Should Pharma Start Thinking Like Black Rifle Coffee? Tryna Start a Debate...

Why it might be time for commercial leaders to embrace an “America First” branding strategy

In the world of pharm/biotech marketing, we speak fluently about innovation, access, and health outcomes. But there's a growing language we’ve yet to adopt: national identity.

Outside our industry, brands like Black Rifle Coffee, Chevrolet, and Harley-Davidson thrive not just on product features, but on emotional allegiance to America itself -- celebrating patriotism, service, resilience, and individualism. These brands don’t just market a product; they market a worldview. And in 2025, that worldview is undoubtedly gaining momentum.

So let me pose a simple but provocative question: Is it time for pharma to brand American?

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The Market — and the Moment — Are Ripe

There’s a clear trend: Big Pharma is reshoring. Eli Lilly, for example, is investing $27 billion in U.S. manufacturing and publicly courting states for factory locations -- a move unprecedented in its transparency and scale. Merck, J&J, AstraZeneca, and Novo Nordisk are making similar moves. Meanwhile, foreign investment in traditional hubs like Ireland is cooling rapidly due to looming tariffs and political uncertainty.

Layered on top of this is the Trump administration’s escalating pressure on the industry to “bring it home,” complete with promises of tariff grace periods and demands for most-favored-nation pricing. The political climate and momentum is unmistakably pro-domestic medicine production.

And yet, while operations are coming back to American soil, our narratives aren’t.

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We Build in America. But Do We Tell That Story?

Here’s the disconnect: Our commercials still hover around empathy, access, and innovation — vital values, to be sure. But they don’t tap into the deeply psychological, tribal pull of American exceptionalism, even as our plants, pipelines, and partners become more red, white, and blue than ever before.

In contrast, companies like Black Rifle Coffee proudly blend mission with identity. They aim to hire 10,000 US military veterans. Their branding is unapologetically patriotic and humorously pugilistic, tapping into a rich cultural vein that resonates with tens of millions of people. Why shouldn’t pharma, a life-saving and increasingly domestically anchored industry, do the same?

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National Identity Might Be a Psychological Shortcut to Trust

From a psychological standpoint, identity-driven marketing is one of the most powerful motivators. It doesn’t just communicate value. It anchors meaning.

When we see a brand as aligned with our values or national identity, we’re more likely to trust, forgive, advocate for, and stick with it. This is Marketing 101, filtered through the lens of behavioral science.

And in a political climate where “Made in America” is no longer a footnote but a badge of honor, pharma has the opportunity to ride a cultural wave, not just a compliance trend.

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Clinical Trials as National Defense

The geopolitical implications are even more profound.

As outlined in a recent STAT News op-ed, our clinical trial infrastructure — powered by U.S. contract research organizations (CROs) — is more than an economic engine. It’s a national security asset. In a future crisis, whether biological or geopolitical, the country that can rapidly test and deploy new therapies holds power.

Other large nations, especially China, have already connected the dots. Their centralized investment in biotech and AI-powered R&D is designed not just to innovate, but to compete globally — and potentially outpace us.

This puts pharma marketers in a unique position: we’re not just telling stories about disease. We’re telling stories about American resilience, leadership, and sovereignty.

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Mark Cuban, the Military, and a New Model of Pharma Identity

Consider EQUIP-A-Pharma, a new Trump-era initiative where Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and major universities are partnering to build domestic manufacturing infrastructure for generics. It’s part pharma, part defense program, part moonshot.

Imagine if the messaging reflected that reality.

Envision this: "American-made medicine. For every warfighter, every grandmother, every child." Or: "From Indiana to your neighborhood — innovation without imports."

Would that resonate? In today’s climate, it's likely it would.

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This Isn’t Just About Optics. It’s About Influence.

If pharma embraces national identity as a narrative, thoughtfully, ethically, and inclusively, we won’t just be strengthening our brands. We’ll be:

• Aligning with bipartisan policy momentum
• Creating emotional affinity with voters and policymakers
• Building a platform for advocacy during pricing debates
• Reclaiming the narrative from critics who see pharma as globalized and detached

And perhaps most importantly, we’ll be protecting our relevance in an era where medicine is no longer just about science -- it’s about sovereignty.

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The Opportunity Is Real. Who Will Move First?

This is more than a branding exercise. It’s a chance to shape the public imagination around American healthcare leadership.

So here’s the call to action: Who will be the first pharma company to wrap a manufacturing announcement in a flag -- not as a gimmick, but as a signal of strategic and cultural alignment?

If car companies, coffee brands, and even compounding pharmacies can lead with American identity, then surely the companies that save American lives can too.

It’s time to start thinking -- and marketing -- like it.