To stir up support for the fight against cancer, Pfizer has turned to one of the most iconic pep talks of all time.
A new ad debuting on Wednesday’s World Cancer Day borrows several snippets from the rousing speech that Al Pacino’s Coach Tony D’Amato gives his team in the 1999 sports drama “Any Given Sunday.”
Building on D’Amato’s declaration that both football and life are a “game of inches,” Pfizer’s 90-second ad suggests that cancer is, too.
The “Every Breakthrough Matters” spot flashes through a montage of the ups and downs of cancer treatment: serious and hopeful conversations between doctors and patients; snippets of frustration, anger and sadness juxtaposed against more optimistic moments of family time, teamwork and victories both in and out of the hospital; and clips of Pfizer scientists working in labs.
Meanwhile, Pacino’s actual audio from the film plays overhead, sans profanity, rallying the proverbial troops for “the biggest battle of our lives.”
“We’re in hell right now, and we can stay here, get the life kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light, one inch at a time,” he says. “You find out life’s this game of inches. The margin for error is so small—I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don’t quite make it. One half-second too slow, too fast, you don’t quite catch it.”
“The inches we need are everywhere around us,” he continues. “On this team, we fight for that inch. We tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch because we know when we add up all those inches, that’s going to make the difference between winning and losing.”
“Now, what are you gonna do?” Pacino concludes, as the background music builds to an energetic crescendo.
“Every inch. Every moment. Every day. Matters,” text on-screen reads, followed by the reminder that “Pfizer is fighting for 8 cancer breakthroughs by 2030” and a link to a page on the PfizerForAll website where visitors can learn more about which cancer screenings they should undergo.
The “Every Breakthrough Matters” ad is set for a far-reaching rollout, spanning broadcast, digital, paid and social channels, as well as a placement in Times Square, a Pfizer spokesperson told Fierce Pharma Marketing, to honor the resilience and hope that characterize all of the patients, caregivers, healthcare teams and scientists that make up the cancer community.
Pfizer first announced the 2030 goal in early 2024, describing its aim of having at least eight blockbuster cancer drugs by the end of the decade and doubling the number of patients treated with its innovative cancer meds from about 2.3 million in 2023.
The plan is focused primarily on breast, genitourinary, blood and thoracic cancers, all areas where Pfizer already has commercial products.
The company touted its drive for cancer breakthroughs in a similarly stirring ad that debuted during last year’s Super Bowl and followed a young cancer patient on a victory lap through cheering crowds from his hospital bed to his family’s home, all set to another ‘90s classic: LL Cool J’s hit song “Mama Said Knock You Out.”