Developing a vaccine that’s efficacious against the Coronavirus is like a podium finish at the Olympics.  Opportunity in epic proportions is the reward.  Or at least that’s how it should be.

The race to develop a COVID vaccine started in earnest last year and the speed at which these new drugs were developed boggles the mind.   The pharmaceutical companies engaged in this competition have strained every muscle and tendon in their corporate body pushing human resources to the breaking point.  However, as this all plays out on the world arena, one successful company has not been hailed as the conquering COVID hero as should be expected.  Instead, their win has morphed into a PR nightmare, devolving to a point where people, desperate to be vaccinated, are refusing to get jabbed with this vaccine.  This is an ongoing case study in great science meets horrific marketing.

Think of a new product launch as a theatrical performance.   The R&D, production, engineering, supply chain etc. can be thought of as the props, ropes and lights and all the behind the scenes “stuff” that makes the whole performance possible.  Then there is the stage where costume clad actors flawlessly deliver their lines to a captivated audience.  No matter how great a team is backstage the entire production will be judged by the performance out front.

In the pharmaceutical world, the marketing department picks up after the scientists have done their work and it is marketing’s job to get the message out to the people.  If you don’t think this is important just look at the placebo effect in any drug trial.  That said, a placebo won’t work for COVID so one would think the messaging would be simple.

AZ was one of the first companies to start vaccine trials last summer.  However, from day one they have struggled to control the narrative.   It’s like they let the backstage crew hold the press conferences rather than the marketing experts.  First, AZ had to stop the drug trial as one of the candidates died in what turned out to be an unrelated event but AZ handled the narrative poorly and rather than being praised for their excess of caution, they were maligned.  Then, in a muddled news conference, AZ seemed to indicate that their vaccine efficacy was only 62% and it didn’t work on people 65+, neither statement being accurate.   Meanwhile, Moderna and GSK announced vaccine efficacies of 95% including for people 65+.  AZ revised their efficacy to 79% and changed it again last week to 72% and, in some countries, they still haven’t gotten enough data to allow use in the senior population or, as in the USA, they have not been approved for use at all.

For people in the world of science and pharmaceuticals these things might all be par for the course; after all it’s ongoing research.  But the COVID story isn’t playing out to a scientific community; it’s playing out on the world stage.  Managing the perceptions of the general public has proven to be an unwieldy job that AZ has not been able to competently accomplish leaving a message so jumbled that it’s been up to news commentators to try to sort out the facts.

What can we learn from AZ’s bungled product launch:

1. Messaging is key:  There are two parts to any product or service.  There is the physical – this is what the product or service actually does and there  is the perceptual – that’s what people believe it actually does.   Of the two, the perceptual is often much more powerful.
2. Know your audience:  Drug trials are normally only reviewed and followed by other scientists and a few outside interest groups.  In this case the world is connected to this disease and every word, hiccup and twitch is being reported globally to a worldwide audience who don’t speak or understand the language of “science.”

The difficulties for AZ are far from over with the latest news about the possibility of the occurrence of blood clots in younger women after receiving the vaccine. Regardless of the results of further analysis in this area, the likelihood is that AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine will never reach its potential, not because of poor science but due to a failure in marketing.