Pfizer Canada Recognizes Employees on Social Media with #PfizerColleagues

In 2001, Pfizer started calling their employees “colleagues’, as a way to demonstrate that those who work at Pfizer are the organization’s most valuable asset. Although the term “Pfizer Colleagues” appears in various online documents from Pfizer conglomerates around the world, it’s the way that Pfizer Canada uses it that struck a chord with me.

Since direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising is limited to product name, price and quantity in Canada, very few Canadian pharmaceutical companies bother to have a presence on social media.  It’s too risky.  However, Pfizer Canada is present on several platforms, and they actively post messages. Their messages are within the Canadian pharmaceutical advertising guidelines as they focus on PR focused on their company rather than their products.  One of their PR focus consists of their employees’ good deeds, and they tag those with the hashtag #PfizerColleagues.

The #PfizerColleagues hashtag is not new.  Pfizer Canada has been using it since late 2014 on Facebook and Twitter.  According to Hashtagify.me, the #PfizerColleagues hashtag is highly correlated with the #GiveAHand hashtag.  Pfizer Canada seems to be the only Pfizer conglomerate who is actively using that hashtag.  This is not to say that other conglomerates aren’t promoting Pfizer Colleagues in their own way, just that the hashtag seems to be specific to the Canadian branch.

Not only is Pfizer Canada taking the time to publicly recognize their employees’ colleagues’ good deeds by posting them on various social media platforms, but they are also paying to sponsor some of those ads.  Currently, Pfizer Canada is sponsoring a #PfizerColleagues post on Facebook.

Congratulations to Pfizer Canada for publicly recognizing its colleagues’ good deeds for their community on social media.  That’s what great leaders do – they boost the ones that make their organization what it truly is.