Flashy 3-pointers. Top athletes playing under the lights. Cameras zooming in on a celebrity making a game-winning shot. Those are the kinds of scenes you’d typically associate with a Big Pharma ad featuring a major athletic star.
Not for Eli Lilly and Company, though. The Indianapolis drugmaker has teamed up with Caitlin Clark in a subdued 60-second ad focused on health and the power of sports.
In the new ad, launched May 9, under the tagline “Start How You Can,” Clark practices on her own in a simple setting. Alongside Clark, viewers see everyday people either starting new physical activities or returning to sports after injury or illness.
That includes a pregnant mother running on a track and an amputee doing pushups at home with his young son.
Clark narrates throughout the ad: “People think you’re either good at something, or you’re not. But really, you set a goal, and you show up.”
There’s nothing “fancy” here. Clark appears in standard workout clothes and does not dominate the ad; viewers actually see more of the other people featured. And much like Pfizer’s public messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic, the campaign is less about products and more about health overall.
“I think that’s what makes it interesting,” explained Lina Polimeni, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Consumer at Lilly, in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing.
“Most superstar athletes are framed in high-tempo montages that make the rest of us feel like we’re watching a different species," Polimeni said. "We did the opposite. Caitlin is grounded, present, honest about the work. And she shares the screen with people from completely different walks of life—each of them starting how they can."
“We didn’t want perfection. We wanted truth. Because the journey to better health doesn’t begin with perfection—it begins with a first step. Wherever you are. However that looks,” she said.
Polimeni said the “Start How You Can” ad is about shifting the conversation from reactive to proactive.
“From waiting until something goes wrong to simply starting wherever you are today," she said. "That’s not a campaign strategy. That’s what ‘health above all’ actually looks like in practice.”
Lilly has a long association with sports, having been a major part of the Tokyo Olympics and last month's hosting of the NCAA Final Four basketball games. This month also marks Lilly's 150th anniversary, a milestone that has made the company look inward.
But why tap Clark for this latest campaign?
“Caitlin is an incredible athlete," Polimeni explained. "Her visibility gives the message reach—that part is obvious. But reach wasn’t the reason.
“What stood out was her perspective. Caitlin genuinely believes that exercise is foundational to better health, regardless of where someone starts. That’s not a message we handed her. That’s who she is.
“There’s also something meaningful about the Indianapolis connection—Lilly’s hometown, the Fever’s hometown, launching alongside the WNBA season opener. But shared geography was never the strategy. Shared values were. Those just happened to come with the same zip code.”
The launch is built around the Indiana Fever season opener on May 9 that was broadcast on ABC. Sunday May 10, centerspread placements hit the New York Times, LA Times, and Indianapolis Star simultaneously, Polimeni said.
On socials, takeovers with The Gist embed the campaign directly into WNBA opening weekend coverage. National takeovers on Snapchat—First Story and First Commercial—surround the full digital conversation.
The campaign then sustains through the NBA Playoffs, NHL Playoffs, and NWSL season.
“We’re not showing up once and walking away,” Polimeni said. “That’s never been the approach. We want the conversation around Health to continue to be present throughout the year; that’s why our commitment to the message extends the campaign across multiple tentpole moments.”