{"id":1220,"date":"2026-02-11T19:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/1220\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T19:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:30:17","slug":"novartis-gets-cheeky-with-super-bowl-ad-about-mens-tight-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/1220\/","title":{"rendered":"Novartis Gets Cheeky With Super Bowl Ad About Men\u2019s \u2018Tight Ends\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2025, Novartis created a stir <\/a>during Super Bowl 59<\/a>\u00a0by 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\u2019s getting cheeky in a new way.<\/p>\n

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 \u2026 you know \u2026 \u201ctight ends\u201d in the name of prostate cancer. <\/p>\n

The campaign, \u201cRelax, It\u2019s a Blood Test,\u201d 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<\/a>-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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phrase \u2018clenching your tight end\u2019 came up in some of the research, and it just naturally led to the execution,\u201d Gail Horwood, chief marketing and customer experience officer,\u00a0Novartis\u00a0U.S., told ADWEEK. \u201cWe wanted to do it with humor and really get the message across simply.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agencies involved in the campaign include Fallon (creative), Publicis N2 (media), Bespoke Sports & Entertainment (activation), and Digitas Health, as well as support from a collection of Publicis Groupe talent and resources. Horwood noted that Novartis also worked with the NFL, which helped secure players in their official jerseys, a move the league had to approve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NFL has been an amazing partner, because they believe and share the same values and the message that we\u2019re trying to get people to be more proactive about their health,\u201d Horwood said, adding, \u201cIt is unusual, to be honest, you\u2019ll see a lot of fake uniforms and nondescript uniforms [in ads].\u201d<\/p>\n

Novartis is also looking to support the campaign well beyond the Big Game, creating an online educational hub for men at RelaxItsABloodTest.com<\/a>, risk assessment tools, screening events with its partner NFL teams, and an on-site activation at the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Novartis ad featuring Steinfeld drove millions of people to the company\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Still, with the help of the message and the players\u2019 tight ends, Horwood noted that the company has an ad that can break through.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got families, friends, half the country watching the Super Bowl at once,\u201d Horwood said. \u201cYou really need to be you need to get their attention, and we think this was a really nice way to do that with this message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a> <\/p>\n

Correction: Omnicon was not involved in the campaign, as stated in a previous version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2025, Novartis created a stir during Super Bowl 59\u00a0by using Hailee Steinfeld and the female anatomy to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[584,206,585],"class_list":{"0":"post-1220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-novartis","8":"tag-general","9":"tag-novartis","10":"tag-super-bowl-commercials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}