Setting out to hammer home the fact that cancer is happening right now, in real-time
Live from inside the human body
The Big Idea
Cancer is happening right now. Half of us born after 1960 in the UK will be diagnosed with some kind of cancer in our lifetime - yet much of this is avoidable, with cancers accounting for 40% of all deaths from preventable causes in England and Wales. But how do you demonstrate this real-life immediacy to the UK public through a TV partnership? You show them something live and right at the centre of the action.
“Live Inside is one of our most ambitious and exciting campaigns to date … Being able to showcase the procedure during a live ad break is an important means of communicating the importance but also simplicity and ease of preventative measures, we are thrilled with its result and impact.” Clare Moore, CRUK Marketing Director
Making it Happen
Given that CRUK rely on donations, we had to think creatively about how best to employ their budget. We found colonoscopies are often used to help determine cancerous polyps and cauterize them. The camera used for the procedure is also often used for live student lectures, meaning we had a cost-effective and true-to-life way to directly introduce our audience to real-time cancer care.
After speaking with Cardiff and Vale University Hospital, we were able to adapt micro-camera technology for broadcast use but we also had to find a real patient (Philip McSparron) who would be happy to appear live on TV during a real procedure. Surgery hours meant we had to broadcast this event in the afternoon, however knowing that 40% of our daytime viewers donate regularly to charity, we were confident that they would still engage with the idea. On Wednesday, January 18th at 3.32pm the meticulously planned procedure took place timed perfectly with one of our most popular daytime shows; A Place In The Sun.
Of the respondents who viewed the ad, 60%
said they would get a check-up as a result of seeing the ad
Trade and consumer press titles reached over 30 million
people, meaning half of the UK population heard about it
The Results
C4’s social team curated and hosted the copy immediately after the ad aired on Facebook, sharing with CRUK, generating more than 140,000 organic views in total. Social sentiment was totally positive across Facebook & Twitter, with viewers pleased to see a different approach to charity marketing that was so informative and engaging.
Then the story really took off with trade and consumer press titles reaching over 30 million people – meaning half the UK adult population heard about it.
C4 undertook research with Hall & Partners to understand the impact of the ad. Ultimately, the most impressive effect according to H&P’s campaign research was that 60% of respondents who viewed the ad said they would get a check-up as a result of seeing the ad. A truly incredible call to action.
