How a Biotech Brand Can Live Its Purpose Beyond Making Medicines with Geoff Curtis
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“Purposeful Brands” is not a new idea, but few brands have a purpose bigger than themselves and actually live it. In the world of health care, companies struggle with what more do they do outside of the treatments they deliver? In this episode we take a deep dive on what that looks like in action.
In this episode I interview Geoff Curtis. We chat about the rebrand and brand journey of Horizon Therapeutics and talk about his own personal journey.
Geoff is the Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer for Horizon Therapeutics. He has more than two decades of global healthcare communications experience before joining Horizon. Jeff worked at senior communications roles at premier agencies like Edelman, Real Chemistry GCI. He also spent time at AbbVie being a public affairs manager. In addition, he serves on the board of directors for the Child Restoration Outreach and Support Organization and is a member of the Lake Forest College board of trustees, as well as the trustee for the Institute for Public Relations.
In this episode, we cover off on a variety of topics:
The importance of cross-functional involvement in brand building
The excitement and emotions that comes from a compelling brand identity
How to live a biotech’s purpose beyond medicines
The elements of influence at the C-level
The importance of embracing failure when building a bold brand
Key learnings throughout his career in the agency world
KEY LESSONS
Branding is about coming together
When creating the foundation of a brand, cross-functional co-creation is critical.
“Everybody had a piece in the process… people could point to pieces where they say hey, I wrote that on the wall, I used those words…I see myself in that (brand narrative and guidelines). And that’s important in creating advocates across the board.”
Branding is every touchpoint and so including multiple functions to create that foundation sets the path to aligning on a brand promise to be delivered across the organization. That is powerful.
And when an organizational structure supports that kind of alignment, the sky’s the limit.
“I oversee corporate affairs. So that includes not only internal and external comms, but patient advocacy and all of brand comms, R&D comms, government affairs and CSR. And so if you look at it from that standpoint, we are the stewards of the reputation for Horizon period.”
Create a visual identity you want to show off and a brand story you can’t wait to tell
“I just had somebody on our leadership team tell me the other day that they think it's one of the best brands that they've ever come across in the industry. And they've been in the industry for 25 plus years, and that's saying a lot.”
When you aim for creative that evokes emotion, you can’t go wrong. So often logo design only serves a practical purpose “Hey I need a logo for the website”, but it can be so much more when the logo is memorable AND a representation of the brand story.
Geoff was referring to Horizon’s logo “Those four bars: patients, caregivers, physicians, community, and the hidden H that unites everything together. I mean, it still gives me chills. It really does”
Follow your purpose beyond the products you deliver
Healthcare companies sometimes feel that they are already living their purpose by developing medicines and treatments, but what Geoff has taught me is that when companies see themselves differently, they can start to do things differently from others in the industry. You start to zig, while others zag.
“I tell everybody we're just a company that happens to be in biotech. We don't make clothing, we make medicines. But that doesn't mean that we can't go beyond what we're doing from a medicine standpoint. Why not? Why can't you? And I think it's broadening the thinking and really digging in about what your brand is. Not only internally, but what it means externally… We try to show up again differently and unexpectedly from a company standpoint”
Horizon partners heavily in the sporting world – Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Sky and a six-year title sponsorship in Ireland for the Irish Open, the Horizon Irish Open. Their partnerships and sponsorships are also beyond just slapping a logo on the event. Take for example the partnership with the Cubs. Two years in a row, they’ve conducted with them a city-wide STEAM fair, where students come and show their science projects. In that show, they brought in another organization called the Science of Sport and had a demonstration around the science behind baseball at Wrigley field. This program educates kids on how science can lead to a career in sports.
When you live your purpose as “just a company” and not a biotech company, you open new possibilities to impact those in your community.
“How are you going to impact a community that is going to make a difference and not necessarily a difference where it's only beneficial for Horizon, but beneficial for everybody around us?”
Embrace the possibility of failure - You can’t fix what you haven’t tried
Don’t be afraid to take swings and face the potential of failure. Geoff recounts being the first employee in the Chicago office for Real Chemistry and if he hadn’t taken that opportunity, he would have missed the opportunity to grow an office.
“I still talk about things that gimme a little bit of PTSD. I still remember I was sitting there with a FedEx box. In it my laptop and Blackberry with basically no instructions, other than, okay, first day, get going, go get some clients, Geoff!”
It’s also about creating an atmosphere and culture where failure is acceptable. That’s how a brand can soar and take a bold position. There is no boldness without courage, and there can be no courage without the fear of failure.
“I fell my junior staff - be unbridled in your thinking and your creativity. It's okay to fail because I have your back. I'm ultimately accountable…we don't know what we don't know if we don't try it”
There is so much more in our conversation that it would be a miss if you didn’t listen to it all!
Where you can find Geoff
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