Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

The work cleverly employs the humble cupcake to turn passive knowledge about breast cancer into immediate action to get checked. 6,000 cupcakes were given away in the streets of Hong Kong in a one-day engagement event that also saw more than 400 people given instructions on how to self-examine their breasts for lumps. As a result of the campaign, the Hong Kong Academy of Nursing (HKAN), who partnered with Roche in the campaign, saw a huge increase in enquiries and appointments for their breast screening services, and reported a larger number of referrals from private screening centers.

Describe any restrictions or regulations regarding Healthcare/RX/Pharma communications in your country/region including:

Advertising for major diseases is prohibited under the Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance and the Generic Code of Practice on Television Advertising Standards. Presentations by medical professionals, patients undergoing treatment, dramatization of, and offensive descriptions of an illness, superlative and comparative adjectives and sales promotions of any kind are not allowed.

Describe the target audience and why your work is relevant to them.

Hong Kong women over 30 years old. 80% of women surveyed knew about breast cancer, and 88.7% had heard of mammograms and that breast self-exams helped to detect breast cancer. Still, too few women talked about it, much less acted upon this knowledge.

Background

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women in Hong Kong. On average, 1 in 16 women in the territory will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Diagnoses have increased almost four-fold since the early 90s. Compared to the West, proportionally more young women in Asia get breast cancer, which is why regular self-exams is necessary. Unfortunately, many ignore this. Even when mothers, sisters, friends and colleagues have been diagnosed, too many people still think: “I feel fine. It won’t happen to me.” Our objective was to educate Hong Kong women on the likelihood of them getting breast cancer and to stay ahead of it by doing regular breast self-exams.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The insight above, along with the breast-like shape of cupcakes, sparked an inspiration: can something soft, scrumptious and unassuming be used to convey a hard and life-changing message? Enter the cUUpcake: a cute, pink, frosted, breast-shaped cupcake that women would want to get their hands on. Indeed, breast-shaped cupcakes are as attractive as they are mischievous-looking: perfect for an Instagram post! But these are no ordinary cupcakes. The cUUpcake – the double “U” alluding to breasts – looked perfect on the outside, but hid a secret within. 1 in 16 of these freshly baked cupcakes contained a hard toffee center. The number represents the average lifetime risk local women had of being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Our strategy was to use the simple act of biting into a delicious and delectable dessert into a moment of realization and reckoning that would turn passive knowledge into immediate, life-saving action. Through these cUUpcakes, we provoked women to think of their breasts in a multi-sensory way – through sight, touch, and taste. Just like the cupcake with the lump, every woman had a chance of getting breast cancer. Just like the cupcake with the lump, and what looks perfect on the outside might be hiding something sinister inside. The target audience is women over 30 years old. Most in these demographic are working individuals in bustling Hong Kong, which explains our choice of execution tactic below.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Timed to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October 2018), a Secret cUUpcake pop-up store was launched in Causeway Bay, one of the busiest districts of Hong Kong. A cupcake giveaway station was placed next to a bright pink truck, and passers-by were invited to get a free cupcake. Influencers were engaged to start conversations on the store on Instagram. As unsuspecting women savoured the tasty treat, some found themselves biting into the unexpected toffee lump. It was a moment of shock, realization and contemplation: “Just like this breast-shaped cupcake, my breast too could contain a deadly lump. How would I know for sure unless I checked?” At every location these cupcakes were distributed, educational leaflets were shared and nurses were on hand to coach women on conducting breast self-checks.

List the results (30% of vote)

6000 cupcakes were handed out to passers-by in one day; more than 400 were given instructions on breast examination. Google search for “breast cancer symptoms” skyrocketed following the launch – 240 times more than the previous month. HKAN also reported an increase in enquiries and appointments for their screening services, and a much larger number of referrals from private screening centers. On social media, we achieved 13,260 social media engagements – that’s more than 20% of internet users in Hong Kong. This, along with extensive media coverage, including in-depth feature articles generated from leading publications like am730 and Metro Daily, helped our messages reach more than 1.5M people (vs the target of between 967,000–1,029,000, or around 1 in 8 in Hong Kong). The success of the campaign has inspired Roche to establish #CheckUU as the umbrella concept for all future breast cancer communications in Hong Kong, and potentially, abroad.