How do you encourage young women to reconsider sunbed use and reduce their skin cancer risk? By playing into the very insecurity that was creating demand – namely looks.

We lured through free UV skin-scans to reveal what cosmetic damage already lay beneath their skin.

R UV UGLY? was a national PR, social and experiential campaign for which we secured key youth influencers (celebs partial to a glow…) to promote safer alternatives, and placed their UV images within relevant media such as Heat and Now.

R UV UGLY? also played into youth-obsession with sharable imagery (the Blackberry generation) and featured a photo booth that dispensed passport pictures with the difference – UV images revealing the cosmetic damage beneath.

A news release saw us persuade the UK’s leading model agencies to agree to a zero sunbed tolerance policy, with coverage including Metro front page, and Radio 1. Another focused on how friends / family were encouraging sunbed use and inadvertently putting loved-ones at risk. Coverage included ten-minutes on Daybreak.

The Twitter hashtag #RUVUGLY was used to activate mass social media support, firstly, via our celebrity supporters, and secondly, via bloggers and media. This achieved widespread buzz and – via bespoke, trackable links to Facebook – we ensured that vouchers for free skin scans were accessible to all.

A follow-up survey revealed that R UV UGLY? had provoked a marked change in self-reported attitudes and behaviours towards sunbeds. The majority of participants said that after engaging with the campaign, they would not be using sunbeds again.

Within the campaign, Influencers secured (for free) included Binky (Made in Chelsea), Maria Fowler and Sam & Billie Faiers (TOWIE) and Gemma Merna (Hollyoaks).

We promoted their involvement through media interviews, placed skin assessments in relevant press (brave!) and by encouraging tweets to the Facebook hub - containing information, tanning-tips from Binky, and – importantly – a text/email mechanic for the ‘two for none’ voucher.

We also toured a ‘digital photo booth’ in Manchester / Newcastle, producing normal – and UV - passport photos. Participants got a R UV UGLY? photocard, a professional assessment and free fake tan. Users were also encouraged to share images socially, to further spread the word.

Two news stories supported:

- How friends / family were inadvertently putting their loved-ones at risk

- A cross agency-ban on sunbed use, signed-up to by the nation’s largest model agencies (Next, IMG, Premier etc), and released during London Fashion Week.

◦ 1,648 skin-scans

◦ 13 celebrity-supporters

◦ 27 national hits including a DPS in The Sun, Metro (front page), Heat

◦ 75 broadcast including ITV Daybreak, Sky News, Radio 1

◦ 131 regional hits

◦ 553 online hits

◦ Over 2,000,000 Twitter impressions for #RUVUGLY

Over 200 tweets from celebs/influencers with 1000+ followers

Pre / post questionnaire:

- 75% of target sunbed users who, before the scan, said they expected to use sunbeds more or the same in the future, changed their minds immediately after and said they expected to use them less or not at all.

- Immediately after the scan, half said they would not use sunbeds in the future compared to 22% who had said this before the scan.

- In the eight-week follow-up survey*, data indicated that positive intentions were sustained with 46% reporting they’d stopped using sunbeds / use sunbeds less than they did before.

Note the sample size for the follow up survey was relatively small (N=62).