Macmillan | FIND THE WORDS
Encouraging more men to talk about cancer
The Brief.
In the UK, 51% of patients with cancer are men.
Yet, in 2018, only 37% of calls to Macmillan‘s Support Line were from men.
The brief was to develop an online awareness campaign to encourage more men to talk about cancer – and seek support from Macmillan’s services.
The result was an integrated campaign that aligned various Macmillan service teams under the umbrella brand campaign, Whatever It Takes, developed by AMV BBDO.
The Insight.
Insight shows that men are less likely to seek support than women, and generally don’t want to talk about cancer. This is particularly true for older generations, who are more likely to hide their feelings from friends and family in the hope of protecting them.
So, we developed a creative proposition to give men more of a reason to talk: not just for themselves, but for the people they care about, too.
Importantly, Find the words with Macmillan also acknowledges that many men do want to talk – they’re just unsure how or where to start. It acts as a direct call-to-action, driving them toward Macmillan’s free support services.
The Work.
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Digital Strategy and Campaign Planning, Proposition and Messaging
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Approach and Concept Development
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Video Production, Messaging, Digital and Social Assets
This concept set out to challenge previous approaches to targeting this male audience by helping men truly recognise themselves within the creative. This meant avoiding stereotypically gendered language and themes, which often reduce all men to pub-goers and football fans. Instead, the concept shows the multifaceted diaspora of men in the UK.
Four different scenarios feature diverse representations of men and their families – each bringing a different character and authentic emotion to show our audience that not only is this for anyone, it is for them.
The campaign launched in June 2022 across digital and social media, alongside targeted activations across corporate partnerships.
