The Campaign

The lives of over 400,000 women a year could be saved by the early detection and treatment of breast cancer. However, while most women know the benefits of checking themselves for the signs of breast cancer, too few actually engage in this life saving routine. We needed to change this, and turn awareness into action. Yet another advertising campaign wasn’t going to change behaviour. So we created Breast Cream – a simple moisturiser that makes checking your breasts a part of your regular beauty routine. The simple act of applying it helps you look and feel for any lumps or changes that could be signs of cancer. And it’s as easy and familiar as applying a body moisturiser. By creating a beauty product, we’ve engaged an audience who would normally switch off to traditional breast cancer advertising. We’ve started conversations around breast awareness where they weren’t happening before. And most importantly, we’ve started to actually change the behaviour of NZ women.

The Brief

Our brief was to encourage all women over the age of 20 to begin a self-checking routine to get to know their ‘normal’, so they’d be more likely pick up signs of breast cancer early.

Creative Execution

We launched Breast Cream in October 2014 during Breast Cancer Awareness month, putting the product on the shelf of 80% of New Zealand’s leading grocery retailers. We supported the launch with PR and targeted influential beauty bloggers. A print campaign helped us reach a broader audience along with promoting the product through The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation’s substantial owned online assets. This is only the beginning of a long term behaviour change project. The partnerships we’ve developed give this idea the scale and means to expand across international markets.

Of those 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. We secured distribution in 80% of NZ’s four biggest grocery retailers. The first production run has sold out, with $2 from every purchase going to the NZBCF. Breast Cream has been promoted and reviewed extensively by beauty bloggers and everyday users on beauty forums, scoring an average product rating of 4.9/5. This has helped us reach an extended audience of over 2.5 million in New Zealand and around the world. Breast Cream has also attracted international attention – distributors and Breast Cancer charities in North America, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Asia have expressed interest in bringing Breast Cream to their markets. So we have the potential to change behaviour and save lives across the globe.

We discovered the reasons women don’t check themselves – it’s easy to forget, they don’t know how, or they simply feel uncomfortable touching their own breasts. We needed to overcome these barriers, and encourage women to start physically checking themselves. So we created Breast Cream – a product that makes checking your breasts a part of your regular beauty routine. The simple act of applying it, helps you look and feel for any lumps or changes that could be signs of cancer. And it’s as easy and familiar as using a moisturiser. We partnered with Skinfood, New Zealand’s leading natural skincare company, to develop a cream that’s safe and nourishing for breasts. The bright pink tube is designed to be a visible reminder to check yourself, sitting next to your toothbrush and deodorant. And the leaflet inside the box contains comprehensive information on the signs and symptoms to look for.