Pfizer was in attendance at Super Bowl 2024 to tell the story of science with its TV commercial ‘Here’s to Science.’ The ad pays homage to notable scientists throughout the times and also celebrates 175 years of Pfizer’s contributions to scientific innovation.
Taking viewers back to the scientific principles of Hippocrates to Sir Isaac Newton’s foundational work on gravity, Rosalind Franklin’s key role in the discovery of the structure of DNA to Pfizer scientist Kena Swanson’s work on the world’s first RSV vaccine Abrysvo for infants and older adults, the 60-second commercial takes viewers on a journey through the history of science and the groundbreaking work of key scientists. There is a longer 90-second version of the ad from which the ad is cut from.
Founded in 1849 by cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, Pfizer was originally launched as Charles Pfizer & Company with a $2,500 loan “and a dream to build one of America’s first chemical companies,” outlined Pfizer in a news piece titled “On the Shoulders of Giants that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the ad, including more detailed science history.
The ad features paintings, photos and statues of famous scientists throughout the times, including Isaac Newton, Galileo, Rosalind Franklin, Marie Maynard Daly, Albert Einstein and Pfizer founders Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart singing to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
In the commercial, Pfizer highlighted some of its major scientific offerings throughout the centuries, which include contributions to the mass production of penicillin and creating COVID-19 vaccines.
The ending of the ad features Nobel Prize winner Katalin Karikó for her work on mRNA.
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The commercial also highlights notable, pioneering women scientists, such as DNA researcher Rosalind Franklin, who is featured in a posthumous Time magazine cover, Mary Somerville, who is dubbed Scotland’s first scientist and Black biochemist and cardiac scientist Marie Maynard Daly.
Pfizer said over time, the company has become “a part of the fabric of history and healthcare.” In 2023, alone, the company said its medicines and vaccines reached more than 1.3 billion people, or one out of every six people on earth.
Pfizer’s ‘Here’s to Science’ commercial journeying through science ends off with Pfizer promising to take on “the next fight,” which for the company is cancer. The end screen shares a link to Pfizer’s cancer website,
The making of the Pfizer commercial is featured in a ‘Here’s to Science’ behind the scenes video.
In the video, Pfizer’s chief marketing officer (CMO), Drew Panayiotou said the iconic Queen song “cuts across generations with the words ‘don’t stop me now,’ which is a great line for Pfizer.”
Judy Sewards, Pfizer VP Brand, said one of her favorite scenes in the commercial is the one featuring women in medical school in the mid 1800s, a time when women were just getting the first opportunities to attend medical school.
Panayiotou said the “Super Bowl is a wonderful platform” and “probably the only platform in the world where you can talk to every audience that’s out there, both B2B and B2C.”
This is the first time that Pfizer has run a corporate ad at the sporting event.
It is estimated that the ad cost Pfizer $7 million to $14 million for the Super Bowl ad time and another $7 million for what it cost to make the commercial.
Pfizer has been laying off workers since last year, with more expected in 2024.
Pfizer said Charles Pfizer’s vision for quality still rings true today: “Our goal has been and always continues to be the same: to find a way to produce the highest quality products, and to perfect the most efficient way to accomplish this, in order to best serve our customers.”
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