Chief corporate brand officer Lina Polimeni on Eli Lillys big evolution in marketing [Video]

At the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Eli Lilly started a meaningful pivot away from the traditional marketing of pharmaceutical brands. The health giant created a platform to reintroduce Lilly as a medicine company to the public through its sponsorship of Team USA — moving away from the promotion of its individual products to center around the masterbrand. 

Eli Lilly and Company chief corporate brand officer Lina Polimeni described the new format as a “big evolution” in the company’s marketing, shifting its focus to the Lilly brand, its patients and an overall all-care perspective. 

“Typically in pharma, you’re going to have this one and done formula. That’s a formula that’s worked for many years. It’s here’s the product, here’s the side effects, ask your doctor about this product,” she said. “Lilly has really taken a step back to say we need to explain who we are as a company, first …