AbbVie makes you the star of its new acute migraine drug ad with tennis phenom Serena Williams. Make that “U”—as in Ubrelvy.
The latest TV ad in Ubrelvy’s “Anytime, Anywhere” series shows three women—a firefighter, a mom/executive and Williams—powering through their days after fighting off migraine attacks.
The firefighter douses the fire, the businesswoman rocks her presentation and Williams wins her match, presumably after taking Ubrelvy.
But the voiceover and accompanying text make it clear the ad is also about “U”: “U put it all on the line. U do it all. So you bring Ubrelvy,” the narrator says as Williams holds up a single-dose packet of the migraine pill.
The overall message mirrors previous DTC commercials AbbVie’s rolled out since Williams, a Ubrelvy patient, signed on as its main spokeswoman in 2020: Ubrelvy can help stop migraines quickly no matter where you are or when they hit.
AbbVie debuted the latest version of the black-and-white ad series on May 1, following up earlier ads that aired in January. Those feature Williams (sometimes with her 4-year-old daughter) taking the oral migraine med at different times of the day. In one, it’s first thing in the morning after she wakes up with a migraine; in another, it's at 3:10 p.m. while she’s stuck in traffic with no exit in sight .
While AbbVie relies heavily on Williams for the TV campaign, it also partnered with Olympic gymnast and migraine sufferer Aly Raisman late last year to promote the brand.
Meanwhile, its chief rival, Biohaven’s Nurtec, forgoes celebrities in favor of a regular patient for its latest DTC ad, switching it up from earlier TV commercials starring Whoopi Goldberg and Khloe Kardashian.
While most migraine ads feature women since they comprise the majority of migraine sufferers, Biohaven’s newest Nurtec spot stars a male Nurtec patient, former Green Beret Greg P, who developed migraines “after years on the battlefield and multiple concussions” and now runs a nonprofit for other Green Berets.
That ad debuted in March and plays up the fact that Nurtec is the only FDA-approved drug to both treat and prevent migraine.
Nurtec also competes with a second AbbVie drug, newly launched Qulipta, in the preventive space for episodic migraine. AbbVie rolled out a DTC campaign for that drug in February with a TV spot repeating the tagline: “Qulipta can help prevent migraine attacks.”
All three drugs are part of a newer class that target calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a protein believed to cause migraines.
AbbVie’s emphasis on the “U” may be a way to help the Ubrelvy name stand out in the increasingly crowded market, which also includes injectable CGRP drugs like Eli Lilly’s Emgality, Amgen’s Aimovig and Teva’s Ajovy as well as Lundbeck’s newcomer Vyepti in the preventive space, and Lilly’s Reyvow, which has a different mechanism of action, for acute migraine.
Ubrelvy brought in $138 million in sales for AbbVie in the first quarter of this year, down 25% from the fourth quarter of 2021 and missing Wall Street’s expectations by 18%. But analysts say AbbVie’s numbers suggest the entire class is facing pricing pressure. AbbVie has predicted Ubrelvy will reach $800 million in sales this year.