Can Healthcare Take on Hollywood Too? 

[00:00:09] Desirée Duncan: Welcome to the No Normal Show, brought to you by BPDA marketing services firm that delivers the future to healthcare’s leading brands. This shows is where we leave all things status quo, traditional old school, and boring in the dust, and celebrate the new, the powerful, the innovative, the bold, all focused around the future of healthcare, marketing and communications.

I’m Desiree Duncan, vice President of Health Equity and Inclusion, and today I’m joined by Chris Bevelo, chief Transformation Officer. It’s just us going row today. How are you, Chris?

[00:00:38] Chris Bevolo: The bold. You’re so We’re gonna bring the bold. We’re bringing the bold, not the bald. Don’t make a comment on my hair. Not the bald, the bold.

[00:00:49] Desirée Duncan: Wow.

[00:00:50] Chris Bevolo: That

[00:00:51] Desirée Duncan: seems to be top of your mind. ’cause I said nothing about your hair, but

[00:00:54] Chris Bevolo: Okay. There you go. Again, top of your mind. You just can’t keep talking about

[00:00:58] Desirée Duncan: it. Wow. All right, [00:01:00] so we are kicking off the show.

Are you done? Do you have any more uns? We’re fresh outta puns. Great. Right. Uh, so on today’s show, we’re gonna talk a little bit about, well, the MAs, the Emmy nominations have come out. We’ve got some headlines, some, uh, really interesting, actually, some ties to, uh, media and what’s going on there. And then we wanna get into our main topic, and that’s, uh, opportunities for brands to show up in culture.

Um, I’m noticing a bit of a theme here. Very, very exciting. Uh, but before we get into all of that, funness. Um, just plugging some of our upcoming events. We have the future of the Health System Chief Marketing Officer. This will be a webinar hosted August 6th. Uh, we’ll have a course. Our, our Chris here will be there, but he’ll be joined by Christine Cutler and Andy Chang.

So definitely check that [00:02:00] out. Again, that’s August 6th. Of course, if you can’t get enough of the new normal show, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter. The No Normal Rewind, which recaps the discussions you hear on our show with some extra insights you won’t find anywhere else. And of course, uh, all the puns from Chris will be scrubbed from that so you can actually read with pleasure.

Alright, so let’s jump into our first little topic, the Emmy nominations. I love award season, although like this is like the later part of award seasons. I think technically award season is earlier in the year. Um, but I always love the, the shows and so Emmys, we’re looking at what’s the best in television.

Of course, this show we don’t shy away from our opinions on series that we’re watching, so we wanna do a little bit of hills we’ll die on. Are you good with that, Chris?

[00:02:50] Chris Bevolo: I am. And we joke about 2 cent Nation where everybody gives their opinion, but I feel like. As a, as a long time and [00:03:00] steady TV slash streaming watcher, our opinions are qualified.

We are experts in tv and thus the opinions you are about to hear, they are our own, but they will also be on point and not random. Yeah, true. True scholars.

[00:03:19] Desirée Duncan: True scholars, yes. True scholars. Yes. Our, our first hill is, well, actually this one comes from you, Chris, you say the studio is better than hacks? I, I don’t know.

[00:03:32] Chris Bevolo: I mean, is that even a debate?

[00:03:35] Desirée Duncan: I mean, I guess I have an appreciation for hacks having lived in Vegas. So just feels, I feel very connected to it. Um, I mean, Debra Vance is a star. We love her. We’re rooting for her every step of the way. Um, and yeah, I love the writing and in fact, actually one of the stars, uh, what is her name?

Caitlyn, is that her character theme? She has a new series on Netflix with Lena Dunham. So, but I hear [00:04:00] you. The studio is the best. It’s got like a million nominations. It’s like what? The top nominated series, this go round or something. But why do you feel that you’re the biggest fan for the studio?

[00:04:13] Chris Bevolo: So I’ve seen, I saw all of the studio and I saw most of the first two seasons of hacks.

