Eli Lilly links to ESPN Pat Summitt Reunion, looking for medical stories
Eli Lilly & Co. hopes that sponsoring an event related to heroic coach Pat Summitt will do as much for the company as the many commercials it runs annually.
When “Celebrating Pat Summitt: Live Reunion Special” airs on ESPN2 on Sunday, March 29 at 7 p.m. Eastern, viewers will learn that the program is sponsored by the pharmaceutical giant, which is eager to support programs with real-life examples of people navigating specific medical challenges, said Lina Polimeni, senior vice president and chief consumer marketing officer of Eli Lilly & Co., during a recent interview.
Summitt’s Tennessee Lady Volunteers never missed the NCAA Tournament during her 38 years of coaching, which ended after a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. With that element being an important part of her biography, Lilly was interested in sponsoring the event after the producer, Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, reached out. UTA helped orchestrate the arrangement.
“I don’t want conversations about health to only happen when people are sick,” says Polimeni. “I want health to be part of the most important conversations in culture. Sports is a big part of that.” That includes accurate depictions of people with medical conditions, she says.
The one-hour television special is moderated by ESPN’s Holly Rowe and was filmed in December at the historic Tennessee Theater in Knoxville in front of a live audience. The reunion will feature former Lady Vols stars Candace Parker, Nikki Fargas and Andraya Carter alongside Dawn Staley, head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Lilly has spent several years working to change the way people struggling with illnesses are depicted in film and TV. The pharmaceutical giant partnered with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, whose research found that characters with some of the most common diseases rarely appear on screen, and are often depicted with stereotypes or one-dimensional roles when they do.
The director says she is not looking for “a specific placement” in a film or program, but rather “a partnership to change perspective and find a way to talk about disease culture in a natural way.”
Others have tested similar tactics. Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble orchestrated an episode of ABC’s hit comedy “black-ish” in 2018, with a plot that included references to Black parents preparing their children to deal with racial prejudice.
The alliance gives Lilly a different way to reach consumers than the ubiquitous TV commercials that most pharmaceutical giants rely on. These ads are notable because they have become the lifeblood of most major media outlets, but also because they tend to be longer than other ads, largely because government regulations require consumers to be made aware of the potential side effects of a particular drug. Sponsoring a TV program that does not mention specific medications does not require time spent discussing side effects or urging the viewer to contact a doctor for more information.
“It’s always important that when we talk about medicines, we always talk about the benefits and risks of anything. I’m very, very careful about that,” says Polimeni. In the case of this sponsorship, she says, “we’re not talking about any product.” The goal is “to create good stories that make people think,” she adds.
Eli Lilly developed and produces Kinsula, a drug that can be used to treat early cognitive decline but has also been found to have side effects. The drug is not advertised during the ESPN program.
Lilly has tried to differentiate itself from other pharmaceutical manufacturers with ads that portray itself as “a drug company,” something Polimeni says creates a mission for employees.
“We really see a person on the other side of the recipe,” she says. “Each of us comes to work with a very clear vision of what that is.”
The company continues to look for potential projects it could sponsor, but hopes to find stories that portray people navigating illness with depth and detail. The company hopes to “find films and stories that are nuanced, and great characters that have the nuance of life,” she says. “And so it could be a great sitcom, in which, for example, a mother recovers from cancer.”
