• by Les Luchter , October 14, 2024

“Slow it down, and get it going slower.”

The jingle in Astellas Pharma’s new :60 spot, providing new lyrics to War’s 1975 hit “Low Rider,” is designed to resonate with the 60+ demo being targeted.

“The low rider drives a little slower,” another line from the song, now becomes “I-Zer-Vay gets GA going slower.”

Izervay is Astellas’ year-old prescription eye injection for treatment of GA (geographic atrophy), an advanced form of dry AMD (age-related macular degeneration).

The visual of the commercial shows a woman in an orange convertible (license plate: SLOW-GA) taking “a slow, cruisey journey,” in the words of Adam Hessel, New York creative lead for The Bloc agency.

The woman’s activities include ordering at a drive-in diner and then slowly sipping her drink as she drives slowly along. Meanwhile, a short split-screen shows the woman visiting her eye doctor.

“Izervay is proven to slow GA progression, which may help preserve vision longer,” states a voice-over.

Izervay’s FDA-required “major statement” of side effects and risks occurs in the middle of the spot rather than at the end, which is much more common. Hessel tells Marketing Daily that this placement, coinciding with the woman’s stop at the diner, “helps play off her journey….Then she’s back on the road.”

“Do not drive or use machinery until vision has recovered after an eye injection or exam,” states one of the caveats.

The spot, which launched at the end of September, is set to run through Q1 2025 on broadcast (NBC, ABC, CBS) and cable (e.g., A&E, HGTV, Hallmark, National Geographic, CNN), including prime time, and morning/evening news programs. Connected TV is also involved via Paramount+, Peacock, NBCUniversal, ESPN, Hulu, Roku, Samsung TV and other platforms.

The campaign, with Good Apple as media agency, also includes radio, digital and social.

Izervay is the second drug approved by the FDA to treat GA.

The first, Apellis Pharmaceuticals’ Syfovre, received FDA approval about six months before Iverzay and similarly beat Izervay in launching an ad campaign. In the spring, it debuted a :75 commercial, titled “Slow GA.” To show how Syfovre does that, people in the spot paint slow-moving animals like a snail, sloth and turtle around their eyes.

Apellis is also still running “GA Can’t Wait,” a year-old awareness campaign for the disease, featuring a TV spot starring Henry Winkler

Astellas estimates that 1.5 million people in the U.S. have GA, with some 75% undiagnosed.