IBM is the world leader in ‘cognitive computing' – technology that enhances and augments human expertise.

IBM’s cutting-edge system, Watson, can understand natural language, self-learn, improve its knowledge, reason, and interact with humans. And it can process vast amounts of data, in more detail, delivering instantaneous insights more than any human could imagine.

But many Australians don’t know its potential.

Using skin imaging data, IBM, alongside the Melanoma Institute of Australia and MoleMap put Watson to work on the disease to help clinicians detect melanoma sooner and more accurately.

Clinicians can detect melanoma at about 60% with the naked eye. The target for IBM Watson? 91%, which could equal 13,000 lives saved every year.

But Watson needed lots of data.

We engaged Australians to tell Watson their melanoma story. A tweet, post, photo, a Watson Smart Mirror scan or skin check. By donating this data, Australians are helping save Australian lives.

Our integrated campaign was supported by impactful third-party early melanoma detection statistics to clearly articulate the economic and human cost of melanoma on every day Australians to ensure we captured media attention pre, during and post the event.

With two month’s planning and working with partners, we secured pre, during and post-event awareness media; a combination of event listings, expert national media interviews with partners, specialists and celebrities, activation coverage and results publicity.

The campaign sought to amplify the advertising approach, with survival stories of Australian celebrities shared on social media pre-event and in the press - including the Australian Financial Review – to encourage Australians to share their own stories with ongoing earned and real-time social media engagement at the event.

Bondi Beach provided the perfect venue for engaging everyday Australians with the campaign and securing national media for IBM Outthink Melanoma.

Media outputs

- Four national TV broadcasters covered the story – including Channel 7, Australia’s highest rating news program

- Channel 9’s Weekend Today’s story was the highest rating segment: 300,000+ viewers and the most watched show that morning including in the biggest markets: Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

- Media coverage generated 5M impressions, over 20% of Australia’s total population

- 6 in-depth radio interviews including with the commercially independent ABC

- Both of Australia’s national newspapers published stories about IBM’s melanoma research; the Australian Financial Review ran on page 3 – addressing our C-Suite and wider audience.

- Positive and on message coverage: IBM featured in the headline and/or was the lead feature

- The activation was the weekend’s top event on high traffic sites: EventFinda, The Beast and Experience Sydney.

- techAU extensively covered for our IT professionals; healthcare blogs covered for our health audience.

- The celebrity influencer series was viewed 4.25 million times

- Earned social drove 55.7K impressions (59% above target) and 5.5% engagement exceeding the 3.5-5% target - contributing to 32.7K Outthink Melanoma landing page visits

- Paid Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram reached 14M Australians, delivering 33% engagement

- 4.88M engagements from 45.6M paid media impressions

Audience Outcomes

- 808 Australians used the Watson Smart Mirrors (115% above target), 176 people had professional skin checks and 70 were referred to a dermatologist – potentially saving their lives

Crucially, we generated gigabytes of new data for Watson