Covid has created an unexpected brand building bonanza for big Pharma.
All around us we hear animated conversation about the relative merits of the Astra-Zeneca, J&J, Pfizer, Moderna, and other Covid ‘vaccines’.
Each has its own proponents who seem to be across the detail of the latest research emerging from around the world as we participate in the biggest drug trial in history.
Pfizer and Astra-Zeneca took most of the brand building honours at this early stage, but there are many others in the race. The Chinese and Russian versions, while cloaked in mystery were deemed ‘potentials’ but they carried little weight, at least in the ‘western’ world. The only common ground is the general dismissal of the Trumpian favourite hydroxychloroquine as a viable vaccine. Even if it was a genuine option, I suspect the celebrity endorsement of the former President would have seen it flushed down the loo.
This is a brand building opportunity the like of which I have never seen before.
The winner will have a huge position in the market for many years. The R&D has been funded and facilitated by unprecedented public funding, the usual clinical trialling time frames shattered by necessity, billions of dollars of free publicity, and an assured market into the foreseeable future, as well as the pole position in further publicly funded R&D.
Marketing nirvana.
