‘Race for Life’ is Cancer Research UK’s biggest series of fundraising events, taking place across the UK.

First challenge: after two years of pandemic-related disruption, and millions in lost donations, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) faced yet a behaviour change that led to considerably fewer people participating in public events — even after covid-19 was downgraded to an endemic.

Second challenge: as CRUK is reliant on donations, it needed a plan that would raise both awareness and sign-ups to make the most of the public generosity to keep saving lives. It was key to maximizing media spend efficiencies, without compromising effectiveness.

In short, our objectives were:

1. Raise awareness following Covid’s impact on physical events.

2. Boost sign-ups to events.

3. Generate media spend efficiencies to optimize public donations.

To deliver on all three meant a completely new approach had to be devised.

1. Area-first and always-on

• One media buy at postcode-level linked six channels for 131 events, optimized for their 10-mile thresholds.

• Machine Learning assessed district media consumption. e.g., districts with high Digital-out-of-home exposure had pacing lowered on other channels.

• Real-time sign-up data used to prioritize events that required support due to low engagement. Optimization continued around upcoming events.

2. Personalized to gender

Using UK Census, YouGov, and client sign-up data, we identified the highest indexing postcodes for male & female audiences within 10 miles of each race. This ensured the campaign was cookie-less.

3. Dynamic in channels and creatives

The campaign used feeds containing all variants of event-specific data: date, place, race distances and ground conditions. Matching the data with targeting across 900+ postcodes and gender data, we dynamically shared the creative combination that best suited each individual.

In total, 2,487 hyper-personalized ads were run across six channels.

The insights made clear the campaign would be most impactful for potential participants when:

- Personalized messaging was utilized - location, gender and timely relevance were critical to moving individuals to action.

- Reach and frequency were key: ensuring the personalized creatives would be viewed with enough frequency to drive action.

This bold new strategy required an equally bold integrated approach to target the 131 UK-wide events, at different times across the year, targeting different audiences, across multiple channels and with thousands of creatives.

The strategy was then built upon three key principles:

1. Area-first and always-on.

2. Tailor-made to 18–55-year-old women and men.

3. Dynamic in both channels and creative.

This led to a media-first, omnichannel approach, known as ‘Unmissable’.This cross-channel programmatic buy would not only activate but also optimize the campaign strategy live, based on all the key variables: area, audience, channel and creative performance.

1. Area-first and always-on

• One media buy at postcode-level linked six channels for 131 events, optimized for their 10-mile thresholds.

• Machine Learning assessed district media consumption. e.g., districts with high Digital-out-of-home exposure had pacing lowered on other channels.

• Real-time sign-up data used to prioritize events that required support due to low engagement. Optimization continued around upcoming events.

2. Personalized to gender

Using UK Census, YouGov, and client sign-up data, we identified the highest indexing postcodes for male & female audiences within 10 miles of each race. This ensured the campaign was cookie-less.

3. Dynamic in channels and creatives

The campaign used feeds containing all variants of event-specific data: date, place, race distances and ground conditions. Matching the data with targeting across 900+ postcodes and gender data, we dynamically shared the creative combination that best suited each individual.

In total, 2,487 hyper-personalized ads were run across six channels.

• 98% of the audience reached by the campaign

• 3 out of 5 of those exposed to an ad took action

• 1 in 5 who viewed the campaign donated

• Personalized content had a 75% engagement uplift against the generic control ad

- 40% increase in spontaneous brand awareness. Double of the research partner, On Device Research’s benchmark for ‘first mentions’

• 6x uplift in sign-up intent among males when compared to benchmarks

• The Unmissable channel approach drove a staggering £634k in media and creative efficiencies enabling CRUK to reinvest 40% of its budget back into the campaign.

Regardless of the channel or device audiences were viewing, if they were within the 10-mile radius, they would see relevant information personalized to them.

Regional dialects, gender-relevant copy and specific race information was hyper-personalized to the exact race location, town or region.