Challenge:

Danish Cancer Society faced two key challenges:

#1) Denmark has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world yet only 2 % of the young Danes know the message: three life saving ‘Sun Rules’

#2) In a land of long dark winters the Cancer Society has traditionally been seen as the ‘The summer spoiler’ with their cautionary campaigns – resulting in message rejection by the young target.

Objectives

Therefore our task was not only to educate and change young people’s behaviour in the sun, but also change the general public perception of the Cancer Society and their often unwelcome messages.

Strategy:

Create the country’s most infectious song

With the strictly limited media budget of a non-profit organisation we planned a pay-a-little earn-a-lot media strategy based on PR.

To succeed we had to connect the campaign through paid, owned and especially earned media and set new standards for target engagement in the category.

Execution:

Firstly we got the media’s attention by seeding the rumour of Danish celebrity Frederik Fetterlein’s career change into music.

Once the story had generated buzz in social media and leverage through heavy press coverage we revealed the truth: Our message in the form of a song. A song that repeated our #1) key message, the three sun rules again and again. A song that would become one of the biggest summer hits of the year and changing the perception of Cancer Society dramatically, solving our 2 key challenges.

The campaign consisted of three planned phases and grew into a user generated social media phenomenon.

1: Seeding in the media. Our made-up story was seeded and circulated through various media for two weeks prior to the actual launch of the song. In that time it became headline news in nationwide press and created lots of buzz in online and social media as the anticipation for the release rose.

2: The reveal: As expected the reveal of the hoax created another round of mediabuzz, earning us massive press coverage and a significant social media footprint now the target realized they had been tricked.

3: The launch: The music video instantly went viral and the song itself became a branded content summer hit on Spotify (music streaming service)

User adaption:

4: User generated content started to appear online, prolonging the campaign period and increasing the Cancer Society fan base.

(Please note: Total Danish population: 5,6 mio. people)

Campaign Actual reach: Target Goal: 45% Result: 75%*

Campaign message Recall: Target Goal 40% Result 81% *

Unaided knowledge of sun rules: goal: 35% Result 50%* (2% in 2012)

Online Content views. Target Goal: 100.000 Result >575.000

The intended change in sun behavior came out 40% above target. *

Earned Media impressions:

2.1 mio**

*Based on survey from Analysis Institute Epinion

**Source: Phd media

The campaign had massive press coverage in nationwide media and in social media the campaign sparked thousands of conversations, a multitude of user generated content like homemade music videos and parodies. ”3xS” became a catchphrase and hashtag among the young target.

And as a direct consequence of the campaign the Danish Cancer Society has never been more popular. The organisation got a 700% increase in Facebook followers in only 4 weeks during the campaign period. (From approx. 2800 to 21000)