Jardiance drug searches spike 50% amid Usain Bolt campaign

The makers of the chronic kidney disease (CKD) drug Jardiance say that enlisting retired sprinter Usain Bolt as the face of their latest campaign has raised awareness, amid a spike in online searches.

The campaign draws on the contrast between Bolt’s reputation as the world’s fastest man and Jardiance’s message about slowing the progression of kidney disease. The drug is co-owned by German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and American drugmaker Eli Lilly.

“We partnered with Olympic athlete Usain Bolt, often referred to as the fastest man in the world, to showcase the value of slowing down, especially when it comes to managing chronic kidney disease progression,” Harro Ten Wolde of Boehringer Ingelheim’s corporate communications division said in response to questions from the Sunday Business.

In the roughly one-minute television advert, Bolt appears wearing his Olympic medals and a Jamaica-inspired sweatsuit. He tends to a bonsai plant, waters a lawn, cleans a carved wooden turtle, sips tea, adds stamps to a philately collection, and knits a scarf bearing the word “slow”.

“While I don’t have CKD myself, I’m taking it slow to remind you that Jardiance is a little pill proven to slow the progression of CKD,” Bolt tells viewers in the commercial.

The company said it launched the campaign to educate people about Jardiance – sold under the chemical name empagliflozin – which is approved to reduce the risk of further kidney disease progression, end-stage kidney disease, and cardiovascular death.

“With the star power of Bolt and the juxtaposition of the world’s fastest man championing the importance of slowing down, we hope to capture the attention of viewers with CKD and empower them to have informed conversations about their chronic kidney disease with their healthcare providers,” Ten Wolde said.

Google Trends data show that searches for the drug rose 20 per cent globally during the quarter compared with year-earlier levels. In the United States, where the campaign runs, that figure jumped to 50 per cent. However, the fastest-rising related queries point to cost concerns, with “jardiance savings card” searches climbing 170 per cent, “jardiance coupon” up 60 per cent, and “jardiance generic” up 60 per cent.

The partnership was arranged by New York-based entertainment marketing firm Creative License, which worked with healthcare communications agency Inizio Evoke, the campaign’s lead agency.

“When the fastest man alive tells you to slow down, you listen,” Creative License said in a public post announcing what it described as an “extensive partnership”.

“Securing an extensive partnership with Usain Bolt for the CKD-fighting medicine Jardiance has been an honour,” Josh Barnes, senior vice-president at Creative License, said in a LinkedIn post. The collaboration extended beyond television advertising to include an appearance by Bolt at a national sales meeting for the brand, Barnes added.

Neither Boehringer Ingelheim nor Creative License disclosed the value of the arrangement.

“We do not publicly disclose spend associated with our marketing campaigns,” Ten Wolde said.

According to Bolt’s official website, his current commercial partners include Puma, Hublot, Replay, Digicel, Red Stripe, Visit Jamaica, Persil, Enertor, Autograph, and Regupol. Over the course of his career, he has also partnered with Gatorade, Visa, Nissan, Virgin, XM, Epson, and Allianz Direct. Forbes reported in 2018 that Puma paid Bolt more than US$10 million annually, describing it as his largest sponsorship deal.

Boehringer Ingelheim reported first-half 2026 net sales of €15.8 billion, with growth driven in part by Jardiance, which generated €5.7 billion in revenue during the period. Eli Lilly, the drug’s co-owner and co-marketer, posted second-quarter 2026 revenue of US$23 billion and recently raised its full-year guidance to between US$85 billion and US$87 billion.

carolyn.guniss@rjrgleaner.com