A flashy three pointer. Top athletes who play under the lights. The camera focuses on the celebrity making the game-winning shot. These are all the elements you would normally associate with a Big Pharma ad featuring a celebrity from the world of sports.
But not Eli Lilly. The Indianapolis company teamed up with Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark to create a modest 60-second ad that focuses on health and the power of sports.
Under the tagline ‘Start How You Can’, the new ad, released on Saturday May 9th, sees Clark practicing on his own in a simple environment. In addition to Clark, we regularly see many people taking up new physical activities or recovering from injury or illness through a variety of sports and training.
These include a pregnant mother running on a track and an amputee doing push-ups in regular clothes at home with her young son.
In the ad, Clark narrates, “People think you’re either good at something or you’re not. But the reality is, if you set a goal, it will show up.”
There’s nothing “fancy” here. Clark is just wearing regular workout clothes and is not the star of the ad. We see more of other people than she does. And just like Pfizer’s promotions during the coronavirus pandemic, this one isn’t about the product, it’s about health in general.
“I think that’s where it gets interesting,” Lina Polimeni, Lilly’s senior vice president of consumer and chief marketing officer, explained in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing.
“Most superstar athletes are filmed in high-tempo montages that make others feel like they’re watching a different species,” Polimeni says. “We did the opposite. Kaitlyn is down to earth, present, and genuine about her work. And she shares the screen with people from completely different walks of life, each starting with what they can.”
“We didn’t want perfection. We wanted truth. Because the journey to better health doesn’t start with perfection. It starts with the first step. No matter where you are. No matter what that looks like.”
Polimeni said the “Start How You Can” ad aims to change the conversation from passive to proactive.
“From waiting until something goes wrong to just starting wherever you are today,” she said. “It’s not a campaign strategy. It’s what ‘health above all else’ actually looks like.”
Lilly has a long association with sports, having played a major role in the Tokyo Olympics and hosting the NCAA Final Four basketball games last month. This month also marks Lilly’s 150th anniversary, a milestone in which the company turned inward.
But why did they choose Clark for this latest campaign?
“Caitlin is a great athlete,” Polimeni explained. “Her visibility gets the message across, that part is obvious. But it wasn’t about getting the message.
“What stood out was her perspective. Caitlin truly believes that exercise is the foundation of better health, no matter where you start. That’s not the message we gave her. That’s who she is.
“The Indianapolis connection makes sense in some ways; Lilly’s hometown, the Fever’s hometown, starts at the same time as the WNBA’s opening game. But shared geography wasn’t the strategy. It was shared values. They just happened to be in the same zip code.”
The announcement was made around the May 9 Indiana Fever season opener, which aired on ABC. On Sunday, May 10, the center spread was published simultaneously in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Indianapolis Star, Polimeni said.
On social, The Gist’s takeover will embed the campaign directly into the WNBA’s opening weekend coverage. A national takeover on Snapchat — the first Stories and the first commercials — encompasses a complete digital conversation.
The campaign will then continue through the NBA Playoffs, NHL Playoffs, and NWSL seasons.
“We don’t just show up and leave,” Polimeni said. “There has never been an approach like that. We want the health conversation to continue to exist year-round, which is why our commitment to messaging extends the campaign to multiple key moments.”
