Happy Trends Tuesday!

I had a great time recharging my brain (and charring my skin 🥵) this past week. I hope y'all did too!

We're getting right back into it with a nice, long email, ft. a wonderful piece from my colleague, Curtis del Principe.

Fair warning: both topics today can be a tad controversial. As you read, if you find yourself thinking: "Who are these people to give me medical/legal/PR advice?!" 

We're not.

We're just business nerds writing about opportunities and observations. So consume at your own risk, and definitely call your doctor, lawyer, and other certified folks for the serious stuff. 

In today's email…

• Opportunities in the rise of concierge doctors & imaging boutiques
• UGC can do wonders for brands. But what happens when it backfires?
• What we’re surfin’, from the best travel ad to a reverse Turing test

Let's get into it!

🤝 NEGOTIATION 101

Train your brain for high-pressure situations. Take our negotiation strategy guide and dive into persuasion, soft skills, common mistakes, and countering objections.

🚀 WHERE TO BUILD NEXT

What’s up with all the boutique scans and concierge doctors? 

We live in a longevity-obsessed world of hypochondriacs who want all our body data collected, and someone to take time analyzing it. 

The super-wealthy address this by getting their $2.5k full-body scans.

But what about the semi-wealthy, who can afford better preventative healthcare than the average person? 

They’re seeking out two kinds of services:

• Boutique imaging clinics: Get quick elective scanning for a fixed price, like private ultrasounds, mammograms, or other services offered by clinics like this one. 
  
  
• Concierge medicine: Pay a subscription fee to have better access to your doctor, with more availability and personalization.

Source: Google Trends, six-month rolling average

Function, a membership-based health startup, raised $53m from high-profile investors like VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and actors Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal. 

For $499 a year, it offers 100+ lab tests for biomarkers including heart, brain, cancers, hormones… all that good stuff. 

It seems that many are ready to drop serious dough for enhanced health screening, with a focus on accessibility, personalization, and transparent pricing. 

We got some ideas to help you cash in on that demand: 

1. Start a boutique imaging clinic

Current boutiques largely serve expecting parents (prenatal ultrasounds) — but there’s an opportunity to start one that covers other health areas, such as:

• DEXA scan (for bone density, 147k searches/mo. globally, per Ahrefs)
• Coronary calcium scan (5.8k/mo.)
• Vascular ultrasound (3.6k/mo.)

Partner with a certified imaging or healthcare professional, and build or invest in a cost-effective imaging clinic.

You’d still have the upfront costs of a few machines, 1-2 licensed techs, and accreditation fees. But you can save on a compact space with budget-friendly boutique lighting, decor, and furniture to amplify comfort.

My friend Ben (editor of The Hustle) had a coronary calcium scan, and in his words, “It felt more like I was in a Big Tech office rather than a doctor's office… I felt like a king.” 

These do be looking like big tech offices… Source: One Medical

Not into the medical stuff? A small idea could be to help design/decorate these clinics, or sell furniture, plants and artworks to liven up their space.

2. Help concierge doctors match patient expectations

With concierge medicine disrupting traditional primary care, many physicians find themselves needing to adapt. 

You can help them with various aspects of their practice, such as:

🧮 Pricing consultant: Concierge medicine can be expensive. Operators might need help with a pricing strategy that works for their practice and patient makeup. You can also consult on other membership benefits for long-term patients. 

⭐️ CX expert: When paying a retainer fee, patients could be expecting a higher level of care from their doctors. You can help upgrade their tech stack, or train their staff to deliver a premium experience for patients. 

3. AI picks and shovels 

Investors are getting LLM fatigue, but they’re still backing the “picks and shovels” that make AI more easily accessible to folks.

And medical imaging offers prime ground for that. 

Keep reading to see 3 ways you can dig around the $1.3B AI medical imaging market (Hint: none of them require you to build an AI app!)

👽 OUR LATEST OBSESSION

When user-generated content becomes user-generated chaos

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

While Mike Tyson meant that literally, his wise words certainly hold true in marketing. 

And no marketer gets punched in the mouth quite as often as those who deal with user-generated content (UGC). 

When yet another wild TikTok claim about your product goes viral… Source: Giphy

Just think of the poor marketers at Celsius.

According to TikTokers, the health beverage contains everything from Ozempic to cyanide, and will give you luscious locks, sturdy nails, and an early grave. 💀

So what’s a brand to do when UGC goes off the rails? Does a smart marketer fight back or roll with the punches? 

First, let’s see what’s at stake…

4 kinds of UGC attacks

Despite the old adage that “all publicity is good publicity,” there are a few different types of UGC that can potentially damage your brand — even if it's meant to be positive.

