In research, we uncovered an opportunity to talk to young people about the dangers of skin cancer, its causes, and how it can be prevented. They are typically cynical or unreceptive to health messages, particularly around skin cancer. We chose to convince them that a new application would enable tanning from the comfort of their computer’s.

We developed our hoax tanning application accessible at computertan.com and we developed an infomercial offering free online tanning sessions which was seeded with key bloggers. 25,000 flyers were distributed, the film was displayed on 50 digital cross track panels in 10 London Underground stations and on 1000 London taxi screens, along with an iPhone application. Once at computertan.com, it soon becomes apparent that the technology is a hoax. Images depicting the effects of skin cancer appear on screen, alongside figures representing the number of people that die each day from the disease. The Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity (SKCin) identity is then revealed. Users can then visit Skcin’s website or hoax a friend in to logging on to the site.

Within 24 hours of launch, computertan.com had received over 30,000 hits, and over 240,000 in four weeks, in over 180 countries. The campaign received extensive national press coverage with a total of 66 specialist news stories.

We chose to target this key audience by convincing them of a new technology that would enable tanning from their own computer screen. In order to drive traffic to the site we developed an infomercial offering free online tanning sessions at computertan.com. This was sent out as an email to over 10,000 email address. This was seeded across the web as well as key bloggers for relevant interest groups together with an extensive national press PR campaign. 25,000 flyers offering free tanning sessions were distributed and the film was displayed on 50 digital cross track panels in 10 London Underground stations and on 1000 London black taxi screens. Online banners were positioned on 250 key websites receiving over 17million page impressions, and an iPhone application was launched.

To date, the site has attracted over 402,000 visitors from 190 countries, registering over 1.5million page views with an average dwell time of 2 minutes 15 seconds. In the three months since the launch, 262 blog posts have been logged on Google Alerts. The 7million people were exposed to the CBS digital cross track panels, 700,000 more through London Cab vision and our sister media agency achieved over 17million page impressions from their online bookings. The PR campaign delivered extensive national press coverage across titles such as The Sun, The Independent, The Daily Express, The Guardian and also online with BBC News, BBC Radio One, The New Zealand Herald, Fox US and Yahoo News with a total of 66 specialist news stories. Rubber Republic, our online blog partner, secured coverage across 8,100 websites.