Lilly rival to get spotlight in RCA Dome

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Colts' first multiyear sponsorship deal with a drug company does not involve the one most linked to the team's hometown.\nThe National Football League team said Wednesday it signed on GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp. to a corporate sponsorship to promote their jointly marketed male impotence pill, Levitra.\nEffective this season, the deal allows Bayer and Glaxo to promote Levitra in the RCA Dome through signs and programs and in broadcast and online media.\nThe RCA Dome should be outfitted with Levitra signs by the Colts' home opener Sept. 14, said Michael Fleming, director of product communication for GlaxoSmithKline in Philadelphia.\nThe sponsorship by the German and British pharmaceutical firms is a bold publicity move, coming in the hometown of rival Eli Lilly and Co. Lilly and partner Icos Corp. aim to put their own male impotence pill, Cialis (pronounced see-ALL-iss), on the U.S. market by the end of this year.\n"We fully expected our competitors to do this, so it's not news to us," Lilly spokeswoman Carole Copeland told The Indianapolis Star. "We are confident in our marketing strategy for Cialis."\nBoth Levitra and Cialis compete against Viagra, Pfizer Inc.'s well-known pill for male erectile dysfunction.\nLevitra went on sale in the U.S. market this month. Cialis is sold in more than 40 foreign countries.\nAll three products are or will be promoted heavily through sports sponsorships: Viagra with Major League Baseball, Levitra with the National Football League and Cialis in expected deals with professional golf and open-wheel auto racing.\nSports advertising makes sense because that's where the men are, Fleming said.\n"It's an obvious fit. The NFL is the most-watched sport in the country," with an estimated 100 million men viewing NFL games each week during the season, he said.\nBayer and Glaxo's three-year deal with the NFL, announced in July, gives them exclusive rights to promote men's health products with the NFL. The Colts deal is one of numerous local sponsorships that Bayer and Glaxo will ink with individual NFL teams to promote Levitra, Fleming said.\nThe Levitra deal "is our first foray into pharmaceuticals with an exciting new product," said Jay Souers, Colts executive director of sponsorship sales, said in a statement. "We look forward to working with Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline to develop creative ways to publicize the brand to our loyal and dedicated fan base."\nThe dollar value of the Colts sponsorship was not revealed. Until the Levitra deal, the NFL had a policy of not accepting drug company sponsorships.