• by Les Luchter , March 24, 2026

Abbott on Monday announced the completion of its acquisition of Exact Sciences, best known for its Cologuard screening test for colorectal cancer. The deal had been valued at between $21 billion and $23 billion.

Abbott on Tuesday announced a new Cologuard campaign featuring a video that reunites “Full House”/”Fuller House” stars John Stamos and Jodie Sweetin for one of their “famous” talks. Amid sitcom canned laughter and “sappy music,” the premise is that Sweetin has just turned 45 but is embarrassed about starting colon cancer screenings. Stamos, though, just happens to have a Cologuard box (billed as a “special guest star”) with him. The Cologuard test, he advises Sweetin, is “simple, non-invasive, no prep…plus no live studio audience.”

If you think the timing of the campaign launch was driven by the deal completion, you'd be wrong, according to Jeremy Truxal, Abbott’s VP of marketing for screening, who last week held a similar title at Exact Sciences. “The timing of this campaign was driven by Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month,” Truxal tells Marketing Daily, alluding to the month of initiatives that has also seen the launch of an unbranded campaign from Katie Couric and point-of-care marketer PatientPoint. “We wanted to finish March strong with this fun, compelling campaign with two beloved stars.”

Titled “The (Second) Talk,” the campaign, is designed to reach those turning 45 or older (up to 75) by mixing humor and nostalgia. Besides the throwback to “Full House,” other campaign elements include digital out-of-home (apparently going underground in the Big Apple) bearing images of ancient-looking cordless phones accompanying such messages as “Have you ever printed subway directions? It’s probably time to screen” and “Remember when there was a payphone around here? You might be screening age.”

The DOOH, set to launch March 26, includes QR codes that bring consumers to audio messages from Stamos to get their own “second talk,” with such talks running via streaming audio, Truxal notes.

Cutdowns of the hero video are running across organic and paid social media.

The campaign, whose creative has been handled by Blue Hour, is expected to run through the end of April.

“We’ve all had awkward conversations with our loved ones,” says Truxal. But now “it’s time to lean in on conversations about colorectal cancer because skipping or delaying screening can have serious consequences. Our goal with this campaign is to remind people that screening can be simple and accessible – and that taking this step is important.”

Truxal says that “we have detailed metrics to measure” how many people get screened, “as well as to measure how this campaign supports that progress. These metrics include things like dedicated landing page from visits, conversions, and beyond,  as well as paid media and organic social benchmarks.” 

Abbott notes that colorectal cancer is not only increasingly affecting people under 50, but it’s the number-one cancer killer in that age range. Overall, it’s the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths, the pharma firm points out, but “when detected early, colorectal cancer has a survival rate of 91%.” 

While Cologuard is delivered directly to consumer homes, it is a pharma product, requiring a doctor’s prescription.

While the colon cancer screening product is currently the bread-and-butter of the Exact Sciences product lineup acquired by Abbott, the latter is looking beyond that to a full range of cancer detecting tests. Exact Sciences has lately been running a campaign for Cancerguard, a blood test that screens for over 50 kinds of cancer.