The Canadian Cancer Society [CSS] released a new ad Monday that teaches men how to check for testicular cancer – or, as the video phrases it, “nutiquette.”
The video, created by Environics, is the kick off to the organization’s fall campaign, slated to launch officially on Sept. 9. Since it was uploaded to YouTube on August 14 and shared internally the video has racked up almost 2,000 views, prompting the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) to launch its supporting PR early.
In the video, a man with a guitar sings the steps men should follow to check for testicular cancer as tips pop up in the style of “Pop Up Video.”
Mathew Sepkowski, national director of marketing at the CCS, explained the organization opted for a light-hearted, humorous take on the serious topic to reach its key demo of males 15-29. After Stanfield’s and John St. raised $100,000 for the CCS with their 2010 The Guy at Home in His Underwear campaign, the group used a portion of that money to conduct market research about how to effectively reach young males and learned comedy is a quick route to their approval.
“The key insight from that was that it needs to be relevant to the group and humorous. The best way to reach these folks is to be funny and to be shareable,” Sepkowski said.
The campaign is entirely social and will include no TV, radio or out-of-home. Instead, Sepkowski said the CCS has selected a group of influential Canadian celebrities and athletes and will request their help in getting their online fans and followers to watch the video. In lieu of a social buy, CCS has uploaded the video to sites that run user-generated content like Daily Motion and Buzzfeed.
A second round of promotion will kick off on Sept. 9 as initially planned, to coincide with Men’s Cancer Health Awareness month.
