Simone Biles and her mom Nellie in Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro ad. (Eli Lilly)
Eli Lilly has choreographed another part of its Olympics-focused marketing campaign, partnering with seven-time medalist Simone Biles and her mom Nellie to promote the GLP-1 diabetes drug Mounjaro.
Lilly extended its deal with Team USA last year. The agreement set Lilly up to work with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams around Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028. Later, Lilly named Simone Biles and six other athletes on its Team USA roster for Paris, which begins at the end of the month. Simone doesn’t have type 2 diabetes. Her mom does and, while Nellie doesn’t take Mounjaro, it has tapped her and Simone for a TV spot about the GLP-1 drug.
The ad opens with a close up of Simone’s face as she prepares to start a gymnastic routine. In voiceover, Nellie says “my daughter works hard and so do people with type 2 diabetes.” As the camera switches to Nellie on the sidelines of the gymnastic event, the Olympian’s mom asks “if their efforts aren’t enough, could people do diabetes differently?”
Lilly has an unsurprising answer. People can do diabetes differently with once-weekly Mounjaro, another person declares in a lively voiceover. The middle section of the ad features the new voiceover explaining the benefits and risks of Mounjaro over shots of Nellie, Simone’s floor routine and her audience.
Nellie embraces Simone after she finishes the routine. The ad then shows Simone happily engaging with fans before delivering her line—”you can do diabetes differently, with Mounjaro”—while walking toward the camera shoulder-to-shoulder with her mom.
Lilly is promoting Mounjaro despite facing supply constraints. Anat Ashkenazi, chief financial officer at Lilly, told investors on an earnings call in April that the company expects “sales growth to primarily be a function of the quantities we can produce and ship” in the short to midterm.
Promoting Mounjaro may have limited impact on sales until Lilly can meet any extra demand created by advertising. Patrik Jonsson, president of Lilly diabetes and obesity, provided an upbeat update at an investor event in June, telling attendees that the FDA had removed two Mounjaro doses from the drug shortage list. Jonsson said “I think we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”
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