The Future of Pharma Has Arrived: Advertising at the Speed of Science

At Smartly Advance, the spotlight turned to an industry that rarely dominates the advertising stage: pharma. Susan Rienow, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Pfizer, joined Anil Chakravarthy, President of Adobe’s Digital Experience Business, to unpack how healthcare marketing is being reshaped by AI, personalization, and purpose-driven storytelling.

For an audience of marketers, the session was a reminder that even the most science-driven sectors must learn to balance data, creativity, and trust.

From “Science Will Win” to Cultural Brand

Pfizer’s brand became globally recognized during the pandemic. Rienow acknowledged that the company is now known by 80% of the general population - a figure that dwarfs most of its peers. But with that visibility came a new challenge: ensuring Pfizer is not seen solely as a vaccines company.

Forty percent of the company’s R&D pipeline is now dedicated to oncology, with a bold target to deliver eight breakthroughs in cancer treatment by 2030. Rienow explained that this shift has required a new brand narrative: one that communicates not just scientific leadership, but human impact.

“Science will always be at our core,” she said, “but science doesn’t exist for its own sake. It exists to help people.”

That reframe, from being science-first to being patient-centered, is now guiding Pfizer’s advertising.

The Knockout Campaign: Storytelling Backed by Science

Pfizer’s pivot came to life in Knockout, its Super Bowl campaign highlighting the company’s fight against cancer. Developed in partnership with the American Cancer Society, the ad aimed to do two things:

1. Raise awareness that Pfizer’s R&D extends far beyond vaccines.

2. Drive consumers to PfizerForAll.com, where they could access cancer screening tools.

The stakes were high. “Cancer touches 40% of Americans,” Rienow noted. “It has touched my family, and I’m sure it has touched many of yours.”

Pfizer worked with System1 to test and refine the campaign over 20 iterations before launch. The result: Knockout ranked as the most effective pharma ad ever in System1’s database and, more importantly, inspired 8 million people to begin the cancer screening process.

For Rienow, effectiveness was not just measured in brand lift but in lives impacted. “We were proud of the ranking, but more proud of the action it drove,” she said.

AI as the Engine of Personalization

Rienow was clear that AI is already embedded across Pfizer’s marketing operations. She framed its impact in two ways: efficiency and effectiveness.

On efficiency, generative AI is being used to draft and adapt creative content. Models trained on Pfizer’s historic communications database can produce tailored messaging variations for different patient journeys. This is particularly powerful in a regulated industry where every piece of content must pass rigorous review. AI-enabled medical-legal review, powered by Adobe, is also being rolled out to flag errors and speed compliance checks.

On effectiveness, AI is enabling personalization at scale. Partnerships with Meta and other platforms help Pfizer reach patients with messaging tailored to their stage in the journey from early symptom awareness to treatment decision-making. This granularity, Rienow argued, prevents wasted spend and ensures communications are actually valuable to patients.

“AI isn’t just making us faster,” she said. “It’s making us more relevant.”

Choosing the Right Moments

When asked why Pfizer chose the Super Bowl as its launchpad for Knockout, Rienow explained that channel choice starts with objectives and audience. Cancer awareness and prevention affect a broad swath of the population, making the Super Bowl, with its 26 million viewers, a natural fit.

But she stressed that it was only the start of a year-long campaign, supported by digital activations and always-on disease education efforts across oncology, migraine, and rare diseases. The lesson for marketers: don’t mistake a high-profile spot for a full strategy. Big moments work best when embedded within a consistent, multi-channel approach.

The Next Frontier: Connected AI Workflows

Looking ahead, Rienow described the current state of AI in pharma as “use case purgatory” with multiple point solutions but little integration. The real transformation, she argued, will come when these tools connect into a single workflow:

• Generative AI creating content.

• Compliance AI streamlining review.

• Deployment AI optimizing placement and performance.

• Feedback loops feeding insights back into the creative brief.

That full loop would allow Pfizer to deliver personalized communications across every stage of the patient journey - not just treatment, but symptom recognition, diagnosis, and beyond.

She also pointed to external innovation, such as Open Evidence, now used by 60% of U.S. physicians as a kind of “ChatGPT for doctors.” The implication for pharma marketers: the next wave of influence may come not from ads, but from being embedded in the tools practitioners use daily.

Why it Matters

For marketers outside of healthcare, Pfizer’s story carries lessons that extend far beyond pharma:

• Brand building and performance can coexist. Data-driven science paired with emotional storytelling can both shift perception and drive action.

• Effectiveness matters more than efficiency. Pfizer didn’t just launch a memorable Super Bowl spot; it designed a campaign that spurred 8 million people to begin cancer screenings.

• AI’s real power is orchestration. Point solutions add value, but the next frontier is connecting content creation, compliance, targeting, and feedback into a continuous system.

• Purpose must be personal. By reframing itself as a company not just of scientists but of people helping people, Pfizer is aligning its advertising with its mission.

SPONSORED BY