PR Squared: Social Media Rx

The webmaster for a major pharmaceutical company contacted me this week re: the Social Media Press Release (SMPR). One point that came up quite a bit, not surprisingly, was how the SMPR might fit (or not) within the stringent legal guidelines that guide the daily operations at pharma companies. "The lawyers look at everything," he noted.

I'd argue that the SMPR is a boon to the legal eagles. Let's look at Pfizer (which is not the pharma that contacted me). Pfizer makes a new drug (announced mid-May) called Chantix, for smoking cessation. Cool! A quick Google Blogsearch reveals appx. 2,000 blog posts about Chantix. A Google Image Search reveals 25 image results for Chantix.

How many of those blog posts and images are irregular, illegal, misrepresentative, ugly or just plain wrong? A dark edge of Consumer Generated Media is that the editorial standards for accuracy fly out the window.

And is it any wonder? If you take the time to dig deep, you'll see that Pfizer made many of the elements of the SMPR available when it announced Chantix. There's a list of basic news facts up-front. There is a full suite of Chantix-related pics (like the docs pictured here) & videos at a site called "The NewsMarket." There are in-depth pdf fact sheets on the drug and the market demand. Bravo!

But it is more telling to consider what Pfizer did not include in the announcement.

What if you are a blogger or even a traditional reporter, and you want to use a photo of the new pill for your post or article? I couldn't find one, not even on the official Chantix site. OK, no biggie, let's use the Chantix logo. Whoops: can't get a workable Chantix logo off the Pfizer site, nor the Chantix site. Hmm. How about the official Pfizer logo, then?

Photo: A free corporate logo to accompany this story is available immediately via Wieck Photo Database to any media with telephoto receiver or electronic darkroom, PC or Macintosh, that can accept overhead transmissions. To retrieve a logo, please call 972-392-0888.

Sheesh! Way too much trouble, especially for a typical blogger. (And I can't help but wonder if a "typical blogger" would have been granted quick access to that logo?) It was also too much trouble, if you ask me, to require the potential storywriter to travel to a separate site to find graphics. The NewsMarket site is clearly designed for use by professional journalists at "official" publications.

While Pfizer is to be lauded for doing a lot of things right, one of the essences of PR 2.0 is to make content readily available & re-mixable by any potential writer --- whether professional or "amateur."

A blogger who wanted to do right by the Chantix announcement would have been forced to do end-runs around the obstacles put in place (purposely or not) by Pfizer's PR team. Wouldn't the Pfizer lawyers and brand-managers rather see lots of OFFICIAL Chantix and Pfizer logos? Wouldn't they want to see jpegs of the ACTUAL pill, instead of lots of cheesy cigarette graphics (like the one pictured here)?

The SMPR is not all things to all people. But it is a step toward offering all potential resources to all potential stakeholders. PR 2.0 is about the democratization of content; corporations must now create content for everybody, not just a journalistic elite.

Tags: marketing, public+relations, social+media, press+release