Campaigns It’s Never Over for Eli Lilly at the 2026 Winter Olympics As with so much of Lilly’s recent advertising work, Wieden+Kennedy’s specific style and tone have helped differentiate its commercials from that of other pharma companies. Jack O'Brien February 12, 2026 1:01 pm Source: Eli Lilly and Company / YouTube Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit Share by Email Print Takeaways The minute-long Never Over spot is narrated by a 1950s-style voiceover that draws parallels between sports training and the scientific method Coming off running a spot in the pregame program for Super Bowl LX as well as a unit in the streaming broadcast on Peacock, Lilly has aired Never Over during broadcasts of the Olympic competitions. The drugmaker also introduced a commercial featuring a few of its sponsored Team USA athletes in support of its Alzheimer’s drug Kisunla. Less than a week into the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, Eli Lilly has made its presence known. The pharma giant, in collaboration with agency partner Wieden+Kennedy Portland, has promoted its short film Never Over throughout the first few days of the two-week Olympiad. The minute-long spot is narrated by a 1950s-style voiceover that draws parallels between sports training and the scientific method Lilly has pursued for more than a century to bring life-changing medicines to market. These include “observe,” “question,” “hypothesize,” “experiment” and “test” – the latter of which is repeated several times before the voiceover implores the viewer to start the process over again. The spot concludes with white text across a red background that reads: “Health is never over.” Lina Polimeni, Lilly’s SVP and chief marketing officer, compared the strenuous, time-consuming work of the drugmaker’s scientists to that of Olympic athletes training over the course of their lives for an opportunity to compete at the games. From her perspective, the key message of the film is that progress in health is never finished and that while results are important, so is the journey and constant push forward. “The whole backbone of the storyline is the scientific method – you see a lot of sports play out the same way as science does,” she said. “What matters is not actually getting to the podium, it’s how you get there. Knowing how much we have done actually gives us so much more focus on how important it is to keep going.” As with so much of Lilly’s recent advertising work, Wieden+Kennedy’s specific style and tone have helped differentiate its commercials from that of other pharma companies. While some medical marketers may try to shoehorn in a litany of messages and topics into a commercial or a campaign, Polimeni said Wieden+Kennedy has been a receptive, collaborative partner that provides a singular focus on solving an actual problem. She commended the agency, which has long been associated with its work for Nike, for continuing to deliver creative elements for Lilly that break through the clutter and establish a brand presence that defies the category. “Having a visual identity that represents the brand and storytelling that’s different is even more important than it has ever been,” she noted. Coming off running a spot in the pregame program for Super Bowl LX as well as a unit in the streaming broadcast on Peacock, Lilly has aired Never Over during broadcasts of the Olympic competitions. The drugmaker also introduced a commercial featuring a few of its sponsored Team USA athletes in support of its Alzheimer’s drug Kisunla. With the games nearing its halfway point, Lilly has also teased plans for additional activations to carry the drugmaker through the closing ceremony. Additionally, Never Over is being supported by out-of-home (OOH) activations on the ground in Italy as well as stateside. Large-scale activations include a massive display at the Oculus in New York as well as an in-person experience where people can walk through an athlete’s journey to the games. In addition to being a partner of Team USA, as it has been since the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Lilly is also serving as a partner to Team Italy. As such, Lilly has adapted the Never Over creative to run in Italian on broadcasts there and has embarked on major transportation takeovers and on-site activations. For Polimeni, who was born and raised in Italy, that makes this campaign all the more special. “It’s going to be the first time I can send something [from work] to my parents that they actually understand, since it’s usually in English,” she said. Related: How did the health ads perform at the 2026 Winter Olympics? Topics: Campaigns Olympics Pharma
Curated by Taleb Kabbara · Source: www.mmm-online.com