Pfizer to air second Super Bowl ad, doubling down on fight against cancer

For the second consecutive year, Pfizer is advertising at the Super Bowl.

The pharma giant announced Friday morning that it is doubling down on its fight against cancer with a 60-second ad set to air during the first quarter of the game.

Pfizer is airing an ad titled “Knock Out. " The ad features a dream sequence of a pediatric cancer patient shadowboxing and running through a throng of cheering supporters before being reunited with his family at home.

The ad concludes with text underscoring Pfizer’s goal to bring eight cancer breakthrough therapies to market by 2030 and encourages viewers to visit PfizerForAll, its direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform that launched in late August.

The spot was created in collaboration with Publicis Groupe—Le Truc, Leo NY, Collective, Pfizer, and others. As for production, the agency Reset led the way, with support from post-production agencies The Den Editorial, BaconX, and Harbor Picture Company.

The soundtrack for the commercial is LL Cool J’s 1990 hit song Mama Said Knock You Out.

The musical choice was intentional as the rapper and his wife, Simone Smith, a cancer survivor, partner with the drugmaker to share their care journey throughout the year and highlight the importance of early detection.

On Thursday, the rapper posted a teaser video on Instagram, announcing himself as a #PfizerPartner who is “just getting loose” for the big game.

“Knock Out” represents a continuation of Pfizer’s marketing efforts around cancer and the broader mission to build out its oncology focus following the $43 billion acquisition of cancer biotech Seagen in 2023. 

On the regulatory front this year, a Pfizer spokesperson said the company anticipates three regulatory decisions in prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, seven Phase 3 readouts, and 12 potential pivotal program starts for different types of cancer.

At last year’s game, Pfizer unveiled Here’s to Science, a national ad campaign centered around its vision for the future of oncology—all set to “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen.

The animated commercial celebrated the 175th anniversary of the company as well as the legacy of science and medicine.

A Pfizer spokesperson said its first Super Bowl ad was a success, leading to a rise in consumer trust in the brand from 49% to 71%. Citing data from YouGov, Pfizer saw its audience's brand perception increase 19% after it aired the ad. 

While Kantar data posited that the Pfizer ad was one of the lowest-performing ads to air during Super Bowl LVIII, data from EDO indicated that Pfizer’s ad ranked 97th out of the 280 Super Bowl ads that ran between 2020 and 2024—registering 1.6x as much engagement as the median ad during that period.

Notably, the ad’s call to visit PfizerForAll calls attention to new features the drugmaker has added to the platform.

The DTC offering includes the American Cancer Society’s CancerRisk360 tool, which builds on the longstanding relationship between the two healthcare organisations. It also includes a section with information related to atrial fibrillation.

PfizerForAll, which received almost 10 million pageviews in the final four months of 2024, also has an AI-powered digital platform called Health Answers by Pfizer that debuted this week. 

The innovation provides patients with personalised responses to health and wellness questions, summarised from trusted independent sources.

This story first appeared on Campaign's sister publication MM+M.