- Doctors, specialist nurses, government officials, etc.

- Conference audience or particular job type: Advanced melanoma patients and their caregivers, both men and women regardless of age or ethnicity. Advanced melanoma cannot be removed by surgery (unresectable) or has spread to other organs.

- Editorial media outlets

- Social media

To stay within the guardrails of what FDA considers patient education, our campaign couldn't mention specific treatments by name or use messaging that could uniquely identify a specific melanoma treatment. To achieve this objective, our campaign messaging and content presented with equal weight, more than one mutation and treatment category.

There are 100 different forms of cancer out there, each with their own high-octane promotional campaign and amplified messaging. Getting noticed requires anything but ordinary. That’s where the face paint comes in … and the Super Bowl … and a quarter back willing to play along.

To highlight the distinct mutations of advanced melanoma – and to get patients to seek treatment for their particular form of the disease – we convinced patients to paint their faces with common shapes of melanoma mutations. But we had them do this on the biggest face-painting stage in the world: the Super Bowl.

We invited back retried three-time Super Bowl champ Troy Aikman – a stage two melanoma survivor – to again paint his face for game day. But this time he would be showing his support for the fight against advanced Melanoma. Others joined in, painting their faces and raising awareness.

Implementation:

Traditional media outreach with campaign spokesperson. Twitter/Facebook posts from spokesperson, client, and advocacy partners. Paid promotion of select Facebook posts. Advertisement in the Super Bowl program.

Timeline:

- 09/15 - Planning

- 25/01/16 - Press release, website launch, Facebook page, YouTube video, etc.

- 26-27/01/16 - NYC media interviews

- 04/02/16 - Radio row interviews

- Ongoing - 3-5 Facebook posts per week. Open comments. Daily community monitoring and rapid response - both to groups and individuals

Placement:

8 top-tier, including: Associated Press, Reuters, People.com, Fox & Friends, HuffPost Live

Scale:

National - US

Tier 2:

-Generated two-and-a-half times more coverage than expected, ultimately achieving more than 60% of our entire year’s media goals in just one month

-Reached more than 260 million people through earned media

-Conducted 52 interviews in just three days as part of 72 broadcast and online placements

-90% of the coverage feature two or more key campaign message points

Tier 3:

-Website: 34,600+ page views of campaign website, including 20,000+ unique views (individual visitors) in just 3 weeks

-Reenergized an online community of patients and caregivers, with more than 5,000 more people inspired to join our Facebook community and prompting 75,000 additional shares, likes, comments and clicks

-Promoted Facebook post timed to the Super Bowl generated 139,000 impressions and 67,000 engagements in 5.5 hours - significant given the short timeframe for promotion

-More than 1,000 community members shared their personal story

Melanoma Just Got Personal exemplifies the power of a carefully integrated campaign that offers the creative and strategic elements necessary to trigger news, insight shares, sustain the story and deliver our message:

Face paint concept:

-Visuals appeal to both news and social media outlets

-Reinforces “personal” element of advanced melanoma

-Provides visual content for both news and social media

Linking face paint to Super Bowl

-Instantly makes our story/messaging part of a huge news event

-Makes our story relevant, current and part of ongoing discussion

Troy Aikman spokesperson/supporter

-Organically extends our message in a way that ties all elements together

Our campaign needed to appeal to a small, yet diverse population of patients.

We studied the science behind the various genetic mutations – pathology, etiology and epidemiology as well as each mutation’s associated biological and clinical expression. We looked at prevalence numbers for genetic mutations and life expectancy for advanced melanoma patients. We also consulted with three leading melanoma advocacy organizations to gain an understanding of the information gaps in the marketplace and messages most likely to resonate with patients and caregivers. These advocacy organizations advised us through the development of the entire campaign: Melanoma Research Foundation, AIM at Melanoma and Melanoma International Foundation.

This was not a prevention campaign, therefore we created distinctive messages targeting the advanced patient. We also created a visual element and a hashtag to drive and track social media activity. Our campaign spokesperson, NFL star Troy Aikman, had broad appeal, especially with men over 55.

Situation:

When it comes to melanoma, skin protection and early diagnosis takes center stage. Although overall survival in advanced melanoma has more than tripled since the 1970s, it is still one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers, and only about 20% of people will survive at least 5 years following diagnosis.

Brief:

Our challenge was to create an educational campaign to inform the advanced melanoma patient about the importance of genetic mutations. The campaign needed to highlight BRAF+ mutation as the key factor in determining treatment options, be bold and capture attention in a marketplace saturated with irrelevant messages to this patient population. We needed to get the media interested in a cancer that has poor long term prognosis despite the quick advances in treatment.

Objective:

-Elevate awareness of advanced melanoma and importance of mutation status

-Create a movement rallying those with advanced melanoma to share and act on their mutation