Um, hacks is a quality show, but that’s where I would stop. Also, it’s probably a good caveat that I, I hope this isn’t sexist, but I think hacks really speaks to women. At least that’s what my wife tells me, because the two main characters are women, and it’s the lived experience of a woman, which as a guy I probably can’t relate to as closely.

So that may be why, if I’m just admitting my faults. But if, if it’s humor and comedy, uh, there’s not even a comparison between the studio and hack and I mean, the studio is so well done, so well done. And you could argue hacks is well done, but hacks is just like a sitcom to me with some warm [00:05:00] touching parts.

But if it’s just about comedy, which is what this nomination is for, I’m sorry, the laughter quotient on the studio is. Triple hacks. And that’s all right. That’s my, uh, HIL to eye on.

[00:05:15] Desirée Duncan: All right, fine. As a hacks, please provide

[00:05:16] Chris Bevolo: your comments in the nose below.

[00:05:21] Desirée Duncan: All right. I actually, I do need, I started the studio.

It was actually, it was pretty good. I just need to go back and actually finish it. But I mean, seeing that they got what, like 25 nominations? All right. It means I need to watch it. Alright. Onto our favorite subject, white Lotus, uh, literally everyone and their mother was nominated from the series, uh, for an acting role.

However, there was one like glaring, glaring glitch, someone was missing. Um, and Chris, you have this hill to die on the fact that Sam Rockwell got a nomination and Patrick Schwarzenegger, didn’t you really feel like Sam Rockwell did not deserve that nomination?

[00:05:58] Chris Bevolo: Only because [00:06:00] of time spent, like Sam Rockwell was like a exploding dron.

Is that a thing? De dron explode. What’s a tron? Probably not in a good way. Neutron neutron, but that’s probably not a good thing. If a neutron explodes, that’s probably like a neutron. He’s just like a, a comet that just like flashed through the screen and blew it up and, and was like, holy cow. Yes. I would say in terms of memory, I will remember Sam Rockwell’s basically his monologue.

That was the main thing. There are other parts he was in, but it was that one scene. Right. But Patrick Schwartzenegger, he got a lot of crap. People were like, I don’t think he realizes he’s playing himself. Um, but then he turned out to be a much more, um, what’s the word? Something character,

[00:06:48] Desirée Duncan: more well-rounded.

I can’t say the word. I’ll say that he had the, he more, more, um, he had the largest, uh, character arc

[00:06:56] Chris Bevolo: for sure. Yeah. The largest character arc. That’s what I mean. Used more, not, um, [00:07:00] relatable. Just more, you had more sympathy for him. As it went on, and you could see like he was, you could just see that there was more to him than just the dude, bro.

So I, I don’t know. It’s just weird that Sam Rockwell gets nominated for 10 minutes and Patrick Schwarzenegger was a main character. He didn’t get nominated at all, but that’s a small hill to die on.

[00:07:22] Desirée Duncan: All right, well, justice for Patrick Schwarzenegger. Uh, so the, the bear the Bear, I don’t know, have you watched the latest season?

It’s, it’s starting to kinda wane for me. But this

[00:07:34] Chris Bevolo: is, this is probably gonna, this is probably gonna, everybody’s gonna be like, oh, if that’s how you feel, then the rest of this is garbage. I can’t get into the bear. I know. It’s a great show. I, I’m not arguing. It’s a fantastic show. I just, I can’t get into it.

I don’t know why. I don’t know why. I’ve no idea. I’ve tried twice. Wow. It just isn’t holding me. It is just, it’s just the first season. I can’t, I can’t get past like the second episode.

[00:07:59] Desirée Duncan: What, what, [00:08:00] okay. What’s the, what’s stopping you? Is it the, all the yelling? What is it? You don’t know.

[00:08:07] Chris Bevolo: I, it’s just not interesting enough for me in the beginning to hold my attention, and I will try new shows all the time, but if you don’t grab me and make me want to watch more than I’m not going to watch more.

