solution By creating a message that highlighted the most proud moments of the marketers’ lives in Pfizer we were able to connect to a deeper understanding of what the fund represented - that they had simply never had the professional opportunity to truly express their enthusiasm, and commitment to both doctors and their patients. My teams produced two email notifications: a teaser for the reveal of the new fund itself and a mail to follow up after the workshop that introduced it. In the end Pfizer liked the idea so much that they commissioned a second teaser, to further increase anticipation. We wanted to create a message that was based on an insight that the marketers were still excited to work for Pfizer despite the current lethargy, and it should be expressed through contemporary and insight-based digital marketing and trends. The resulting “Innovator Fund” focused on the 200 marketers as individuals and their ability for creativity and innovation in the field, and its logo, made from the fund’s initials in a transparent three-dimensional structure, represented discovery from all angles, core aspects the marketing leadership were keen for the fund to embody. I further engaged the target’s latent excitement by referencing Facebook's "memories" feature showing the recipients celebrating their passionate moments in Pfizer with current digital and social trends. The resulting teaser eDMs highlighted two steps in the path of a Pfizer Japan marketer that were significant in their progression (when they joined Pfizer, and also when they joined HQ Marketing), all while referencing contemporary technology in a current work setting, as suggested by the choice of the smartphones and typography. A final follow up email closed the loop by revealing the details of the Innovator Fund itself while referencing the workshop that the recipients had just attended. Results With only a month's production we exceeded our target of 20 marketing team Innovator Fund Applications by almost 300% ultimately achieving 54 and in the end the Chief Marketing Officer remarked that it was the best execution he had seen yet in his time at the company.