Last Summer, Wickes moved from home improvement to health improvement by launching Tradesman’s Suncream; a fun, no-nonsense way to make sun protection relevant to the trade.

Available in Brickie’s Bronze, Plasterer’s Pink and Apprentice White, the free miniature paint pots replaced the language of a beauty brand with the language of tradesmen. Helping remove the stigma of using suncream for UK’s most-at-risk workers.

The range of suncream was available for free at all Wickes stores nationwide throughout summer. Pots were named after the most-at-risk trade jobs e.g. Brickies Bronze. An on-pack leaflet included info on skin cancer, safety tips and directed customers to a microsite for more advice.

Pots were given away at experiential stands during peak trade hours and key trade areas inside store. We took the campaign further by partnering with cancer charity Skcin, where nurses offered UV skin cancer checks which can detect the disease before symptoms appear.

We dropped pots at large building sites and created a ‘How to spot for skin cancer’ video on Wickes’ ‘How-to’ YouTube page. To help raise awareness the pots were sent to key trade influencers and as interest grew, the initiative was picked up by one of the country’s biggest DJs; Absolute Radio’s Christian O’Connell, who ran a nationwide competition highlighting the campaign.

• The campaign picked up over 12 million media impressions in just 48 hours

• Pots were distributed to every Wickes store in the UK, getting into the hands of over 20,000 tradesmen across the summer

• The campaign’s charity partner Skcin saw a 160% increase in website visits

• Nurses conducting UV checks at the stores reported a record number of ‘recommended referrals’ for an external event, allowing tradesmen the opportunity to seek help at the crucial ‘early stage’

• Sign-ups to Wickes’ Trade loyalty scheme increased to over 2000 a week during the initiative

• The campaign became so successful, the UK Government have decided to back the initiative for Summer 2018