How do you react when someone says they have cancer? Taxi and Venturing Out Beyond Our Cancer (VOBOC) gave a series of complete strangers the chance to experience that for themselves, and filmed their reactions with hidden cameras as part of a new campaign, “The Announcement.”
The campaign for VOBOC (a non-profit that that assists adolescents and young adults with cancer) centers around a young man telling random passersby that he has just been diagnosed with cancer. The stranger’s reactions range from shock, awkwardness and distain to empathy and compassion. The video is being hosted on YouTube as well as the organization’s website.
According to Pascal De Decker, creative director and general manager at Taxi, the primary aim of “The Announcement”—which targets 15 – 35-year-old Canadians—is to raise awareness for VOBOC and encourage people to contribute.
“Nobody knows who VOBOC is. We first had to make sure people know they exist in order to get them to donate,” De Decker said.
De Decker also said during the spot’s covert shooting, he was surprised that many of the strangers were negative and flippant. Only about 20% actually stopped to engage with the actor, he said.
“Forty per cent just walked away. We chose a guy that looked like a really good kid, had no tattoos, no cigarettes and was really well-dressed. We wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be any perception of him being unhealthy previously.”
This is the first time Taxi has worked with the non-profit. The agency became aware of them via existing client, healthcare product company Pfizer.
According to De Decker, the campaign was executed on an extremely small budget. Other campaign elements include English and French radio spots along with banner and Facebook ads. “The Annoucement” launched last week, and the ads will run for four weeks.
