A year after Novartis drew viewers’ attention to breasts to advocate for breast cancer screenings during the Super Bowl, the pharma giant is back with 60 seconds of relaxed buttocks to support a new cause.
This year’s homage to the tight end is meant to drive behaviour change in men and encourage them to take more preventative health measures. Breast cancer impacts one in eight women in their lifetimes, while prostate cancer impacts men at the same rate.
Early detection leads to better outcomes, yet Novartis found two-thirds of men avoid screenings.
“Through insight mining and behavioural research, we learned that there’s a fear and an avoidance of what they perceive as the digital rectal exam,” says Gail Horwood, chief marketing officer and chief experience officer, Novartis. “They don’t want to go through it.”
This year’s minute-long campaign kicks off Novartis’ “Relax, it’s a blood test” initiative designed to make men aware of the fact that most can get an initial prostate screening with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and not the invasive rectal exam that makes men literally clench their butts.
And Novartis realised there’s no better way to do that than with legendary NFL tight ends relaxing…their tight ends.
The creative idea
Last year, Novartis spent the first 38 seconds of its spot putting a spotlight on breasts with its “Your Attention, Please” campaign, only to hit them with a message that stopped viewers in their tracks: “Over 6 million viewers watching today’s game may be diagnosed with breast cancer.”
That black screen with text on it lingered for five seconds before cutting away to a breast cancer screening message from comedian and breast cancer survivor Wanda Sykes.
Despite a similar goal as last year, Horwood’s creative team took a softer approach to get its message across.
“It’s a different topic, a different audience, and there’s a different level of awareness,” Horwood tells MM+M. She added that women know they need breast cancer screenings, but there could be different barriers in place like access to screenings.
For men, on the other hand, there’s a simple test to get them started on their journey. “It was less about the jolt, the jaw dropping, the like, ‘Oh my gosh, I better go run and take action.’ And more about you probably have a misconception about this. Let’s set the record straight.”
Thus, a creative idea involving legendary tight ends was born. The brand tapped current stars George Kittle and Colby Parkinson along with NFL greats Rob Gronkowski, Greg Olsen, Tony Gonzalez, Delanie Walker and Vernon Davis to partake in lounging in a pool and hammocks, do yoga, get their hair combed, paint, birdwatch and brush a horse. Naturally, they’re all still in full uniform.
Former NFL head coach Bruce Arians, who is a prostate cancer survivor following a 2007 diagnosis, delivers the bulk of the messaging in the ad. Throughout the ad, Enya’s iconic hit “Only Time” plays.
For the campaign, Novartis tapped Publicis creative agency Fallon, which in its storied history has created beloved Super Bowl ads like EDS’ “Cat Herders” and “Running with the Squirrels” in 2000 and 2001, as well as Loctite’s “Positive Feelings” ad in 2015.
While Fallon is handling this campaign after Omnicom’s Merkley+Partners produced 2025’s hit spot, Horwood insists all of the agencies that support Novartis’ marketing efforts act as one larger team despite multiple holding companies being in the mix.
“We develop ideas as platforms. So it really does take all the media and creative agencies working together, and we asked both our media teams and our creative teams to pitch,” Horwood explains.
The ad will air during the second half of the game. The spot is the start of a broader activation strategy around key NFL events for Novartis.
Activating 'Relax, it’s a blood test' everywhere
To maximise their impact on men’s health, Novartis is leveraging its official partnerships with the NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame to launch a comprehensive prostate cancer awareness initiative. Last year, Novartis didn’t have the benefit of an official NFL partnership to immediately activate around its breast cancer screening spot.
By focusing on the football universe, the campaign integrates health advocacy into the sport’s most high-profile events, including the NFL Draft, training camps, Hall of Fame induction weekend and the Super Bowl Experience.
“Affecting behaviour change in health will take years,” Horwood says. “It just will. And so we really want to support this with a lot of different activations and activities, so it’s not just media.”
The campaign combines experiential activations with accessible digital resources:
- On-Site screenings: The program will host mobile screening events with NFL teams, offering on-site PSA testing to encourage proactive early detection.
- Educational hub: A central online platform will serve as a one-stop shop to debunk common misconceptions about prostate cancer.
- Actionable tools: The initiative provides risk assessment features and straightforward guidance on when and how individuals should seek testing.
- Event integration: Beyond the Super Bowl, the partnership taps into the year-round football calendar and venues like the Hall of Fame and team training centres to reach fans in environments where they are already engaged.
Novartis is ready to rise to the occasion
While the pharma category typically hasn’t engaged heavily in the Super Bowl, Novartis will be one of at least four companies in the Super Bowl this year. Boehringer Ingelheim is also touting preventative screenings, while Ro and Novo Nordisk are advertising GLP-1s in this year’s Super Bowl.
Horwood believes Novartis is once again up to the massive stage of the Super Bowl and ready to meet the moment. Horwood’s advice to pharma — and really all brands, because she doesn’t view the game just through the typical pharma lens — is to respect the audience.
“We view it from the audience is there to enjoy a football game. It’s one of the largest live audiences in the world, and you have to show up in a way that makes sense in that context,” Horwood says.
She recommends brands make sure their message is clear, simple, straightforward and received well. To do that, Novartis delivers its message “with optimism and humour” but still ensures its serious message is delivered thoughtfully.
Conversations with stakeholders were naturally easier following last year’s success in the game, but Horwood doesn’t take the opportunity for granted.
“We take all investment, marketing, and investment very seriously. We don’t do things because they’re cool or fun or we like to do them, and we put the same rigor behind every program,” Horwood says.
Source: MM+M.