I have other things to watch, so I’m acknowledging that I am an outlier in the bear. That’s not the point here. The point is how in the world is a comedy? ’cause it’s not really right. No,

[00:08:30] Desirée Duncan: it’s not. I mean it’s, there were earlier elements of a little bit of like some comic relief, but like by far it’s, it does not give full comedy.

But the fact that it’s always in the comedy series, it’s, I feel like it does to other shows. Does justice in just, it’s

[00:08:45] Chris Bevolo: ridiculous. It’s a drama. It’s completely a drama. Is it not? It’s full. I mean, all drama’s got some humor in it because our lives have humor in it. But it is a drama. Ma, I don’t know. I don’t get it.

[00:08:56] Desirée Duncan: Yeah. Well, we had some more newcomers in the shows, [00:09:00] uh, the Four Seasons. I wanted to love it. Uh, I feel like Coleman Domingo was the only good thing about that show. Tina Faye kind of has fallen off. Sorry, the writing is dated, but you heard it here first. White, lotus and Severance. They by far racked up all of the supporting actor, uh, nominations for drama series.

So I guess my question is like, what do you do? Who do you vote for when? Like, half your cast or it’s only two shows? Like do you roofer, some kind of underdog from some random show? Like what? I don’t know. What, what’s your take on that?

[00:09:36] Chris Bevolo: It’s possible, but in case of like supporting actor for drama, the random show is Paradise, which I watched Paradise and it was entertaining.

Does not deserve to be anywhere near the Emmy’s. It’s like, so that, that probably won’t happen there. But like, supporting actor is tough. You got Walter Goggins, you got Jason Isaacs. Um, but if Tremmel Tillman from Severance [00:10:00] doesn’t win, then I’m gonna, I’m never going to care about the Emmys again. That is the best character on TV in a decade.

[00:10:08] Desirée Duncan: How so?

[00:10:10] Chris Bevolo: He’s incredible. How so?

[00:10:12] Desirée Duncan: Yeah. Give an example of like why he’s just,

[00:10:14] Chris Bevolo: he’s just so quirky and funny and weird and smooth. He has an arc in the second season where he kind of turns into a good guy and it just, he’s phenomenal.

[00:10:27] Desirée Duncan: Okay.

[00:10:28] Chris Bevolo: He just stands out in that series. That’s a great series full of great people.

But that’s, to me, that’s an easy answer. That’s right. Not for you though, huh?

[00:10:37] Desirée Duncan: I don’t know. I don’t know. A, a lot of this is always kind of just up in the air. Um. Yeah, let me, let me, let me get back to you. We’ll have like a watch party.

[00:10:47] Chris Bevolo: Yeah. And don’t you think Parker Posey iss a shoe in on the other one?

[00:10:51] Desirée Duncan: I mean yeah.

As a Parker Posey devotee, absolutely. But who knows? Yeah. Uh, update from an early conversation around the North Carolina [00:11:00] accent. There is a video that went around. It was a, a, uh, like someone’s grandmother from North Carolina, she was reading some of her lines not having watched the series. She said it just like Parker Posey did.

So I stand corrected. Uh, that was a hill I died on. And um, RIP to me. So

[00:11:17] Chris Bevolo: I fought you on that. If you recall. Remember I was calling you guys out for giving, you did throwing shade at that.

[00:11:23] Desirée Duncan: You did. I’m just letting you know I was wrong.

[00:11:26] Chris Bevolo: That’s, appreciate it. I appreciate it. Yeah, yeah. You’re

[00:11:28] Desirée Duncan: welcome. Alright.

That’s enough for the Emmys. I’m sure we can talk about that all day long. Um, but let’s get into some of the headlines. Um, so kind of carrying on some of the topics we brought up in the episode with Stephanie and I last week about, uh, women as a Chief Health officer. Oftentimes that role of caregiver does fall on the women in one’s family or in their household.

