One of the best parts of watching the biggest U.S. football game of the year are the ads which can provide great entertainment in-between touchdowns, time-outs, and referees’ video replays.

This year, Ad Age provides us with an early inventory of some of the high-expectation commercials, including the usual suspects like Budweiser, Google, TurboTax, and Avocados from Mexico. For the first time, cryptocurrency brands will advertise on the  Super Bowl, too.

But I’m most looking forward to seeing the 30-second spot from Hologic, the medical technology company.

AdWeek wrote, quoting a Hologic press release, “As a leader in women’s health, Hologic is aware of the obstacles facing women when it comes to making their health a priority…Between busy lives and the pandemic, Hologic has seen a drop in women keeping up with their annual health screenings. As we’re still in the ‘new year’ phase—and throughout the year, frankly—it’s important we bring attention to this topic. A woman’s health should be a priority.”

AdWeek said that the female-led creative team has crafted “the crown jewel of Hologic’s ‘Well-Woman’ campaign” to promote diagnostic screening and early detection of disease.

For some context supporting the ad, Hologic just published their 2021 sustainability report titled A Global Force for Good, focusing on women’s health.

As the first graphic from the report says, the force for good embeds helping more women globally, increasing access, enabling health equity, and growing revenues to support the company’s mission.

“At the center, everything at Hologic starts with our purpose, passion and promise…[which] galvanize and guide our employees, and serve as a rock-solid foundation to our business strategies,” CEO, Chairman and President Steve MacMillan is quoted in the report.

Specifically:

  • The purpose: To enable healthier lives everywhere and every day.
  • The passion: To become global champions for women’s health and good “global citizenship.”
  • The promise:  To embody “The Science of Sure,” which minimizes doubt and maximizes the confidence people have in their health/care decisions.

One of my favorite exhibits in the Hologic sustainability report is this second graphic by which the company explains the social determinants that explain 80% of women’s life expectancy. This exhibit is part of the report’s explanation of “The Why.”

At the center of the key dimensions to women’s health we find basic needs, preventive care, emotional health, individual health, and opinions of health and safety (which account for women’s personal feelings about safety and satisfaction with health care where they lie — i.e., their ZIP or postal codes).

Hologic developed a Global Women’s Health Index assessing the state of women’s well-being around the world…noting “the world has room to improve on women’s health,” calculating a score of 54 out of 100.

Note that in the world’s wealthiest economies, the score is only 61 compared with 49 in low-income countries.

What depresses those scores is that 1.5 billion women have not gotten tested for any of the most damaging diseases for women in the past 12 months, and  40% haven’t seen a health care professional in the past year.

Health Populi’s Hot Points: ESG is taking increasingly stronger hold in health care. GlobalData published a paper this week summarizing key forces for ESG in health care. Looking at the “S” in “ESG,” the report noted that health and safety was the most pressing social issue compared with human rights, community impact, and diversity and inclusion.

The detail below the bar chart called out the fact that telehealth quickly launched at the emergence of COVID-19 to limit the risk of peoples’ exposure to the virus, also reducing barriers to access. GlobalData also points to another social data point, with CVS Health launching an anti-vaping campaign focused on young peoples’ risks of e-cigarettes. In another section of the report, GlobalData mentions HCA Healthcare’s governance response collaborating to improve access to healthcare beyond the company’s service portfolio.

So we come full-circle to the team sport that is football….with health care being a team sport now more than ever.

For your Super Bowl ad enjoyment, here are a few links to keep you entertained…

Postscript to this post written on 1st February 2022 — Now we know that the great pop artist Mary J Blige will be featured in the Hologic ad during Super Bowl LVI – here’s the Ad Age coverage of the news.