#034 ᐧ 27 January 2025

Hello POPhealth readers!

I’m beginning this on Saturday afternoon, and yet very reluctant to wish you a happy Saturday. The best-laid plans have not gone in my favour this week. Friday was supposed to be my writing day. Friday is always supposed to be my writing day. And yet, it’s rare that this actually happens.

For various reasons I won’t dive into today, I found myself picking both boys up from school come 11am, and then having to create what I called “Mum School” for the next four hours. The joys of parenting children who are undiagnosed, yet highly align with neurodiverse traits. Those of you who have been reading for a while will know about our long-old wait for a CAHMS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) assessment for my eldest. 2025 will be the year. She says. Optimistically. 

[MASSIVE NOTE TO READER: If you speak to me on Monday, please don’t ask how my day off was]

That said, I was still gagging to write something. So I looked back through my notes, and because I am in “annual career planning mode” at work (or supposed to be right now) some soundbites I’d captured from a Matthew McConaughey interview back in November 2024 caught my eye. The obsession with quantifying everything in life… each metric is a little hit of dopamine, at the expense of enjoyment of the activity. And I think this applies to work too. Sometimes we can be so wrapped up in chasing the next promotion, that we forget the journey. Anyway, my fingers typed a few words and I left my connections on LinkedIn with a little provocation and some thoughts, which you can read here. Thanks to those that have fed back so far. Nothing touches me more than when my words connect. 🙏

I was chatting to one of my intergenerational pals on Friday about this advice, and they delivered a dopamine hit of a healthcare campaign right back at me in the evening:

newsouthwaleshealth

View more on Instagram

Such a brilliant example of capturing the attention of older Gen Zs for their cervical screenings. It seems this one struck a chord. Bravo New South Wales Health. 

Reader - do you value friends across generations? For me, this is important. It’s never just about handing down or receiving wisdom, but keeping me open to different perspectives, preserving and challenging traditions and expanding my lines of emotional support beyond my family. It’s such a good vibe. If you need more convincing, read this 2024 article from Women’s Health. It’s a good one.

Speaking of intergenerational friendships, a couple of my younger anime pals might appreciate the first story today (as will ALL of you), so let’s dive in!

Representation in media matters

Adorable girl with birthmark reacts to anime plush dosh

Do any of you have a birthmark? I do. A big one under my armpit. I used to get teased so much about it when I was younger. My mum would always say, “At least it’s not on your face”. Not exactly the most comforting line, but she had a point - I could mostly keep the thing covered up. Maybe that’s why this particular story caught my eye captured my heart. That, and it’s anime related. 

A couple of weeks ago, a mother posted an adorable video of her daughter on TikTok. In the clip, the girl is cuddling a plush doll of Shoto Todoroki, a character from the anime My Hero Academia, who has a mark on his face, just like her birthmark. It’s just so wholesome, and it's no surprise that the anime fandom jumped on it immediately.

@lastflashqueen

We didn’t find Pokemon cards, but I’d been wanting a Shoto to pop up here forever!!!! #shototodoroki #birthmark #zuko

I mean, how goddamn cute is that, right!? Cuteness aside, what this proves is that diversity and representation aren’t nice-to-haves, but a pretty powerful play if you want to connect meaningfully with audiences. And this video is the perfect example: where one child’s validation has inspired the masses, a viral moment that speaks volumes about the magic of being seen.

Movies and TV shows do a great job of championing representation, perhaps with an increased focus in recent years. It’s a critical positive shift. For us in healthcare advertising, let it be that reminder to dig deeper. Don’t just scratch the surfaces of the “typical patient” because true representation has the potential to have a lasting impact, not just on individuals, but on entire communities.

Over lunch today (Sunday), a friend and I were talking about the impacts of grapefruit on the efficacy of some drugs. A rabbit hole she had gone down online, a pretty important one because what she saw as a vitamin C rich antioxidant, could also be impacting her daily dose of tamoxifen.