But this is something, this is an untapped opportunity for health systems to grow. I know that Mount Sinai, they have a new caregivers’s [00:12:00] clinic. This is giving these folks their own medical records, insurance, billing, and really making a, a focus, uh, effort on them. ’cause there is such a huge emotional toll.

Um, on those folks. And so how can we better support? But I know, Chris, this is something that you’ve thought about as well as like another opportunity for, um, marketers to really reach the folks that, that need it most. I’m just kind of curious your thoughts on, uh, marketing to the caregiver.

[00:12:28] Chris Bevolo: Yeah, it’s just a, it seems, I just love this idea by Mount Sinai and it, the only thing that I would have a problem with is like, what took us so long?

Um, so I’m glad that they came out with it. And it’s not just like a, here’s a pamphlet, you know what I mean? Here’s a, here’s a video of what it means to be, here’s a, a center that is all focused on you. Um, as somebody who has been a caregiver for elderly parents, it is a, it can be all [00:13:00] consuming. It really depends on your situation.

It’s very difficult. It’s exhausting. It’s all the things it talks about in there. Um, and we have, I’m going to say unsuccessfully because we never got it to market, but multiple times tried to pitch as a content or a marketing strategy to health systems build something for caregivers. The most natural place would be, um, pediatrics, uh, which actually does a pretty good job, uh, in terms of targeting parents and supporting parents themselves.

But I think even beyond that, I think of the, you know, Mount Sinai’s perfect, because cancer can be so devastating, it can be so long lasting. Uh, and so if you’re a, if you’re a parent with cancer, you’ve got, you know, you’ve got relatives, you’ve got your partner, maybe you’ve got kids, maybe. And it takes a toll on everybody.

Everybody wants to help, but it [00:14:00] takes a toll. So coming up with content classes. Offering services, anything you can do to support them. I mean, that’s how you build a brand that people remember is that, and so I just, I just think this is a phenomenal idea. Um, I’m not sure I understand. Of course, I probably should read more about it, which I didn’t, but I’m not sure I understand when they get their own medical records and insurance billing, I don’t know if there’s like reimbursable services that they’re able to receive as a caregiver.

Um. I dunno what that really means, but, uh, it could be like, maybe they’re giving access to the patient’s medical records as an insurance billing, which is always a part of it. And so frustrating. I’m sorry, sir. We can’t help you with your, your father who’s in hospice and his bills because you’re not on the account and it’s like, uh, okay.

But he’s also, you know, incapable, so. Right. I don’t know if that’s what it [00:15:00] is, but I love, I love this concept.

[00:15:02] Desirée Duncan: Yeah, there’s that. And then also just even providing some, some mental health support. But to your point, like, you know mm-hmm. You always remember how someone met, you felt, and not just what they told you.

So any way that we can support, uh, those caregivers families, especially like going through cancer, like being that spouse, uh, that partner of someone, you know, it takes so many different tolls beyond just the caregiving. There’s, you know, just so much you’re thinking about. Um, so switching over to especially, um, folks that are thinking about others.

Mattel, another product are thinking about, you know, how can we have more representation of those that are navigating different, uh, lived experiences. But Mattel just introduced their first Barbie with type one diabetes. Um, and it is really exciting to, to see that. I know that with having a Barbie, Barbies always kind of look a, a certain way.

But I know that they’re giving nods to, um, this, but it really gives way [00:16:00] to like an opportunity for, you know, how to kind of show up. And I’m curious your take on the new Barbie.

[00:16:08] Chris Bevolo: Well, I mean, there’s a few ways I come at this. So the first is, as someone with diabetes type two diabetes, I love, I love that we’re, it’s normalizing something that millions of people deal with.

Type one obviously is a much more severe version of it. Um, at least for most people it is. What’s curious to me about it is once the packaging’s in the garbage. What about Barbie is type one? I guess she’s got a little monitor with her.

[00:16:37] Desirée Duncan: Yeah, she’s got the monitor right at the back of her arm. It’s, it’s the giveaway.

