In an effort to raise both funds and awareness, the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation (PMCF) has launched a campaign that shines the spotlight on the surgeons credited with making Princess Margaret hospital one of the top five cancer research centres in the world.
The “Cancer Can Change Everything” campaign is part of PMCF’s “Billion Dollar Challenge”, which is a five-year program launched in the spring of 2012. The Foundation’s challenge is to raise $500 million through philanthropy while Princess Margaret researchers are challenged to secure the other $500 million through grants. To date, more than $330 million has been raised.
While the primary goal of the campaign is raise money, it’s also about prompting and celebrating the ground-breaking research and advances taking place at the hospital, said Christine Lasky, vice-president of Strategic Initiatives at PMCF.
“Why would you support us instead of other cancer centres in Canada? Because we’re leading the way in innovation. This campaign is really utilizing our world-class cancer surgeons and it fits with our personalized view of cancer medicine. What the surgeons do is serious work, and we wanted this campaign to have a serious outlook and approach.”
Creative for the campaign was executed by Naked Creative, and online initiatives, social media, and PR are being handled in-house.
Campaign elements include print ads running in Toronto Life, The Globe and Mail and, The Wall Street Journal, along with transit ads, social media promotion and a series of 12 videos, each profiling a cancer centre surgeon and their work. The spots will be rolled out in installments and are available for viewing on PMCF’s site, IBelieveIt.ca
“Cancer Can Change Everything” launched on the weekend and will run until mid-December.
