Cologuard has gone bilingual. The popular mail-in colorectal cancer screening test from Exact Sciences has a new campaign out that marks the first Spanish-language promotional push for the brand.
Launched Monday, amid the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the campaign is targeting the Latino community in the U.S., who are disproportionately affected by colon cancer. According to statistics cited by Exact, compared to other groups, Hispanic Americans are diagnosed with the disease at later stages and have the second-highest colon cancer mortality rate, with the disease representing 11% of cancer-related Hispanic deaths as of 2021. Furthermore, approximately 42% of Latinos in the U.S. are not up to date with their recommended colon cancer screenings; current guidelines suggest that people at average risk begin regular testing at age 45.
“With Hispanics representing almost 20% of the U.S. population, it’s imperative as a global leader in cancer testing that we do more to increase screening rates for CRC within that community and in a way that is thoughtful and culturally relevant,” Jeremy Truxal, Exact’s vice president of marketing, told Fierce Pharma Marketing via email.
To that end, the Spanish-language campaign is aimed at Latinos aged 45 and older, via a “diversified channel mix,” he said, including TV commercials, radio ads and additional digital and social media assets, all of which will run through the end of this year.
All of the ad space has been selected with the campaign’s specific audience in mind: “Our research found that radio is the preferred platform within the Hispanic community, so we have an extensive push across national AM/FM stations, such as AIRE and Entravision,” Truxal said, adding, “For television, our spot will air nationally on networks including Telemundo, Univision and Fox Deportes.”
Elsewhere, Exact created a Spanish-language version of the Cologuard website, and the company has also “added resources to our call center to support calls in Spanish and armed our field sales teams with Spanish-language assets to share with healthcare providers,” per Truxal.
The campaign takes a family-focused approach to the screening push. A pair of 30-second TV ads center around a husband and father who looks back on a progression of family photos while climbing a staircase—including snapshots of his wedding, his kids’ milestones and, fittingly, his 45th birthday celebration. At the top of the stairs, he’s met by his wife, who hands him a Cologuard box from a stack of two on a table and nods toward the bathroom.
Meanwhile, the Spanish-language voice-over and pop-ups on screen highlight the need for regular screening starting at 45, even for those without any symptoms, and point out that when colon cancer is caught early, it’s treatable in nine out of 10 people. The commercials end with Little C.G., the anthropomorphized Cologuard box that’s become something of a mascot for the brand, coming to life on the table next to a family photo, surrounded by information about accessing and paying for the test.
“Family is the heartbeat of the Hispanic community—and we know that conversations about health become a priority when viewed through the lens of how it could impact family,” Truxal said. “This campaign is intentionally emotional and family-centric, drawing on the importance of staying healthy for your loved ones so you can protect what you’ve worked so hard to create and can continue to make memories together in the future.”
The goals for the campaign are twofold. For one, he said, Exact is hoping to educate the Hispanic community about the importance of regular screening and about colon cancer itself. From there, the company is seeking to raise awareness about Cologuard in particular as an “effective and affordable non-invasive screening test that can be done in the privacy of one’s own home.”
“There is an urgency to screen for CRC. We hope that our campaign can play its part in educating the Hispanic community and drive immediate action to screen for the cancer,” Truxal said.
The Cologuard campaign builds on a previous effort by Exact to improve colon cancer screening rates among both the Latino and Black communities. In that case, the company launched a campaign in both English and Spanish focused on raising awareness about the importance of regular screening and educating people about their testing options, not limited to Cologuard—in contrast to the newest branded push.
The “Screening Has Meaning” campaign, aka “Examinarte Es Poderoso,” began in 2021 with both radio and billboard advertisements. The campaign remains ongoing as part of Exact’s health equity efforts, with its respective English- and Spanish-language websites still offering a range of information about colon cancer screening.