Publicis Groupe announced today a new campaign urging companies to encourage their employees to get timely cancer screenings, like mammograms and colonoscopies, because early detection is the key to saving lives.   

Called Screening Time Off, it’s the latest effort from the Groupe’s Working with Cancer initiative that was unveiled two years ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The initative is coordinated through the Publicis Foundation.   

The campaign is supported by $20 million in donated media time including a Times Square NYC takeover on February 4th, which is World Cancer Day.   

Partners in the effort include Accor, AXA, HPE, L'Oreal, Merck, Nestle, Pfizer, Sanofi and UBS, among others.  

The Groupe cites research that approximately half of all cancer deaths are preventable. Caught early, many common cancers have survival rates well over 90%. But many people delay or skip cancer screenings due to work. In the US, seven in 10 people say they are behind on one or more screenings and 25% of the working population don’t use the paid time or workplace benefits made available by their companies for those checkups. Publicis has calculated that up to 100,000 American lives could be saved annually through raised awareness and improved screening compliance.  

The new initiative provides tools and resources—multimedia communication assets, outreach templates, customizable films and more—to help companies address common barriers that their employees experience in identifying existing policies and benefits.  

Actress Jenna Fischer has been recruited to host one campaign video in which she shares her own cancer story and how early detection helped her become cancer-free.  

Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe, stated: "In just two years, Working with Cancer’s mission to break down the stigma of cancer in the workplace has touched the lives of over 35 million employees, across 2,500 leading companies worldwide. Now, we're taking that commitment even further with Screening Time Off—a bold new initiative to remove the barriers to life-saving preventative care.... It’s a crucial step in our commitment to building healthier, recovery-forward workforces globally."  

It was Sadoun’s own cancer scare in 2022 and the subsequent feedback he received from other cancer survivors about their fears concerning their health and their jobs that led to the creation of the Working With Cancer program.