Hologic is stepping up its outreach activity for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, joining with a nonprofit for an education push and leveraging partnerships with sports stars to raise awareness of the importance of mammogram screenings.
Massachusetts-based Hologic has built a breast health business that brought in (PDF) $360.3 million in sales in the most recent quarter, largely by developing imaging equipment for detecting tumors. Seeking to ensure people self-check for symptoms and get screened regularly, and thereby increase their chances of catching tumors when they can be treated, Hologic has partnered with Know Your Lemons.
“We've admired them for a while,” Erik Anderson, president of breast and skeletal solutions at Hologic, said. “It's a nonprofit that we've really admired for its work providing women with dynamic, fun and really inclusive resources to help them better understand breast health and breast cancer risk factors.” Know Your Lemons has created imagery for the partners’ joint #KnowBreastCancer campaign.
The first thing visitors to Know Your Lemons’ website see is an egg box containing 12 lemons. Each lemon represents a different breast cancer symptom. One lemon is cut to expose a pip, representing the hard lumps that are one symptom of breast cancer. Another lemon is dented to show how breast dimples can be another sign of cancer.
Know Your Lemons also has a mobile app that features a guide to self-examination, a risk assessment tool, details of symptoms to look out for and more. The tone is irreverent, with the self-examination tab of the app showing the Mona Lisa holding one breast and saying “I’ve waited 500 years to teach you, dear!”
Working with the nonprofit, Hologic is releasing “lemon-centric artwork” to drive people to the app, Anderson said. The campaign will put out content through Hologic’s social media channels, posters in the offices of healthcare providers and other channels.
The Know Your Lemons partnership is part of a broader push timed to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Hologic rang the Nasdaq bell to mark the start of the month, as it has done for the past 17 years. Like last year, tennis legend and two-time breast cancer survivor Martina Navratilova was one of the people present at the bell ringing.
Hologic added Kelee Ringo, an American football cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles, and his mother Tralee Hale to its list of partners earlier this year. Working with Ringo and Hale, a breast cancer survivor, continues Hologic’s history of leveraging celebrity to raise awareness of the importance of keeping up to date with mammogram screenings.
“There's only so much we could ever do as Hologic,” Anderson said. “Over the years, we’ve worked with people like Sheryl Crow, people like Martina Navratilova, people like Mary J Blige. It really helps amplify the message and they find tremendous meaning in it as well, to use their platform, to use their celebrity to reach more women.”