What if people got as excited for pharmaceutical ads as they did for live sports?

That’s a hypothetical question that Incyte decided to explore as part of its campaign in support of Opzelura, a topical cream indicated for treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis. The campaign centers around Big Media Moments: Celebrate, a 75-second TV spot that takes a meta approach to medical marketing by poking fun at the most common tropes found in pharma advertising.

In the ad, a group of people dressed in athletic gear race to the living room to watch a pharma spot — “the eczema one” — air on TV. The following 60 seconds feature a reworked version of an Incyte commercial from last year promoting Opzelura.

The ad and Incyte’s accompanying social media posts were designed to reach the more than 30 million Americans living with eczema. The campaign launched during the Olympic trials in mid-June and is slated to continue through the Paralympic games.

Incyte thus joined a long list of health, pharma and wellness brands advertising during the Olympics. The ratings for this year’s games have exceeded those from the 2021 Tokyo games.

The campaign represents a tonal break with previous Opzelura marketing efforts, according to Incyte senior director of product strategy Mary Beth Rush. Prior to the current campaign, the brand was marketed in a minute-long ad narrated by Morgan Freeman and via the Moments of Clarity program, an initiative highlighting the stories of people living with eczema helmed by Mandy Moore.

The current approach was motivated by the energy surrounding this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris — which, Rush said, represent “pure joy and excitement.” She added that Incyte’s target audience responds well to humor. 

“The intent is that this is good-natured comedy, poking fun primarily at our own advertising,” she explained. “We expect the broad audience to understand it as such.” 

Incyte is also hoping that the humorous approach will help Opzelura stand out in a congested dermatology space. The company has already taken decisive steps over the past few months to bolster its presence in the market, acquiring Escient Pharmaceuticals and its once-daily small molecule antagonist EP262. 

Rush stressed that Incyte’s approach doesn’t minimize the seriousness of atopic dermatitis but instead injects a little fun at the industry’s — and company’s — expense.

“The challenge was to create a link between the new intro footage and the existing branded spot, plus the time-sensitive media event created no room for error,” she said. “All of this was executed to provide a bit of brightness and really connect with — and educate — our target audience.”