A Big Night For Healthcare Advertising

Did you enjoy the big game last night? Did you too notice a number of healthcare ads? Our team was texting about it during the game, so we decided to share our thoughts.

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Pfizer, “Don’t Call It a Comeback”

From Yahoo Sports: Heartwarming ad as a young cancer survivor wins his battle to the strains of LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out.” Wouldn’t have expected that song to be in an emotional ad, but here we are.

Pete: My first thought was that this felt a bit derivative of the famous SickKids campaign. Appreciate the positive energy, and the reveal that the boy was an actual cancer patient was an unexpected and nice touch. Overall, good to see a company like Pfizer do something a bit different with healthcare advertising.?

Julie: Loved the energy and power of this spot. The measured brightness on the parents’ faces felt not just uplifting but authentic. .?

Kayce: Agree, I assumed this was a SickKids spot from the start. I thought it was nice how he came outside of the hospital walls, paired with the 90’s throwback music track. It was emotional and uplifting.

Megan M.: I loved the casting, I loved the music. It struck an emotional chord, but it left me feeling like I'd seen this ad in various iterations many times over.?

Peter: Was an emotional spot but not unique. Did make me rethink big Pharma, and potentially reshift from “big money makers” to “actually helping people.”

Chris M.: Nothing overly original about this ad, but it still hits the emotional beats it was going for.?

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Novartis, “Your Attention Please”

From Yahoo Sports: Perhaps the strongest swerve from enticement to serious messaging in Super Bowl history.

Pete: I knew where this was going but still found it honest and compelling. According to the CDC in 2022, the U.S. prevalence of mammography use during the previous 2 years was 59.1% among women aged 40–49 years and 76.5% among those aged 50–74 years. So good, but not great. Given that, any effort to screen for and catch cancer early is worthwhile.

Kayce: Struggled with this one a bit – it undeniably grabbed attention, but not in a way that felt meaningful or empowering. Instead of resonating with women, it framed breast (breast health) as something to be observed (an external perception), missing a deeper personal connection.

Chris M: On the surface, it's effective in capturing attention and its message. But as Kayce notes, it's not meaningful or empowering. I also worry it could have an opposite effect as it could surface feelings of body dysmorphia which causes many people to avoid seeking care.?

Hims & Hers, “Sick of the System”

From: Yahoo Sports: Well. Whoooole lot going on in this one, pinballing from America’s obesity challenges to a condemnation of the healthcare system to an appropriation of Childish Gambino’s incendiary “This Is America” anthem. It’s a strong message, and it’s being delivered to the widest possible audience — pun not intended — but as usual, the question persists: do people really want to hear about challenging the system when they are in the midst of one of The System’s holiest days?

Pete: The reasons for increasing rates of obesity in the U.S. are multiple and complex. That said, I appreciated the direct critique and presentation of some of the factors that contribute to, and get in the way of, addressing what should be an addressable healthcare issue.?

Megan M.: I thought the use of Childish Gambino’s “This is America” was a provocative choice for the soundtrack of this spot. I think it helped set the tone for the direct nature of the messaging and I appreciated the self-awareness of the message.?

Peter: GLP-1s are a hot topic and trend now, I thought this was an effective (and memorable) ad to keep the Hims / Hers brand top of mind when considering these healthcare solutions.??

Kayce: The Hims & Hers’ spot tackled America’s weight obsession but stumbled in the pivot form critique to solution, making the brand feel more complicit rather than revolutionary. They are attempting to differentiate themselves as disruptors but are lacking beyond just convenience. The Childish Gambino track reinforced the irony–profiting from the very problem the spot highlights.?

Chris M.: Drawing upon the present and growing distrust of traditional medicine, Hims & Hers positions themselves as the people’s affordable, new age option. What stood out to me the most though was how different this spot was from previous Hims & Hers advertising. It was much more combative in tone, effectively speaking to being a solution rather than another part of the problem.

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NYU Langone Health:?

From? Beckers: New York Giants legend Victor Cruz stars in the ad, "Better Health Starts with a Better Health System," with NYU Langone staffers, including Fritz Francois, MD, executive vice president and chief of hospital operations,

Pete: I’m sorry but IMHO this was not good - not a good use of money and not a good piece of advertising.?

Julie: I can picture the internal negotiations that went into this one: which of our super star docs make their way into the spot? I did like the core idea: giants in their field, striving to advance the ball, but the execution fell short.??

Megan M.: For me this messaging about a ‘bad team, good doctors’ got confusing.? It grounds the brand messaging in the negative, and the humor feels misplaced.?

Peter: While I understood the timely messaging of bad team for football but great in their field, for a regional health system, this felt like a waste of money to purchase a high profile spot on a national stage. There are more effective ways to get the awareness message out.?

Kayce: Agree, the internal politics of who would be featured seems like a hail mary play. The ad aimed for systemness but landed as cheesy and confusing. I think the attempt at humor fell short and diluted their position as an elite, outcomes driven institution and failed to elevate their brand.

Chris M: Showing your physicians as the butt of a joke, is typically a flawed approach. It would require a thought-provoking twist or at least a really good memorable punchline for it to be successful. This spot had neither. Just disposable and forgettable.

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AdventHealth:?

Julie: A regional player bought some air time to run a wholly forgettable spot. The classic case of trying to say too much, with “sea of sameness” assets, leads to not really conveying anything.?

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Poppi, “Soda Thoughts”

Pete: Maybe not a healthcare ad in the traditional sense, but definitely health and wellness adjacent. I found this to be an entertaining way to show that there are alternatives to soda that can be a bit better for us too. (And I’m a sucker for “Groove is in the heart”)

Megan M.: Poppi is having a bit of an influencer marketing scandal on Tik Tok right now; they are being heavily criticized for sending extravagant Poppi ‘vending machines’ as PR to many high-profile influencers, which consumers are deeming as excessive and out of touch with their audience. Since this spot features three of the most famous influencers of the moment, Jake Shane, Alix Earle, and Robert Rausch; it will be interesting to see how the brand navigates the potential backlash amongst consumers who are highly critical of their influencer marketing strategy.?

Peter: Was an interesting and effective commercial that pokes fun at soda, questions how engrained it is in our society and provides a “better for you” alternative to soda.

Chris M.: An entertaining enough ad targeting a younger audience with its use of influencers rather than traditional stars. Which indirectly speaks to the product being a “new” option for soda drinkers. Not sure if that was intentional though. Speaking of soda alternatives, I found?Zevia’s holiday ad?(one of my favorites of last year) to be a particularly effective competitive ad calling out the use of artificial ingredients in Coca Cola, just like how they used artificial intelligence in?their holiday ad.