2024 Gold Film, Video or Moving Image
03 Dec 2024
Agency: Ogilvy UK
Client: Skin Cancer UK
Entry Title: The Melanoma Law
Executive Summary
Sunbeds emit up to 15 times more UVA than the sun. In 2011, the UK Government passed the Sunbed Regulation Act, limiting use to over-18s: but the law isn’t working in the age of social media, and people are suffering.
Strategy
The charity wanted to drive a major national conversation about the dangers of sunbeds and also find a way to get politicians to engage. That required something different and unexpected.
To get parliamentary engagement, the team needed to put the legislation at the heart of the campaign. The strategy wasn't just to protest the law, it burned it - in a sunbed. Showing the dangers of sunbeds in a way that shone a dangerous light on the law itself, and releasing the campaign on the law’s anniversary, would give media a reason to cover it and create an opportunity to drive engagement from politicians.
A simultaneous engagement strategy contextualised the headline story to reach the most vulnerable: under-35s.
Creativity
Each element of burning the Act was designed to encapsulate the dangers of sunbeds. The black set design allowed the glow of UV lights and burnt laws to stand out and create maximum impact. The burnt laws were sent directly to journalists and politicians, showcasing the damage sunbeds can do, and calling for change to legislation.
A hard-hitting social film that showed the process of burning the law helped raise awareness online of the dangers of sunbeds, as well as acting as a call to action to activate people to speak to MPs.
The team built a roster of spokespeople who would appeal to different media segments - including skin cancer patients, influencers who’d been directly affected by skin cancer - and created a website to turn conversation into action.
Results
The campaign drove an increase of 8,100% in searches for ‘sunbeds skin cancer’. The campaign was picked up by 226 outlets. Two weeks after launch it was introduced to the Parliament Health Select Committee, starting the journey towards real legislative change.