Eli Lilly & Company hopes its sponsorship of an event named after heroic coach Pat Summitt will be as profitable for the company as the many commercials it runs each year.
When “Celebrating Pat Summitt: A Live Reunion Special” airs Sunday, March 29 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2, viewers will be informed that the show is sponsored by Big Pharma. Pharmaceutical giants are keen to support shows that feature real-life examples of people overcoming specific medical challenges, Lina Polimeni, senior vice president and chief consumer marketing officer at Eli Lilly and Company, said in a recent interview.
Summit’s Tennessee Lady Volunteers never missed an NCAA Tournament during her 38 years coaching, which ended with a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Because that element is such a big part of her biography, producer Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions reached out and Lilly was interested in sponsoring the event. UTA helped coordinate the arrangement.
“We don’t want health conversations to only be when people are sick,” Polimeni says. “I want health to become part of the main conversation in culture, and sports are a big part of that,” she says, as well as accurate depictions of people with medical conditions.
The hour-long television special was hosted by ESPN’s Holly Rowe and was filmed in front of a live audience at Knoxville’s historic Tennessee Theater in December. The reunion will feature former Lady Vols stars Candace Parker, Nikki Fergus, Andraya Carter and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley.
Lily has been working for several years to change the way people battle disease are portrayed in film and television. Big Pharma is collaborating with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, whose research has revealed that characters with some of the most prevalent diseases rarely appear on screen, and when they do, they are often portrayed in stereotyped or one-dimensional roles.
The executive said he was not looking for “a specific position” in a film or show, but rather “a partnership to change perspectives and a way to talk about the culture of natural disease.”
Others have tested similar tactics. In 2018, consumer products giant Procter & Gamble developed an arrangement of episodes of ABC’s hit comedy “Black-ish” that featured a plot that included references to Black parents preparing their children to deal with racial prejudice.
The partnership gives Lilly another way to reach consumers beyond the ubiquitous TV commercials that many big drug companies rely on. These ads stand out not only because they are the lifeblood of most mainstream media, but also because government regulations require them to inform consumers about the potential side effects of certain drugs, and they are usually longer than other ads. If you sponsor a TV show that doesn’t mention specific drugs, there’s no need to spend time discussing side effects or urging viewers to consult their doctors for more information.
“When you talk about medicine, it’s always important to always talk about its benefits and risks. I’m very careful about that,” Polimeni says. In the case of this sponsorship, “we’re not talking about any product,” she says. The goal, she added, is “to create great storytelling that makes people reflect.”
Eli Lilly develops and manufactures Kinsula, a drug that can be used to treat early cognitive decline but is known to have side effects. This drug will not be advertised during the ESPN program.
Lilly has tried to differentiate itself from other drug makers with advertising that portrays the company as a “drug company,” which Polimeni says gives its employees a mission.
“We really look at the human being on the other side of the prescription,” she says. “Each of us comes to the job with a very clear vision of what it is.”
As the company continues to explore potential projects to sponsor, it hopes to find stories that depict deep and detailed stories of people battling the disease. She says the company wants to find “great characters with nuanced filmmaking and storytelling and nuanced lives.” “So, for example, it could be a great sitcom that also features a mother who is recovering from cancer.”