But yeah, other than that, it’s the, we’ll make, well actually she has her, uh, monitor in her bag. Yeah, I know. Yeah.

[00:16:46] Chris Bevolo: So has her monitor in her bag, but, but otherwise she looks like a normal, um, two perfect body Barbie. So that’s interesting. Like they could have shown like a more realistic body type maybe. Um, particularly since [00:17:00] we’re trying to talk about health.

Uh, I know you guys covered that last week. Uh, so what I think was interesting was, and we talked about this pre-show, what an opportunity for a health system to partner with Barbie and say, if you’re gonna release a Type one Diabetes Barbie, why not have like wi in the package a endocrinologist Barbie. I don’t know how she would show up other than looking like a doctor with a, with some kind of hypodermic needle or something.

Um, but what a great way to co-brand, right? So she needs, you know, like you can imagine all of the scenarios that would play out with Diabetes Barbie and Endocrinologist Barbie, where they could have consults and talk about diet and exercise and their A1C and all that good stuff.

[00:17:48] Desirée Duncan: Imagine, that’s what I thought.

Imagine your logo on a, on a Barbie clinic instead of a Barbie Dream Home. It’s a Barbie Dream Clinic.

[00:17:56] Chris Bevolo: Yes. Logo feature, totally. [00:18:00] Yeah. A Barbie Health and fitness clinic. And it’s, and you got a, you got a little endocrinologist in there, you got a physical therapist in there, and then Type one diabetes could go, you know, like, I’m gonna go over to the clinic and she walks over to the clinic.

I had GI Joes when I was a kid, so.

[00:18:19] Desirée Duncan: Yeah, so did I, I can,

[00:18:20] Chris Bevolo: I can, I can figure all the play acting out

[00:18:23] Desirée Duncan: For me, it was Ninja Turtles, so you can have a little like ninja turtle pop in, uh, a little crossover action. Um, but yeah, so free ideas, uh, for anyone that’s looking for some opportunities, some ways to show up out in the world, out in culture.

Um, that leads us into our main topic. Uh, so we wanna talk a little bit about how health system and other healthcare brands can show up more in culture. I know we. Tend to think like, oh, healthcare is very serious. You know, how, um, we need to, you know, do things in earnest, but what are some other opportunities?

Um, so one recent opportunity, this isn’t a health brand, but, um, [00:19:00] US Bank is joining the Happy Gilmore Two, shout out to the SQL 20 years later. Um, but there is a, uh, a, the first Netflix deal where a brand is partnering with a. A film that’s coming out. So essentially there will be, uh, placements. So US Banks branding will be featured throughout the film, from caddy uniforms to banners to cross platform ads.

You know, all of this I imagine is kind of stemming from the excitement from, uh, the last Barbie film. Where there was just so much buzz and so many different brands that are doing something, um, alongside the premiere of that film. Um, so it’s like, okay, why don’t we do that intention with the creation of the film, um, beyond like obviously a product which was Barbie, but I digress.

But yeah, curious your thoughts like off top about this opportunity where a US bank is showing up in Happy Gilmore too. What’s your hot take?

[00:19:58] Chris Bevolo: So you gotta go [00:20:00] back to like when product placement really became a thing. And this just feels like the natural evolution of that. Um, and it’s such a tricky business because you have to do it in the right way.

And there’s so many examples of like just ridiculousness in movies where somebody’s like, we gotta get that serial killer. Pass me that Pepsi and they like take a drink outta the Pepsi, and you’re just like, okay, you just broke the whole thing with your stupid product placement. This is further in which it is.

Uh, it is an integrated partnership. Uh, it’s obviously going to feel like because it’s a golf tour, there’s sponsors for golf tours, so it doesn’t feel forced. Um, so in that way I think it’s, I think it’s a really great idea. Sure. Seems like there would be opportunities for health systems to do this again in the right way.

