Breaking the Silence Around Menopause with Data-Driven Content and Societal Impact
Agency: Sanoma Content Studio
Client: Terveystalo
Award: Best Annual ‘Always-On‘ Content Strategy, 2025: Silver
“The work seems like a great brand fit and appropriate for the audience - Results definitely show that the campaign helped the company’s patients, and attracted new patients - Smart use of expert voices as well as people’s personal experiences offers good balance of medical expertise as well relatable stories from real women, broadening the appeal and extending the issue beyond a medical one. ”
Brief
Menopause currently affects one-fifth of the entire working population in Finland, yet outdated perceptions and stigma prevent many from recognizing symptoms or seeking treatment. Terveystalo, one of Finland’s leading private healthcare providers, saw an opportunity to address this gap—both as a public health mission and a strategic growth area for its gynaecology services.
The content marketing program created by Sanoma Content Studio in collaboration with Terveystalo set out to challenge outdated attitudes surrounding menopause and help women get treatment — and achieved remarkable results.
The planning and execution were guided by a core insight: despite the abundance of information available on menopause, it wasn’t reaching the women who needed it most—nor even all healthcare professionals. Especially women in their 40s rarely consider the topic relevant to them.
Journalistic and data-driven research revealed that prevailing stereotypes and a lack of awareness about menopause and perimenopause continued to prevent women from recognizing the signs and symptoms in themselves. Starting with the imagery, menopause has often been framed as something that only affects much older generations. A key reason for this is outdated perceptions of when and how menopause-related changes or symptoms begin.
Terveystalo began training its staff and simultaneously aimed to raise broader awareness and shift attitudes: to make menopause as normalized a topic as menstruation.
“We had identified a major societal issue and had already begun changing our own practices, but we wanted a strategy to explore how we could do even more, as a thought leader, to help shift awareness and attitudes”, says Karla Martinez Majander, Head of Brand and Customer Experience at Terveystalo.
By combining data, creativity, and strategic planning, Sanoma Content Studio helped Terveystalo shift themenopause conversation from private discussions between women to public — driving societal change and measurable health outcomes.
The planning phase and strategy development began in August 2024. The first pieces of content were published in October 2024, with content production continuing to this day.
Solution
Thorough background research revealed a key disconnect between information and the target audience: outdated perceptions of when and how menopause begins, coupled with stereotypical imagery portraying menopausal women as elderly retirees. It became clear that menopause needed a new faces and voices. We needed to redefine who talks about it, how, and where. First and foremost, menopause should not be a taboo or treated as something shameful. Instead, it should be openly spoken about.
Through collaborative workshops with Terveystalo’s medical experts, marketers, communication, and leadership, Sanoma Content Studio facilitated the development of an effective multi-channel content strategy. Other background research methods included expert interviews and data-driven audience insights from Sanoma.
Medical credibility was key. Gynecology and occupational health experts played a central role in ensuring the content was medically accurate and science-based. To support the initiative, Terveystalo built a robust internal material bank containing verified facts, expert interviews, and key messaging—ensuring women receive reliable information and proper care.
To gain deeper insight into the target audience, Terveystalo conducted a survey in June 2024 involving 700 Finnish women aged 40 to 59. The results gave the strategy a strong mandate. For example,
77% felt menopause is not discussed enough
64% hadn’t recognized their symptoms as menopause-related
The different findings of the survey were also directly integrated into the content.
The goal of the content strategy was framing menopause as a workplace and societal issue, not just a medical one.
In addition to Terveystalo’s medical experts, the company’s top leadership—including CEO Ville Iho—lent their voices and shared their views on social media, where the posts gained wide attention.
Sanoma Content Studio produced a varied set on materials to be utilized on the menopause-themed campaign site and in ongoing content production for years 2024 and 2025, including:
Expert articles that resonate with the target audience
Relatable personal stories
Extensive feature articles covering not only the medical but also cultural and societal dimensions of menopause
Fact-based explainers
Thought-Leadership ads and selected quotes by Terveystalo's representatives on social media
Visuals were designed to resonate with the active target audience: the content featured fresh illustration and photography styles familiar from lifestyle and news media.
Starting in November 2024, content was distributed via:
Instagram & LinkedIn (paid and organic)
Terveystalo.com/vaietutvuodet (campaign hub)
Native advertising on IS.fi and HS.fi (leading news platforms in Finland), directing traffic back to Terveystalo’s site
Native advertising in print in Kodin Kuvalehti and Me Naiset (leading women’s magazines in Finland)
Newsletters
Webinars
Forum for HR professionals
Seminar for key policymakers
Since autumn 2024, more than ten master content pieces have been published. This content has been shared and utilized in many forms in social media as well as in a range of communication and marketing materials. This ongoing content production ensures that the conversation about menopause remains active and relevant across channels, constantly engaging the target audience and amplifying key messages.
Results
Given that well over half of the women in Terveystalo’s survey hadn’t even connected their symptoms to menopause, one of the most impactful outcomes of the content campaign is that women have actively sought treatment. Just a couple of months after rollout of the content campaign, menopause-related diagnoses in Terveystalo’s occupational health services increased by 51% compared to the same period the previous year.
The earned media results were impressive: media inquiries related to gynaecology topics at Terveystalo increased by over 56% compared to the previous year. Terveystalo’s Chief Occupational Health Physician, Kaisu Norbäck wasinvited to speak on commercial TV channel MTV3’s Morning Show and business media Kauppalehti’s podcast to discuss the topic: Is menopause the new glass ceiling for women?
In terms of numbers, the campaign was hugely successful:
+51% increase in menopause-related diagnoses at Terveystalo
+7.84% rise in gynaecology brand preference
+56% increase in media inquiries on menopause topics
Nearly 20,000 participants in webinars on menopause
98% newsletter content satisfaction
A single native article reached 3 x the benchmark audience, while another achieved dwell times of up to 5minutes—an 84% increase over the average.
Brand consideration +8%, preference +18% (Cross-media impact study MOME 11/2024)
The campaign’s impact has not gone unnoticed in the industry. It received an honorable mention in the Best Content Marketing category of Grand One, Finland’s largest digital marketing competition. The jury praised the campaign’s concept for building thought leadership for both the organization and the topic itself in a manner that was both fitting and impactful.
Terveystalo's thought leadership on the subject is also evident in AI-powered search results and summaries. In searches conducted in Finnish, when queries focus on psychological support and care recommendations formenopause, content produced for Terveystalo emerges as a cited source in AI-generated overviews. Similarly, when artificial intelligence is asked about menopause and sexuality, Terveystalo's materials rank among the top references, further solidifying the organization’s authority and impact in digital health conversations.
Terveystalo’s menopause content strategy marks the beginning of a broader commitment to reshaping how women’s health is understood, discussed, and supported in Finland. By elevating menopause from a private concern to a public and workplace-level conversation, this ongoing content campaign lays the foundation for Terveystalo’s efforts to normalize life-stage health topics and reduce stigma across all areas of care.
“This work has only just begun, but we’re incredibly proud of the results we’ve achieved so quickly,” says Karla Martinez Majander.