Novartis is bringing breast cancer awareness to Super Bowl LIX with the help of Hailee Steinfeld and Wanda Sykes

For the first time ever, Swiss pharma major Novartis is coming to the Super Bowl with an ad in its “Your Attention, Please” campaign. Hailee Steinfeld and Wanda Sykes star in this 15-second promo for the commercial, which urges everyone to pay attention to the "important stuff" in front of them-because nobody ever seems to have a spare minute.

The multi-channel campaign will help increase awareness of breast cancer, which is the second most common type of cancer in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer death among American women. It will also raise annual screening rates.

Novartis is coming to the Super Bowl with an ad in its “Your Attention, Please” campaign

Novartis is promoting the importance of regular breast cancer screenings on one of television's biggest stages. The drugmaker is to air its first Super Bowl ad during the repeat matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on February 9, marking the first time the ad has aired in history.

Novartis, a breast cancer drug company, launched a "Your Attention, Please" campaign on its massive platform to encourage viewers to prioritize their breast health. “We continue to be very active in the therapeutics space, but we also asked ourselves, as a leader in this space, what else can we do?” Victor Bulto, president of Novartis US, said in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing.

The answer was “pretty clear,” he said: Address the breast cancer diagnosis gap. "Right now, we know that 1 in 2 women, unfortunately, don’t get their regular mammograms,” he continued. “And we also know that the best chance that they have at surviving is early diagnosis. There’s recent data that point out that early diagnosis can translate into a 99% survival rate—and honestly, that’s what we would like to achieve for every single woman.”


The campaign aims to turn attention to women's breasts in society and emphasize the need for better diagnosis and mammograms. Bulto, the creator, said the full commercial is under wraps until its prime-time debut, but it will play on the attention often given to women's breasts.

“You will see an ad that defies the current norms of pharma advertisement because, in fact, it is not a pharma advertisement,” he said, emphasizing the ad’s goals of raising awareness about the importance of breast health and, in doing so, increasing early detection of breast cancer.

Also Read: “Honored and so proud”: Hailey Steinfeld revealed her participation in the Super Bowl, by collaborating with Novartis for the promotion of breast health

Novartis isn’t the only health brand making its advertising debut at the big game. Hims & Hers also announced on Tuesday morning that it would release a minute-long ad highlighting its compounded GLP-1 weight loss drug offerings.