It has to be in the right way. You do not want to show up in the wrong way. It’s one thing for US bank. US Bank does not get, uh, thrown under the bus [00:21:00] for advertising. It doesn’t get thrown under the bus for spending money. It doesn’t get thrown under the bus for executives making money. It’s a different world for health systems, which most people see as charities, if not nonprofits.

Um. They want them to be that. So whenever they see them acting as a big business, um, can draw scrutiny like we’ve talked about in this show. Um, not too, not too, um, far away ago. So you gotta do it the right way. But I think like this should, this should prompt people to think about how to do that. That’s, that’s my, that’s my starter.

[00:21:36] Desirée Duncan: Your starter.

[00:21:37] Chris Bevolo: My starter thought, my starter thought.

[00:21:39] Desirée Duncan: It’s like, how do you make it natural? How my starter

[00:21:41] Chris Bevolo: log? Yeah. Yeah. Start date log. F1. Start, start starter log. And like when you build a fire, you have to have a starter log.

[00:21:49] Desirée Duncan: Oh. I just went down a whole like Star Trek, like reference, but, okay. Uh, another example of this, of course, has been the, the Formula One movie, the F1, the big [00:22:00] Brad Pitt vehicle that everyone’s talking about.

I know that, you know, U Chicago is a sponsor of that, um, which really kind of leans into that affinity marketing, uh, where you’re really kind of tying, um, to, you know, where folks are gathering what they’re excited about, uh, you know, where culture is around, like having your brand show up there. Um, I wonder if there will be any, any interesting, uh, tactics that others will start to think of as well, but curious your thoughts on, on that one as well.

[00:22:32] Chris Bevolo: Our friends at UCH Chicago, um, love the F1. It’s just such a different, it, you know, it, it crosses a line into sponsorship, but the opportunity, like you talked about, does this. F1 right now is pretty hot in the culture. Um, I think it was Netflix. Netflix or HBO had a F1 series, the F1 movie’s out now the F1 tour.

Uh, and it’s really a cool sport. It’s kind of new for the United States [00:23:00] to get into. Formula one racing. So, um, it is affinity marketing, right? It’s more than just sponsorship. It’s more than just a billboard on, you know, the outfield of a baseball stadium. Uh, always those things should be taken further than just the, the kind of environmental signage, but there’s so much you could do with an F1 event.

Uh, so it’s just a, it’s another great example I think, which also brings to mind the studio. We can’t, we can’t forget about the studio. The funniest show with 27 Emmys. Where the primary plot that goes through the whole studio is, um, they’re making the Kool-Aid movie.

Oh yeah. So they are,

[00:23:40] Chris Bevolo: they are trying to follow in the steps of Barbie by making the Kool-Aid movie.

Yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:23:46] Desirée Duncan: Oh yeah. And then com, which is

[00:23:48] Chris Bevolo: hilarious.

[00:23:49] Desirée Duncan: Comedy ensues from there. It’s very similar to, oh my God, what is the show? Curb Your Enthusiasm. [00:24:00] I think, oh yeah, that’s where it starts to get into that. I see your point now more about the comedy. It kind of gets into that, uh, that era of just really, really being sharp and like, where are we gonna go with this?

I think you had mentioned something about who’s gonna direct it, who’s gonna be a part of it, and is it racist if I help? CJ is a part of a Cool Heights film.

[00:24:21] Chris Bevolo: Ice Cube. It’s Ice Cube. Oh, ice Cube. Ice Cube. They wanna be the, they wanna be the voice. They want Martin Scorsese to direct. I know this has nothing to do with what we’re talking about, but you gotta hear it’s hilarious.

And they pay him a lot of money. ’cause he is Martin Scorsese and he wants to do it, but they’re like, he’ll never do it. He’s like, I’ll do it. And I have the idea, it’s gonna be called Jonestown. Yes. And they’re like, oh, so you wanna make a movie about, because Kool-Aid is the integrated sponsor, so you wanna make a movie about where Kool-Aid was used to kill a bunch of people.

