• by Les Luchter , Staff Writer, August 8, 2024

The Olympics aren’t like the Super Bowl when it comes to commercial rankings. Besides USA Today’s “Ad Meter Brand Spotlight Olympics Edition,” which only gets released once the Games end, there’s really not much to go on.

So you’ll have to take my word on this: In the battle of Olympic-themed eczema ads, a humorous spot from Incyte’s Opzelura wins the gold medal, with an earnest effort from Eli Lilly garnering silver.

Lilly, an official Team USA partner, does feature Gold Medal-winner Suni Lee in its unbranded spot that equates her battle with eczema to her comeback in international gymnastics. Lilly’s eczema-fighting drug -- dubbed Lebrikizumab -- has yet to be approved by the FDA (it’s on sale in Europe under the brand name Ebglyss). Lebrikizumab wasn’t even mentioned on Lilly’s Q2 earnings call this morning, which as you imagined focused on the 36% year-over-year revenue rise caused predominantly by weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound. But the company has previously said it expects FDA approval for Lebrikizumab by end-of-year.

Nonetheless, it was the relentless advertising from rival eczema brands Sanofi’s Dupixent and AbbVie’s Rinvoq that sprang to my mind when Opzelura’s spot opened with a woman in athletic wear shouting from her couch, “Quick! There’s a pharmaceutical commercial coming on!” and another household member replying loudly, “The eczema one?”

On first seeing this, I almost rushed to the screen to see the commercial, which is what all the athleticwear-clad people in the household do during the next 15 seconds.

Then, an actual :60 commercial for Opzelura begins, making the total commercial length a highly unusual 75 seconds.

Mary Beth Rush, Incyte’s senior director, product strategy, tells Marketing Daily there was no problem obtaining inventory for the odd-length ad, which premiered nationally in June during the Olympic swimming trials. (Those trials, incidentally, took place in Lilly’s hometown of Indianapolis, and were festooned with signage and other activations for that pharma giant, which served as presenting sponsor.)

During the Olympics and the upcoming Paralympics, Rush says, Incyte has bought time “alongside” NBCUniversal’s Olympics coverage.

The company calls its total 75-second ad "Big Media Moments: Celebrate."

The :60 that follows the humorous intro, though, is a slightly revised version of “Imagine This,” an Opzelura spot that first ran last summer.

In any case, Incyte clinched the Olympics Eczema Gold Medal for me after the first 15 seconds.

Still, watching the rest of the commercial, I couldn’t figure out at first what the fictional household was so excited about.

“Imagine this,” says a woman shown walking through a garden and then playing croquet, “A mild to moderate eczema treatment that targets inflammation at a key source, right where you need it. Without steroids.”

“Imagine using one single cream to help clear skin and kick the itch,” she continues as she literally kicks the word “ITCH,” whose letters are suspended pinata-style.

“It's not imaginary,” she then declares; “it's Opzelura, eczema treatment reimagined.”

She then changes clothes, drives to town, goes shopping and ends up poolside by another body of water, all while continuing to talk about “relief reimagined.”

If only the original household members had reappeared at the end of the spot, Incyte could have beaten Lilly by more than 15 seconds, I thought.

Then, I started thinking about why the humorous household might have been so excited by “Imagine This.”

Rush says that the campaign is targeting “the millions of Americans who are living with  or caring for someone with eczema over the age of 12.”

I am not, but I imagine the family shown in the first 15 seconds is.

I also like to think that the said sufferer has “mild to moderate” eczema, which Opzelura treats, rather than the “moderate to severe” symptoms targeted by other eczema commercials (and by Lebrikizumab).

The spot also emphasizes that Opzelura is a cream that gets applied right where the problem is.  (Dupixent and Lebrikizumab are both injectables, while Rivoq comes in pill form.)

Satisfied with the premise, I happily took a look at Incyte’s corresponding paid ad campaign running on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.

“I found it! A pharmaceutical ad on the internet!,” says the woman, looking at her phone.