1. Misinformation UGC

This involves outright false claims about your product or service, which can be damaging even when users are trying to promote your brand. 

Let’s dive back into Celsius. The "fitness drink" became a lightning rod for false information last year when drinkers posted TikTok videos alleging it contained the weight-loss drug Ozempic. 

At its peak, the term “Celsius drink Ozempic” reached a whopping 11.7m searches on TikTok. 😳

Source: TikTok

The trend got so out of hand that a spokesperson had to give a media tour to state: "Celsius products do not contain, and have never contained, Semaglutide (the generic name for Ozempic and Wegovy).”

2. Misleading UGC

What about claims that are simply harmless stretches of truth?

TikTok’s second favorite claim about Celsius is that it helps people quickly grow hair and nails. Though Celsius markets itself as a health drink — and some ingredients may be linked to hair and nail growth on their own — this is still just a rumor. A rumor that Celsius hasn’t spoken out on. 

But, should they? 

The claims aren’t hurting anyone, they’re hard to falsify, and they’re promoting the brand, right? 

Before you think of this hard-to-prove rumor as a win, remember that 80% of consumers say that UGC impacts purchasing decisions. If customers come to a brand on false grounds, they could feel misled by both UGC creators and a brand when unchecked claims aren't true.

While a harmless claim might be a gray area, it poses an ethical and moral dilemma that brands should consider. 

3. Negative UGC

In this case, the false claims are actively working against your product or service. 

Recently, a health influencer with 2m+ Instagram followers claimed that Celsius contains poisonous cyanide. 

And not just any old cyanide, but cyanide derived from human waste. (A claim that has been debunked by PhD nutritionist Layne Norton, if you don’t trust Celsius themselves.)

You may be tempted to jump in and squash these claims immediately, but anything that may be considered slander or libel is best handled by your legal representation. 

4. Hoaxes

Finally, in the case of a hoax, the creator tries to pass off the UGC as officially-sourced content. 

Way back when iOS8 was released (and dinosaurs roamed the Earth), pranksters shared an official-looking advertisement for a new feature called Apple Wave. 

According to the fake ad, Wave gave your iPhone the ability to charge your battery “using any standard household microwave.”

(In case it needs to be said: Please don’t microwave your phone.)

This led to a wave of social media posts showing the charred remains of iPhones. 

The actual impact of the joke is unclear, but Apple took it seriously enough to make multiple statements across various platforms. 

Source: Twitter (X)

Navigating user-generated chaos

Let’s rip this part off like a bandaid: There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for how and when to respond to UGC. 

The specifics are going to depend on what’s being said and what’s at stake. (Is it just your reputation on the line, or a customer’s life?)

I’m not your PR or legal team and recommend that you consult trusted brand experts when and if the unthinkable happens. 

But, here are a few takeaways we've gathered from brands who’ve successfully navigated these scenarios:

• Prep a crisis communication plan. It’s helpful to have the skeleton of a plan ready to go. Who will handle the response? Who should be consulted? What channels will you use?
  
  With this in place, you can be ready for a scenario where your brand gets an influx of customer web chatter, press requests, or customer service inquiries due to UGC.
  
  
• Take a deep breath. Yeah, yeah. You’ve heard this before, but don’t just scroll to the next tip. Responding in anger or fear risks making the situation ten times worse. 
  
  In a crisis, your first instincts will likely be emotional (which doesn't always lead to the best response.) While timeliness is important, responding effectively is critical.
  
  Take a beat and consult your team or leaders in deciding the best next step.
  
  
• Don’t go on the attack. Even if you’re totally in the right. Even if they’ve insulted your mother. Even if the user is a total jerk.
  
  Attacking the user personally will never look good for your brand.
  
  
• Consider IF a response is even needed. If the UGC is coming from an obvious troll with 20 followers (mostly bots), responding will only bring attention to their message.
  
  However, if a harmful message goes viral, ignoring it won’t make it go away. In that case, work closely with your PR and legal teams to craft a plan.
  
  
• Have a goal in mind. Are you aiming to remind audiences of your brand values or are you just trying to correct false claims to re-earn trust?
  
  
• Explain the "Why" behind your response: Consider statements beginning with, “To reassure our customers…” or “We want you to feel safe with our products, so…"

🗂️ OPEN TABS

👀 Rare: A finance guy with imposter syndrome? You gotta be curious.

🧳 From X: The best travel ad is, of course, not an ad. It's a ~vibe~ 

🔥 Watch: This 19yo cracked the 3-step code for going viral on YouTube

🧐 Try this: A reverse Turing test for your own sanity (I only got 4/7 right…)