He is like, it’s going to be great. So [00:25:00] that’s the kind of humor, it’s Hollywood humor. It’s very good. So anyway, don’t do that. That’s an example of an inappropriate integration. Um, we know, uh, is Northwell Health. Mm-hmm. Correct. Has created a documentary movie. Uh, we’ve done that with some of our clients. Uh, rut, wood Johnson Foundation.

Des, you were the, I like to call you the showrunner. I, ’cause I think that’s appropriate for the role that you played. In that, why don’t you talk about those two documentaries that we did?

[00:25:31] Desirée Duncan: I appreciate that title. Um, but yeah, it’s like, how do you actually show up where the audience actually is? I, I, I feel like so often we’re trying to reach like all of the masses, so then you’re not really saying anything.

But when you’re really able to niche down into that specific, uh, affinity group. Uh, community, like with nursing, uh, and also just with those that are really, uh, excited about Formula One racing. Uh, with that opportunity, you have really, [00:26:00] really, um, great aspirations for kind of going a bit further. Uh, I, what you reminded me of was actually the, um, and just like that the, uh, sex and city reboot, uh, we saw in the first season.

What, what happened when things go wrong. Uh. Which that wasn’t even really the strongest partnership, but they had mentioned, um, Peloton and essentially that’s what killed big and stock then plummeted. So it’s almost like

[00:26:25] Chris Bevolo: that’s right,

[00:26:25] Desirée Duncan: making sure that you were in deep control of how your brand felt with your, your product is showing up.

So if you’re going to do that, uh, I don’t know, try to write into your contract that you have like creative right, or refusal. Depending on how it’s depicted in the show, but I know, um, Mari actually mentioned that in a recent, and just like that episode, uh, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer, uh, center was featured, one of the characters is going through, uh, a cancer diagnosis.

And so that gives a, uh, more powerful, positive [00:27:00] opportunity for your branch to show up. Uh, unlike Peloton, RIP to them. But what were you gonna say?

[00:27:07] Chris Bevolo: I, I just think that’s the, you know, it’s interesting to think about. Peloton, I assume must have given, um, sex in the city or whatever the new remake is, permission to use its brand in the show, and somehow didn’t realize or wasn’t told that that’s how it was gonna be used.

So like that seems to be user error on Peloton. I don’t know. Or sneakiness by the producers of some kind. But yeah, if you can, if you can get the, if you can get the, you know, um, Memorial Sloan Kettering kind of coverage in a show, that’s fantastic. It can always go the other way. But then usually you’re not going to give permission for your brand, right?

So if it, if it’s a show about how terrible it is to go through a healthcare experience, that’s why they have to make up hospital names. ’cause nobody’s putting their brand obviously toward that. Um, so you just have to be thoughtful about that. Uh, [00:28:00] but this reminds me of a health system in the Twin Cities.

This was back in 2008, health Partners, uh, that also tried to create like cultural moments through mascots. They had their own mascots, uh, and the mascots were about preventative health. So one was a hypodermic needle and the other one was a two-thirds full urine sample cup called pd, the P cup. Wow.

That’s a real thing. Yeah. And first of all, I just remember writing like probably the second blog post I’ve ever written in my life. Um, back then, giving them all the kudos. ’cause that takes a lot of boldness from a health system. But boy did it blow up in a great way in terms of earned media, people taking selfies.

They were at the twins games. They were in parades, you imagine like a giant urine sample cup walking down a parade, throwing candy to kids. Uh, hopefully there weren’t lemon drops or something like that. So, I mean, there’s just all kinds [00:29:00] of things you can do that that idea there gets you into cultural moments like parades or twins games without necessarily having a sponsorship.

Uh, so there’s just a lot that you can do to, to meet people where they’re at and be appropriate. And I’m gonna tell one more story on the appropriate part. We used to work with the organ procurement organization in Minnesota called LifeSource. So those are the groups that. Are responsible for driving people to sign up, to be organ donors on your license and also manage the transfer of, of, um, donors.

