A campaign backed by two Ogilvy agencies wants men to take a pregnancy test to diagnose testicular cancer. Yes, seriously. The recently launched Test-icles campaign, which was created by Ogilvy Mexico and Ogilvy Health New York in support of the Alba Foundation, encourages men to take a pregnancy test to find out if they have a cancer that impacts one in every 250 males during their lifetimes.  While the practice may seem counterintuitive from a medical perspective and fly in the face of stigmas around pregnancy tests, these tests can actually detect a hormone that is produced in certain ..read more

While many brands have backed away from X since Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform formerly known as Twitter, Dude Wipes is leaning in. The flushable wipes brand continues to lean on crude social content like few other brands do. Its presence on the platform is seen through playful banter with QSR brands or its ability to tap into seemingly any cultural phenomenon at any time.  Dude Wipes’ ethos is pure toilet humor. If it isn’t talking about farts and dumps, then it isn’t talking at all. That kind of potty mouth performs well on X, and so, that’s where Dude Wipes devotes much of its t ..read more

Given the recent popularity of restaurant dramas like The Bear, it’s apropos that Javier Campopiano likens his next challenge at McCann Worldgroup to running a big kitchen. After finding so much success early in his creative career in senior roles at FCB and Saatchi & Saatchi (think ‘It’s a Tide ad’), culminating in accolades, awards, and a rise to the top global job at Grey in 2021, Campopiano turned heads when he left to join McCann last year. At that time, the global CCO who now oversees the creative output across 100 countries, called for “every possible flavour of creativity” while p ..read more

Pedro Frisneda, associate director of outreach in the New York City Mayor’s Office for Ethnic & Community Media, died suddenly at age 53 on Saturday morning. A spokesperson for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said, “All we know is that there was no foul play.” In his most recent role, Frisneda was focused on physical and mental health initiatives. He was previously deputy press secretary in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement on Saturday that Frisneda was an “integral” part of his adm ..read more

Mike Craycraft, founder of the Testicular Cancer Society, grew up playing soccer.  His love of the sport has a critical connection to his disease diagnosis nearly two decades ago. “I felt a lump and after first remaining silent for seven months, I began the process of diagnosis in June 2006, which happened to be a World Cup year,” he tells MM+M. “As weird as it sounds now, looking back, my goal was just to live long enough to see one more World Cup final.” When FP7 McCann Dubai came to him for a disease education campaign timed to coincide with Testicular Cancer Awareness Month in April ..read more

Boehringer Ingelheim signed a $1.3 billion deal with Ochre Bio to develop treatments for chronic liver diseases (CLD), including metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) cirrhosis, Monday morning. The pharma giant will work with the Oxford, England-based RNA biotech to discover and develop regenerative targets for CLDs. Per terms of the deal, Boehringer Ingelheim will pay Ochre Bio $35 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments, with additional clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments worth more than $1 billion. The deal represents an expansion of Boehrin ..read more

BCW and Hill & Knowlton warned staffers this week to expect duplicate roles to be eliminated as the two WPP firms merge into a network known as Burson.  BCW global CEO Corey duBrowa, who will be Burson’s CEO, and H&K global chairman and CEO AnnaMaria DeSalva, who will be chairman of the combined firm, sent a note to staffers Friday morning about the decision. Since the news about Burson was announced in January, the integration team has been working to “combine our two agencies to best position Burson to be the leader in delivering modern communications at scale to clients. As yo ..read more

As healthcare marketers adopt AI tools to nearly every workflow, the future of the technology may be linked to potential regulations around it. Nearly 80% of Americans believe the federal government should implement stricter AI regulations, according to a recent report from Authority Hacker. But the U.S. is far away from implementing policy that’s as specific and nuanced as needed, experts believe. “The current standards are minimal,” said Authority Hacker co-founder Mark Webster. “It’s a real problem if you’re trying to develop a tool or work with this technology, because it’s kind ..read more

For the past year, police Detective Tim Lillard has spent most of his waking hours unofficially investigating his wife’s death. The question has never been exactly how Ann Picha-Lillard died on Nov. 19, 2022: She succumbed to respiratory failure after an infection put too much strain on her weakened lungs. She was 65. For Tim Lillard, the question has been why. Lillard had been in the hospital with his wife every day for a month. Nurses in the intensive care unit had told him they were short-staffed, and were constantly rushing from one patient to the next. Lillard tried to pitch in where he ..read more

Two months after a cyberattack on a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary halted payments to some doctors, medical providers say they’re still grappling with the fallout, even though UnitedHealth told shareholders on Tuesday that business is largely back to normal. “We are still desperately struggling,” said Emily Benson, a therapist in Edina, Minnesota, who runs her own practice, Beginnings & Beyond. “This was way more devastating than covid ever was.” Change Healthcare, a business unit of the Minnesota-based insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, controls a digital network so vast it processes nea ..read more