Ro taps Serena Williams as celebrity GLP-1 ambassador
Telehealth company Ro has a new spokesperson for its booming GLP-1 business: Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist, widely regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time.
The company announced the partnership, and the beginning of "a multi-year campaign to normalise the use of GLP-1 medications for weight loss" on Thursday. William's husband, reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, is an investor and board member at Ro.
As part of the campaign, Williams is sharing for the first time that she began using GLP-1s after the birth of her second child in late 2023. According to the campaign, Williams lost 31 pounds in eight months taking an undisclosed GLP-1 drug.
"I trained at the highest level, ate a clean diet, pushed myself, and still, after having kids, my body just wouldn’t respond. I realised it wasn’t about willpower; it was biological. My body needed the GLP-1 and clinical support," Williams said in a statement. "I’m partnering with Ro because if I needed help as a top athlete doing everything at level 10, I know others are struggling too, and everyone deserves access to the treatment they need. This isn’t a shortcut. It’s healthcare."
"It's not a shortcut, it's healthcare" is the tagline of the campaign, which will include digital, broadcast, and billboard ads featuring Williams.
"By opening up about her own health, Serena is opening doors for millions of people who have felt shamed for needing support to lose weight," said Zach Reitano, co-founder and CEO of Ro. "She’s redefining what it means to be strong, once again, by setting the example that strength can also mean seeking and using medication to take control of your health. We’re proud to be Serena’s care partner, and even prouder to stand with her as she inspires people nationwide to reach their health goals."
With their large addressable market and access challenges, GLP-1s have been big business for direct-to-consumer telehealth providers like Ro and rival Hims and Hers, which controversially advertised semaglutide medicines in a Super Bowl ad this year.
While both companies were offering compounded GLP-1s during the FDA-declared shortages, Ro stopped when the shortage ended and has instead inked partnerships with both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to offer their GLP-1 drugs on the platform. Whether Hims and Hers has stopped offering compounds is a matter of contention, but Novo Nordisk very publicly broke up with the company in June over allegations that it has not.
This isn't the first time Ro has turned to a major sports star to help sell its GLP-1 business. The company launched a similar campaign with NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley in April.