So they find, they find the donors and the recipients and they match them and they make sure that everything goes right. And they had a, like a mobile van that they would take around that would talk about organ donation. It was cool, had all kinds of stuff inside of it, but they would take it to Vikings games.

And they said like, nobody, nobody would ever come to our van. Like, what’s wrong? Is it, do we need to like repaint it or, [00:30:00] and our feedback was, nobody at a Vikings game wants to think about having to donate an organ because I mean, somebody’s dying. That’s when you donate an organ, it’s somebody’s died. So it’s not the right context for your brand to be in for that.

Um, brand is a strong word. They were a brand, but really that’s a cause. Uh, you’ve gotta find something that’s. It doesn’t have to be the o you don’t want to be like at a funeral home either, but a Vikings game or movie theaters where people go to escape life and have fun. So they don’t want to go anywhere near anything like that.

So I think that’s another example of, of there are, there are all kinds of opportunities. You gotta really just think through it.

[00:30:40] Desirée Duncan: Yeah. That re that honestly reminds me of, um, and this isn’t necessarily a, a brand thing, but it’s more kind of getting the word out about, you know, different health. Um, issues and challenges, um, and, you know, really harnessing kind of your power to get those stories out.

So, for example, um, I remember of course, you know, we [00:31:00] went through the AIDS epidemic, um, you know, throughout the eighties, right? And then by the nineties it was getting to a fever pitch of, you know, what are we going to do? You know, we’re losing, um, you know, millions of people. We need to do something. It’s almost like a, a reframing of, uh, what HIV and AIDS is.

So there was a big concerted effort, I can’t remember the name of the organization, um, but it was essentially a position, a petition to Hollywood to create more stories around this. So that’s why we got, uh, movies like Philadelphia. And, and other, um, stories around like Ryan White, it’s almost essentially to, to humanize this experience and, and make it less scarier those people over there.

Um, that’s essentially the power that, uh, television and movies have that, you know, health systems healthcare can really tap into to really, um, help convey. So, you know, what does that look like today? Uh, I know we saw some COVID era things that, you know, came out a few years [00:32:00] back. But when we really think about like what is, um, happening, especially thinking about cancer and how, um, that it continues to rise, like what, um, how can Health Branch really show up to really get that message out there, uh, around that?

Or any other, um, health challenges that are coming up?

[00:32:22] Chris Bevolo: Yeah, it’s movies. It’s like you said earlier, it’s culture, it’s movies, it’s TVs. Uh, TV shows it’s sports like we’ve been talking about, and it’s really going beyond the obvious too, right? Like the real impact is not handing out cups of water at a marathon or have a first aid station at a, a sports venue.

That’s the minimum you can do as a health system. You just gotta get creative. It’s just a, you know, just like we try to think about creativity and advertising, the opportunity to be creative in the real world, in culture is just. Exponentially greater. And so you just really have to [00:33:00] apply that same part of your brain to it, and you’ll come up with amazing things and connect with people in ways they wouldn’t expect and build a brand in, in a super cool way.

So go do it. Somebody go to Mattel and say like, we need to have an eng endocrinologist, Barbie. Like

[00:33:16] Desirée Duncan: I see, I see your, your type one, uh, diabetes Barbie, and I raise you, uh, endocrinologist. All right, so you had, here are all your ideas, go forth. But for all of you listening, don’t forget that we wanna hear from you.

So shoot us an email at no normal@bpdhealthcare.com. So your question may be featured in our next episode or even our next blog since Chris is in his Carrie Bradshaw era. But make sure that you share the show with friends and colleagues and give us a review and ratings on iTunes and Spotify, preferably five stars.

And of course, we’d love to hear from you in the comments in Spotify, what hills, where you die on in that conversation around Emmy’s? What ideas, what brand ideas do [00:34:00] you have that a health system can jump on? All of that would be greatly appreciated. And until next time, don’t ever be satisfied with a normal push that no normal y’all.

And we’ll talk to you next week. Bye.