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Why communications strategy should never be an afterthought

‘Hi, this project/product/partnership is going live next week – can you do some comms?’

All comms people dread this email. They do not dread it because they cannot work to tight deadlines, as they thrive on them. They dread it because by the time a project is close to fruition, the best comms opportunities have often already passed by.

This time, I talk to Syeda Hasnain, Head of Communications at Merck UK & Ireland, on what truly embedded communications looks like in a pharma company – and why it matters.

The importance of bringing comms in early was the first point Syeda wanted to make during our conversation. She was clear that communications deliver the most value when it is embedded from the beginning. It helps shape thinking as projects, risks and priorities are still taking form.

That perspective is informed by an unusual route into pharma. Syeda has spent most of her career in public sector communications, moving through government and health system roles before joining Merck three years ago.

The shift into industry meant she had to adapt quickly to a very different commercial environment. She reflected on the long process of getting to grips with these complexities as a steep learning curve.

However, for Syeda, becoming confident on the commercials as a communications leader is central to whether the function gets heard. If comms is going to earn a place in early strategic conversations, the team must understand what those conversations are about.

These include business priorities, supply realities, operational constraints and the language leadership teams use when decisions are being made.

Without that grounding, it is far harder to spot where communications input could sharpen a plan, mitigate a risk, or uncover an opportunity. Rather than accepting a knowledge gap, Syeda decided to do something practical about it. After returning from maternity leave last year, she took on a secondment in the commercial team to immerse herself in that world.

She did not become an expert overnight, but she did develop a much stronger sense of how the Merck business works. She also learned the opportunities for the comms function to add value. The lesson was that if you want to influence the direction of the business, you have to understand the business in the round.

What I found especially interesting was Syeda’s approach to getting communications into the room. Part of it is process, which means making sure communications is built into workflows around launches, planning and emerging issues. Part of it is personal, involving showing up, asking to observe meetings and being curious enough to ask the obvious questions.

She described it as being ‘nosy’, but in practice it is a disciplined way of making sure comms is close enough to the action to be useful. That matters because one of the traps communications professionals can fall into is defining too narrowly what counts as a comms issue. Syeda’s view is much broader.

Colleagues discussing operations, planning, supply or leadership decisions may not immediately see a reputational angle. However, that does not mean one is not there. Comms leaders should not wait to be invited only when something is visibly external-facing.

They should be close enough to the business to see where narratives, risks and opportunities are taking shape long before they surface publicly. That same confidence shapes her view of leadership under pressure. Having worked in high-intensity public sector media roles, Syeda is used to fast-moving, high-profile situations.

She believes good communications leadership is often less about dramatic intervention than about calm. When an issue breaks or the stakes rise, people look to comms for judgement. If the comms lead appears uncertain or panicked, confidence evaporates quickly.

The real value, she suggested, lies in being the steady voice in the room. This means being clear about the risk, clear about the plan and calm enough to help others move forward. Our conversation also turned to agency relationships.

These are now a major part of many in-house pharma comms roles, particularly in lean teams. It was one of the most useful points in the conversation because many communications leaders inherit responsibility for agencies without ever being taught how to manage those relationships well.

Syeda works closely with external partners and her advice on making those relationships successful was, thankfully, straightforward.

The best collaborative work comes when you build relationships that are open, friendly and transparent from the outset.

That means a clear statement of work, a proper kick-off, shared context at the beginning and giving feedback early enough to change direction before time and budget are wasted. She also spoke about the need for more diversity in pharma communications leadership.

This matters because the voices in the room directly impact whose perspective is represented. It also affects how well communications teams reflect the audiences they are trying to reach. It is short-sighted for businesses to undervalue the importance of diversity in their comms recruitment and talent pipelines.

Looking ahead, Syeda sees the communications role continuing to shift away from pure content production. It is moving further towards strategic leadership. As AI makes it easier for teams across the business to create content themselves, the distinctive value of communications changes.

It becomes more about being the function that holds the narrative together. Someone still needs to understand the brand, the messaging, the culture and the wider reputational context. Someone still needs to decide what matters, what lands and what does not.

Someone needs to be nosy and make sense of the disparate information they uncover. That was the thread running through our conversation. Whether she was talking about commercial understanding, early involvement, crisis leadership or agency management, Syeda kept returning to a core point.

She noted that communications works best when it is integrated into the business and never bolted on at the end. For comms leaders working to earn influence in 2026, that feels like a useful challenge.