• by Les Luchter , May 7, 2024

“Women are often ignored. Data isn’t,” declared the headline of an Oura Ring full-page print ad in Sunday’s New York Times “Style” section. “Only 1% of global research funding goes towards female health conditions,” continued the smaller type. “Know your body better with Oura Ring, the revolutionary smart ring.”

The placement ran a day before Monday’s Met Gala, one of the style world’s major annual events. “This is a major cultural moment and we wanted to take the opportunity to share this message of the need for better women’s health access to a wider, leaned-in audience,” Oura CMO Doug Sweeny tells Marketing Daily.

Oura will follow up Sunday’s ad with another full-pager in Thursday’s “Style” section. That one will be headlined, “Listen to your body. Even if your doctor doesn't.”

“The healthcare industry for years has systematically ignored women and their health concerns across fertility, menstruation, and overall health,” says Sweeny. “With this campaign, we wanted to shine a spotlight on these issues and advocate for more women’s health research.”

Sweeny adds that Oura is “one of the few wearables that have made a serious investment through research and education in women’s health.”

Since its launch a decade ago, the company says it has tracked 10 billion hours of wear and more than 2.3 billion hours of sleep. All rings, which cost $299, give the user three scores -- sleep, readiness and activity -- while $5.99/month memberships provide additional info like in-depth sleep analysis, cycle tracking, and heart rate monitoring.

About half of those members are women, Sweeny says, “but we know this community is incredibly engaged in their overall health.”

In addition to the Met Gala bookend ads, with concepts and headlines from Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ Brand Camp and media placement from Mediahub, Oura is placing display ads on nytimes.com during May’s Women’s Health Month. 

These aren’t the brand’s first buys with The New York Times Company, however. Sweeny notes that Oura was among the first advertisers on Times puzzle property Wordle.

Also for May, Women’s Health Month, Oura is doing a branded content piece with Vogue, a buy on Hulu and an owned-media video series.

Featuring the Oura experience of influencer Candace Marie, the Vogue content will launch later this month on Vogue.com and Vogue’s Youtube channel reveals Sweeny, and then be amplified via Vogue’s Instagram Stories, “native tile driver units” across the Vogue network, and Vogue ads on Facebook and Instagram. Oura, he says, will also share cutdowns of the content via both organic and paid social media.

The Hulu buy will involve interactive video ad with questions on specific women’s health statistics. One question, for example, asks, “What percentage of global research funding goes towards female health conditions?” There are multiple choices to pick from, but the answer, of course, is in the company's print ad: 1%, 8%, 25% or 50%.

The owned-media video series, called “Ouranian Women,” consists of four videos showcasing the stories of women working at Oura. Among them is Dorothy Kilroy, Oura's chief commercial officer, said to have spearheaded Oura's partnership efforts in the women's health space and grown the commercial business to include collaborations with over 800 organizations.

The entire month-long campaign, titled “Be the Expert in You,” is aimed at women of all ages, Sweeny says. “it’s critical that all women are empowered to understand/listen to their bodies and advocate for their health, especially given how vastly underserved women’s health matters are.”