New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation: A Cream That Gives You Wrinkles, 3

Credits & Description:

Title: Breast Cream
Corporate Name of Client: New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation
Client Supervisor: Evangelia Henderson
Partner: Alex Gage-Brown (Skinfood)
Senior Account Manager: Hannah Watson
Planning Director: Neville Doyle
Planner: Sarah Oberman
Head of PR & Activation : Paul Gunn
Group Business Dircetor : Sarah Williams
Agency: Colenso BBDO, Auckland
Chief Creative Officer: Nick Worthington
Copywriters: Rachael Macklin/Hannah Habgood
Art Director: Kristal Knight
Head of Art : Mike Davison
Designers: Reks Kok/Jodi Davis/Carla Jordaan
Photographer: Tim White
Photographer's Producer: Michele Richards
Production Company: IDC, Auckland
Senior Producer: Serena Fountain-Jones
Digital Producer: Serena Fountain-Jones
VFX Company: Beryl, Auckland
Grading: Pete Ritchie (Blockhead)
Senior Editor: Marco Siraky
Online Editor: Andrew Timms
Description of the Project:
The World Health Organisation estimates that 400,000 lives a year could be saved through the early detection and treatment of breast cancer. Yet only women over the age of 40 are offered a mammogram, and moreover, 50% of breast cancers are discovered through symptoms, not through screening. And so the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation advocates starting a regular habit of breast awareness from the age of 20.
In spite of some impactful and memorable campaigns, traditional advertising has struggled to push women past awareness into action. We discovered through research that whilst most New Zealand women are aware they need to check their breasts regularly, 70% don’t actually do it. There are many reasons why women don’t check their breasts – they don’t know how, they forget, or they feel uncomfortable touching their breasts.
Our brief was to find a way to overcome these barriers, and get women to make actually checking their breasts a regular habit.
So we created Breast Cream - a cream that makes checking your breasts as comfortable and familiar as using a moisturiser. The simple act of applying it helps you look and feel for any lumps or changes that could be signs of cancer. It’s a way to make this life-saving behaviour feel like a natural part of your regular beauty routine.
We partnered with Skinfood, New Zealand’s leading natural skincare company to develop a cream that’s safe and nourishing for breasts, and pampering to use. The bright pink tube is designed to be cheeky and attractive, while also serving as a visible reminder to check yourself sitting in the bathroom cupboard. The leaflet inside contains comprehensive information on the signs and symptoms to look for.
Breast Cream launched as a pilot in New Zealand during International Breast Cancer Awareness Month and has since been on sale in the beauty aisles of NZ’s four largest grocery retailers, as well as online. We’ve sold 100% of our first production run, and Breast Cream is already starting to influence behaviour around breast awareness.
In a recent study of women who have used or are aware of Breast Cream, 45% now check their breasts more regularly, 32% have made Breast Cream part of their beauty routine, and 31% said Breast Cream got them talking more about breast awareness.
Breast Cream has been recommended and reviewed extensively by beauty bloggers and by everyday users on beauty forums, scoring an average product rating of 4.9/5. This love for the product has so far helped us reach their extended audience of 1.15 million, and most importantly, is helping to normalise this new, potentially uncomfortable yet life-saving behaviour.
By creating a beauty product, we’ve engaged an audience that would normally switch off to a traditional breast cancer campaign, who are now actively spreading The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation’s breast awareness messaging in their own words, and in a way that’s relevant to them.
What’s more, Breast Cream has attracted international attention – we’ve been approached by distributors and Breast Cancer charities in North America, Europe and Asia about bringing Breast Cream to their markets. And so we have the potential to change behaviour and save lives across the globe.