Communications

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For a biotechnology company, telling the firm’s story—to investors, the media and prospective partners—is critical to success. Communications is no less critical to the industry as a whole, and BIO acts as biotechnology’s communications arm, developing strategies to reach key audiences in the media, the policymaking community and the public.

The payoff: stories in hundreds of newspapers and magazines and on television and radio outlets that reach hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In 2005, under new President Jim Greenwood’s leadership, BIO will undertake a plan to reinforce the innovation message to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, BIO’s number one audience.

BIO already targets policymakers by advertising in the Washington, D.C., region. The awardwinning “Molecule” television commercial features researchers from the Boston area and runs during public policy shows.

To reach the general public, BIO develops brochures describing the benefits of biotechnology and pens newspaper articles and op-eds. BIO also conducts polling and focus groups throughout the year to identify gaps in public understanding of biotech issues.

MEMBER PUBLICATIONS

BIO publications keep members informed about events in Washington, on Wall Street and inside BIO. Subscriptions are available to all employees of BIO member organizations. Publications include:

• BIO News. This is BIO’s official newsletter, printed and published online every other month.
• BIO Bulletin. BIO e-mails members as breaking news happens.
• Food & Ag Weekly. This e-mailed publication summarizes all the week’s agricultural biotechnology news.
• Guide to Biotechnology. Each year, BIO publishes a reference book featuring descriptions of the technology and product lists. Each BIO member organization receives one printed copy and the full publication is available online at bio.org for downloading.

POLLING

In 2004, BIO conducted its first national and Washington, D.C., polling on attitudes toward the industry. When asked to describe what biotechnology companies do, many of the phrases voters used could have come directly from a BIO brochure:

• “Better health through science.”
• “Advancement, creativity and growth.”
• “Medical advances, future cures, research.”
• “Hope for people with terrible diseases.”

BIO found in the same survey that providing information about biotechnology’s benefits could almost double the percentage of voters with a positive opinion of biotechnology.

When told the technology has produced cancer therapies that make the disease more survivable, 91 percent of survey respondents nationally were favorably inclined toward the technology. Eighty-five percent responded positively to information about industrial and environmental biotechnology, including use of the technology to make ethanol. Agricultural biotechnology elicited a favorable opinion from 78 percent of voters when they were told the technology creates pest-resistant crops that require less pesticide.

In addition to tracking general opinion about biotechnology, BIO monitors voter attitudes about healthcare issues.

BIO.ORG

The bio.org Web site is one of BIO’s most potent communications tools and a resource for journalists, government officials, biotech executives and members of the public who want to learn more about the technology and about BIO’s positions and events. In 2004, the site underwent its most signif icant redesign since 2001, with new graphics, a cleaner layout and easier navigation. The revamped Web site now offers Webcast interviews with industry newsmakers.

BIO also launched a new membersonly section of the Web site featuring the membership directory, BIO committee information and an online version of the BIO News newsletter. All employees of member companies have access.

PROACTIVE FOOD & AGRICULTURE COMMUNICATIONS

2004 ended the first year of work by the new Food and Agriculture Communications Committee. The key objective for the committee was to examine existing communications messages created and used by BIO and the Council for Biotechnology Information, a BIOaffiliated public education group, viewing them with five years’ experience. The core messages—biotechnology provides healthier and more nutritious foods, biotech crops are good for the environment, and biotech crops will help feed developing countries—remain valid, but do not resonate against the charges of critics who believe that biotech foods are unsafe, that biotech crops are somehow bad for the environment, and most recently, that biotech crops threaten organic farmers.

To address these challenges, in mid-September BIO convened a “message summit” with experts in animal, pharmaceutical and food biotech, as well as consumer research and regulatory authorities. The resulting discussion generated messages to test with consumer opinion leaders in focus groups held in January 2005 in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and Portland,Maine. Based on the findings, existing messages will be tweaked and form the foundation for all communications activities.

Separately, BIO research on public opinion regarding animal uses of biotechnology found enthusiasm for medical applications, such as the use of transgenic animals for organ transplants and the manufacturing of drugs. Consumers also like the potential of using biotechnology to produce healthier meat, milk and eggs, as well as animals free of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease).

Genomic applications, or using marker-assisted breeding for selection of superior animals, seem unnecessary to a public largely unfamiliar with livestock and dairy production and who can find ample foodstuffs in the supermarket. Preserving exotic species such as guar or pandas was perceived as a “warm and fuzzy” benefit, but not essential.

In all cases, the overriding consumer concern was humane treatment of the animals.

BIO 2004

BIO’s annual convention is the industry’s best opportunity to reach the media and the public. BIO 2004 in San Francisco attracted 540 reporters, who took advantage of a press room and the BIO TV studio to file thousands of stories. According to a BIO post-convention analysis, almost half of the stories filed from the event were on business and financial topics. Bioethics, agriculture, drug development and protesters also generated significant coverage.

BIO TV
For the second year in a row, the fully equipped BIO TV studio broadcast from the convention floor to TV and radio outlets around the world, reaching more than 70 million people. Networks broadcasting live included CNBC, National Public Radio, Bloomberg News, PBS, MSNBC, Reuters, NHK, Australia Channel Ten, and Singapore TV. Local San Francisco broadcasters, including KRON-TV, KGO Radio and TV, and KPIX, also used the facility to feed upbeat stories about biotech to their stations.

BIO itself used BIO TV to broadcast four themed Satellite Media Tours to more than 150 U.S. and international outlets, including 15 of the top 20 U.S. markets. The topics were biotech foods, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, women’s health and targeted therapies. Guests included chef Robert Del Grande; Howard Fillit, president of the Institute for the Study of Aging; Dr. William Langston, president of the Parkinson’s Institute; Patti Labelle, singer, activist and diabetes patient; and Dr. Randall Maxey, president of the National Medical Association.

Media Brunch
Research could yield new ways to short-circuit obesity by regulating appetite and introducing healthier versions of food staples, including low-fat oils, according to speakers at the BIO 2004 media brunch, “Biotech Solutions for Obesity.”More than 150 journalists packed the room to hear speakers such as former FDA commissioner David Kessler and to enjoy a meal prepared by celebrity chef Robert Del Grande.

IN-HOUSE TV STUDIO

In 2004, BIO launched an in-house television studio at its Washington office. Initial projects were Webcast interviews featuring BIO member company executives. Topics covered thus far include plant-made pharmaceuticals and industrial biotechnology.

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