Watch Simone Biles star in her first ad for pet food brand Nulo

Michael Landa, founder and CEO of pet food brand Nulo, has been trying to secure Simone Biles as an endorser ever since 2019, when he learned she got a French bulldog as an emotional support animal. He finally landed her earlier this year—and today Nulo is debuting its first campaign featuring the Olympic gymnast. The effort, called “Feel Incredible,” includes a 15-second video starring Biles and her French bulldogs, Lilo and Rambo. In the ad she equates using nutrition to fuel her performance with feeding her dogs quality food. The four-time Olympic gold medalist is shown doing the splits while feeding her two dogs Nulo food in red bowls. It marks Nulo’s first national campaign and its most expensive to date, according to a release. The brand is spending more than $10 million on the effort, Landa said. The 12-month-long campaign will run across a variety of channels including streaming, paid social, Biles’s personal social media accounts and 14 out-of-home placements in markets such as Dallas and San Francisco, according to Landa. Biles and Landa declined to comment on Biles’ specific financial compensation. “We wanted to have a marquee ambassador who represented nutrition but also who was, in her own way, a very loving pet mom … Simone Biles was the perfect choice for that,” Landa said, adding that they officially agreed to a deal in March, before Biles announced she was returning to competition after a two-year hiatus. “Coincidentally, she later announced that she’s back in the gym and she is training for Paris. So that just got us even more excited,” Landa said, referring to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs In an interview with Ad Age, Biles said, “Frenchies have very, very sensitive stomachs, so narrowing down what they can and can’t eat has been pretty tough. But as soon as they started on Nulo, I could see an overall change in their energy, mood, health, and most of all they really love what they’re eating.” Landa, who swam competitively at Boston University, where he studied biomedicine, founded Nulo in 2010, after starting a pet care business and realizing that many pets weren’t eating high-quality, nutritious diets. The campaign comes after Biles won two gold medals at the gymnastics world championships earlier this month, en route to becoming the most decorated gymnast in history, male or female. The Nulo partnership marks the latest endorsement deal for Biles, who also works with Gap-owned women’s clothing brand Athleta, among other brands. Athleta signed Biles in 2021 as she left Nike. Nulo isn’t the only pet food brand seeking out sports marketing partnerships lately. In May, tennis legend Venus Williams and her dog Harry starred in an ad for Purina Pro Plan. Williams’ campaign came just a few months after direct-to-consumer dog food brand The Farmer’s Dog ran its first Super Bowl ad—which claimed the top ranking on USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter. Also read: The Farmer’s Dog creatives discuss Super Bowl ad journey Biles said that she thinks the worlds of pet food and sports marketing are colliding because “if you think about elite athletes, we have high standards for nutrition and how it contributes to our well-being and performance. And so when you look at our pets, we kind of want to replicate that because we want them to have the best energy, mood, health and all of the things so that they can still run, flip, jump, swim, do all the things the way that we do it at a high level.” People trust what athletes eat, Biles added. “People kind of trust you. It’s like, ‘Oh, if they're putting this in their dog's body then I can do that,” she said. “I think that’s why you're seeing elite athletes being a little bit more on the forefront of pet health.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

Watch Simone Biles star in her first ad for pet food brand Nulo

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