The impact of different food types on drug efficacy won’t be new news for many, and in our chat it sparked a debate about the need for better advice and support for patients around food and it’s impact on drugs - beyond the obvious in alcohol.  However, what is new on the topic is that scientists are now exploring the use of gene editing tool - CRISPR - to remove the gene in fruit that produces furanocoumarins, the chemical responsible for this effect on drugs. How cool is that?

Switch like Sol

exFootballer Sol Campbell teams up with Google Pixel

This might not be health, but there sure is a big learning here about breaking habits and driving switches - so hear me out!

First, here’s the context: Sol Cambell is a retired professional football player from the UK. Back in his football prime in the early 2000s, he did the unthinkable… Leaving his club Tottenham Hotspurs (blue) to join their local rivals Arsenal (red). Ouch! Anyway, it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about big moves. That makes him the perfect spokesperson to encourage people to switch from their existing mobile (Apple/Samsung) to the Google Pixel.

This ad is super cheeky and massively localised to the UK market. Two things often missing when healthcare marketing tries to break habits and switch up health behaviours. And that’s just it. Switching isn’t easy. Switching is emotional, it’s personal and quite often uncomfortable. 

Yet, what Google Pixel has achieved here is a perfect example of tapping into local insights and cultural relevance, and having some fun with it to grab attention and drive action. It’s a playbook we could all learn from - though I doubt any Tottenham supporters will be rushing out to buy a Pixel any time soon. 😉

With obesity taking a regular slot in the world news, and JFK’s pledge to make America Healthy Again, Nicholas Florko over at the Atlantic shared an interesting dive into why Public Health can’t stop making the same nutrition mistake.

✨🔦 Campaign Spotlight 🔦✨

Whatever gets you going

Back to cervical screenings now, and I just had to showcase this brilliant provocative campaign from The Eve Appeal and their agency partner Continuous, for cervical cancer prevention week (20-26 January). The campaign simply asks: do whatever gets you going* (*at your cervical screening).

The idea behind the campaign is that while this generation can confidently talk about sex, many struggle to advocate for themselves in the screening room. By drawing parallels from the confidence they have in the bedroom, the campaign shifts the screening experience from something clinical to something much more relatable. It’s got it all - attention-grabbing headlines, racy visuals and practical tools it gives people everything they need to advocate for themselves at their appointments.

It’s a pretty bold campaign, the type many health marketers might shy away from at first glance. But, we need to challenge those gut reactions, we need to think and question…

What is this really doing?

Does the campaign speak in the intended audience’s language?

Does it inspire them to do more beyond awareness?

Does it make it easy for them to act?

When it comes to health and disease awareness, our campaigns should stop at nothing short of driving change. Too often, it’s our own fears that stop work like this from seeing the light of day.

In the last issue, I put together a little list of things to keep you occupied… did you like it? I’m thinking this should be a regular feature. So without further ado, here are this issue’s recommendations:

📺 Watch: Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, Netflix

🎧 Listen: Why medicine needs out-of-the-box thinkers, The Healthtech Podcast 

📖 Read: Your brain is lying to you about the good old days, Vox

Let me know if you manage to make time for them over the next couple of weeks and what you think about these reccos.

It’s 6:30am on Monday (I’m an animal!!), so I think I’ll wrap this up here. It’s gonna be a major week at work - sprinting to the finish line on a pitch, prepping a big workshop and tackling 2025 planning cycles. I need to save my energy for ALL of that.

Thanks so much for making it this far and reading this week’s issue. As always, I try to bring you the best news, insights, and creativity that sit at the heart of health and culture. I’m on a mission to keep our industry inspired and to inspire those outside of healthcare. Because, after all, we all have health!

If it was your first time reading, please consider subscribing to POPhealth. I write this thing irregularly-regularly, so having it drop straight into your inbox means you’ll never miss an issue. And if you're a longtime reader, please spread the word if something here has inspired you today. Your support is what keeps POPhealth going.

Until next time,

EML ✌