The Pegasus Award for In-House Team of the Year

Summary of work

Facing a year of ongoing Brexit negotiations that would dominate internal conversations, government time and media space, Sanofi set out to differentiate its corporate health communications in 2018. Recognising its responsibility to reassure patients, the public and the NHS on the continuation of access to life-saving medication, Sanofi sought to lead by example. Speaking out early and often on its own Brexit contingency plans, Sanofi positively disrupted national discourse on the future of medicines supply.

In order to achieve this, Sanofi’s internal teams had to work collaboratively across multiple functions and different geographies – a not-insignificant challenge for a multinational pharmaceutical company. By putting in place the necessary mechanisms to streamline multi-team decision-making, communicate transparently within the company, and ensure that each team member was supported with the resources to deliver on the overarching strategy, Sanofi’s UK Public Affairs & Advocacy and Communications Team carved out a distinct voice in industry. It proactively demonstrated that industry is acting to ensure the supply of medicines to the UK regardless of the outcomes of Brexit negotiations, setting the scene for wider conversations – and ultimately national policy – on the stockpiling of medicines. The upshot: patients and the public have been reassured.

Judges' comments

Sanofi's long-term outcomes are both impressive and tangible - they focused on the benefits, and it worked out really well, despite the campaign being a big risk. It was also really impressive that Sanofi got their company on national news, as specific pharma companies don’t tend to get coverage. It was a ‘ballsy’ entry and the team’s presentation was slick and professional, with their Q&A answers really cementing them as the best of the bunch.