Best of March 2024
Let’s take a deeper look at some of the best work in healthcare marketing this month.
It’s been said that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. I never really understood the saying - I suppose it has to do with weather patterns and the like. As pertains to the world of healthcare marketing, the month of March indeed proved Lionesque, in the form of two powerful spots that stood out like the Kings of the Jungle.
Big Night
March kicked off with the Oscars, where Hollywood’s elite gathered and an estimated 19.5 million people in the US stood (or likely sat) with eyes peeled to their screens.
Of the GLP-1 fueled weight-loss phenomenon, host Jimmy Kimmel joked, “everybody looks so great tonight. When I look around this room I can’t help but wonder, is Ozempic right for me?” A few minutes into the broadcast, Lilly’s “Big Night” debuted.
Click image to view “Big Night”
The spot’s first line says it all, “some people have been using medicine never meant for them.” This was an unusually bold move by Lilly, discouraging the use of their medications by those looking for weight loss or “vanity” instead of those who need them. A strategy to stand up for people with obesity and T2 diabetes who need these medications to improve their health translated into a powerful statement delivered with impeccable timing. This represented a message with some teeth from an industry typically tamed.
Assume That I Can
About three weeks later, on World Down Syndrome Day, the Canadian Down Syndrome Foundation released a spot called, “Assume That I Can,” where a young adult with Down Syndrome sets in motion a strategy to shatter disease assumptions.
Click image to view “Assume That I Can”
The spot paints a picture of the world as it is, where our hero doesn’t have a Margarita, live on her own, punch powerfully or learn Shakespeare. It shifts to reveal the world as it could be, where cocktail glasses clink, apartment keys are caught, right hooks knock the stuffing out of punching bags, and a rightful place is taketh among mere mortals to learnth “fucking Shakespeare!” It ends with the memorable message, “assume that I can so maybe I will.” This one delivered on more of an emotional level, urging viewers to stand up for those whose futures are not assured. It takes dead aim at misconceptions commonly set in stone and seeks to reshape them.
Here’s hoping April will shower us with more breakthrough work.
