850 lives are lost to cervical cancer every year in the UK. 83% of those deaths could be prevented with regular cervical screenings. But every year 4.6 million individuals avoid theirs, with 71% ‘fearing’ them, often due to the speculum - the device used for internal examinations.

We needed to land the importance of screening, bring it top of mind, and crucially, get women to reappraise perceptions of speculums and the screening. So, we harnessed behavioural science and reframed how they saw the speculum to #RemoveFearFromTheSmear. Comparing it to a similar object millions use happily - the dildo!

Ann Summers are the authority in sexual wellness – championing it for over 50 years. We leveraged this credibility to launch a mystery new toy that women just couldn’t live without… before revealing it was actually a speculum and no bigger than most sex toys.

Ann Summers customers don’t have the same fear of the dildo as they do of the speculum. We decided to show just how similar they are and #RemoveFearFromThe Smear. We launched a mystery new sex toy our audience couldn’t live without. We teased its silhouette in an intriguing video on social channels, and through targeted email to customers. We promoted it with quotes in the style of product reviews, such as “understands your body like nothing else” and “the essential you can’t live without”. Then, to further leverage authority bias, we packaged the new ‘toy’ up, and sent it to lifestyle and expert influencers in the sexual wellness space. Their unboxing videos, alongside our own launch video revealed the mystery toy as a speculum – showing it is actually “no bigger than a sex toy”.

Each year in the UK, there are around 3,000 new cases of cervical cancer, and 850 tragically result in death. 99.8% of these cases are preventable through regular screening. Despite the success of the NHS cervical screening programme, there has been a decline in attendance over recent years. Research showed the most hesitant fall into two groups – ‘screening scared’ – those who see it as a necessary evil, that gets put off or ignored due to the discomfort and vulnerability felt – and ‘cervix confused’ – who simply don’t understand the importance of screening. We needed to overcome these barriers, using behavioural science to reframe people’s perceptions of speculums and screenings in order to get them to attend. Ann Summers has always broken down stigmas around sex, so is perfectly placed to raise the issue away from the sterile environment of the examination room to help #RemoveFearFromThe Smear.

We manufactured our own speculums, experimenting with various materials including latex and plastic and tested designs with 3D printing, spray painting them in different textures until we had a speculum in perfect Ann Summers pink. They were not for sale - but displayed in-store to add further credence that this was a new Ann Summers product and generate conversation.Then, to further leverage authority bias, we packaged them up in premium gift boxes with ribbon and shredded paper, and sent them to influencers in the sexual wellness space. The launch of our activity was timed to coincide with National Cervical Screening Week in the UK.

In just one week, we reached 435.3k people – that’s around 4x the number of people who are invited for a cervical screening each week. Reach was extended through our partner influencers Sarah Jayne-Dunn and Dr Frankie, and even further through posts from the wider influencer community in the sexual wellness space. The Daily Mail online picked up our plight and posted an article, ensuring even more people heard our message. The launch email saw an open rate 22% higher than our benchmark, and the landing page had the second highest engagement time compared to other landing pages. Most importantly, we did help #RemoveFearFromTheSmear and increased intention to attend cervical screening by 13%.