In 2025, Novartis created a stir during Super Bowl 59 by using Hailee Steinfeld and the female anatomy to draw attention to breast cancer. This year, the brand is back in the Big Game, and it’s getting cheeky in a new way.
For its second year in the Super Bowl, Novartis, a global innovative medicines company and the official pharmaceutical partner of the NFL, is showcasing NFL tight ends and their … you know … “tight ends” in the name of prostate cancer.
The campaign, “Relax, It’s a Blood Test,” features several NFL tight ends, including George Kittle (San Francisco 49ers), Colby Parkinson (Los Angeles Rams), and Rob Gronkowski (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), along with Super Bowl-winning coach (and prostate cancer survivor) Bruce Arians, joining to raise awareness for testing, noting that the initial screenings can be done with a blood test.
The 60-second ad, which airs after halftime, showcases the tight ends relaxing and urges men to stop clenching their bottoms at the thought of testing, especially since one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes.
“The phrase ‘clenching your tight end’ came up in some of the research, and it just naturally led to the execution,” Gail Horwood, chief marketing and customer experience officer, Novartis U.S., told ADWEEK. “We wanted to do it with humor and really get the message across simply.”
To bring the ad to life, Horwood noted that Novartis works with an interagency team of Publicis and Omnicom-IPG and also leverages its existing relationships with the NFL, which helped secure players in their official jerseys, a move the league had to approve.
“The NFL has been an amazing partner, because they believe and share the same values and the message that we’re trying to get people to be more proactive about their health,” Horwood said, adding, “It is unusual, to be honest, you’ll see a lot of fake uniforms and nondescript uniforms [in ads].”
Novartis is also looking to support the campaign well beyond the Big Game, creating an online educational hub for men at RelaxItsABloodTest.com, risk assessment tools, screening events with its partner NFL teams, and an on-site activation at the Super Bowl.
Last year, the Novartis ad featuring Steinfeld drove millions of people to the company’s breast cancer awareness site, according to Horwood. However, the exec noted Year Two could be a bigger challenge, with men largely avoiding prostate cancer testing.
