Transcript fuck it word

MACMILLAN
T E E N S & Y O U N G A D U LT S
T R E AT M E N T
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YOUR BRIEF
This brief is in two parts. The first is to raise awareness of Macmillan amongst a teenage
audience. The second is to provide informative content to support teens and young adults
affected by cancer. Our treatment should reflect this division.
When attempting to reach out and engage teens and young adults online, we should be
mindful of how they primarily use the internet. Mobile usage is on par with that of desktop,
laptop, and tablets. 91% of teens admit to going online at least occasionally from a mobile
device – 94% of these use a mobile to go online on a daily basis. Young adults tend to
favour Facebook and Twitter, where as Snapchat and Instagram are both far more
prevalent amongst teens.
The data presented above indicates that our engagement content especially should be
optimised for mobile usage and should form a campaign that is spread across multiple
social platforms. It would be worth considering programmatic media buying to increase the
number of targeted impressions and the conversion rate of this content.
On top of the distribution strategy we must consider the tone of voice that would be most
appropriate for both the engagement and informative content. Our best source of
inspiration for this will be the platforms our audience use to consume media and converse.
YouTube, Reddit, 4chan, 9gag, Snapchat, Instagram etc. are all led by user generated
content and the repurposing of existing content. Messaging is frank, bold, uncensored (to a
degree), and genuine. This is reflected in how young adults living with cancer
communicate their experiences:
http://i-did-not-sign-up-for-this-shit.tumblr.com
https://remissionpossible.org.uk/ems-story/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUP3XqjN69M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4AWTZtSedo
So, how do we translate this into content that meets your brief?
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IT’S PERSONAL
In a fairly controversial TED talk Debra Jarvis urges cancer ‘survivors’ to not be defined by
their experience. She posits that the term survivor is static and doesn’t provide opportunity
to grow. Debra felt after her breast cancer diagnosis that she was faced with a world that
was telling her how she should feel. This is why Debra repeats the mantra “own your
experience, don’t let the experience own you”:
https://www.ted.com/talks/debra_jarvis_yes_i_survived_cancer_but_that_doesn_t_define_
me?language=en
Every cancer journey is unique and personal. No one can tell you how you will feel. No one
can predict how you will behave. No one can find meaning in your experience other than
you. There is no one way to respond to life with cancer. Our messaging should be upfront
and acknowledge this. It’s ok to laugh. It’s ok to cry. It’s ok to be angry. It’s ok to feel
nothing at all. Woody Roseland echoes this in his inspiring TED talk ‘You Are Here’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hiry--CYiwI
There’ll be no tip-toeing around the subject here. We need to be brave. We need to be
bold. We need to give teens and young adults living with cancer a voice, honest and
unfiltered.
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SHIT. IT’S CANCER.
S H I T. I T ’ S C A N C E R .
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R AT I O N A L E
The name is frank, bold, and sets the tone for the open conversations that will follow.
The immediate use of “SHIT” is not there to be gratuitous, to shock or to offend. It’s
designed to be a leveller that addresses a young audience as equals. It instantly creates a
relaxed environment, one that does away with any layers of artifice. This is an audience
that is used to being sold to and has no patience for thinly veiled advertising. “SHIT”
establishes that this campaign is different. It is unafraid to cut through the crap and be
upfront.
The coupling of “SHIT” with “IT’S CANCER” has multiple effects. It’s direct. It’s surprising.
It’s authentic. It’s funny. It’s informal. It mirrors the thought processes both of those
diagnosed with cancer and those finding out someone they know has it (just google the
words to see the number of blogs that use them to help express what the experience of
living with cancer is like).
The word “CANCER” has the power to stop conversations and create an uncomfortable
atmosphere. “SHIT” undermines that. It sets the stage to make talking about cancer ok. It
opens up opportunities to make it alright to joke about the experience. It allows young
people to say “I feel like crap right now” or “Fuck it, cancer sucks. I’m a teenager, not a
patient”.
There are a number of interesting discussions on the use of swearing in marketing. This
blog post from Velocity is a fairly in-depth study of the pros and cons:
https://velocitypartners.com/blog/how-to-use-swear-words-in-your-content-marketing/
This is a bold stance for Macmillan to take, but, if you want to have a meaningful
engagement with a teenage and young adult audience, it’s the right stance. This title forms
the foundations for an integrated campaign able to encompass digital, social, film, print,
and experiential content and raise the profile of the services Macmillan provide and
teenage cancer across the UK.
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T H E C O N T E N T: E N G A G E M E N T
The headline content for the campaign is a documentary series tracking an influencer
(such as a comedian like Russell Howard) as they go on a journey to learn more about
cancer. This journey is told through the stories of a number of teens and young adults as
they learn to live with cancer. The documentary wouldn’t shy away from jokes or from the
brutal reality of life with and after cancer. It can be distributed online, through schools,
colleges, and universities, and potentially even broadcast on television. We would initially
look to produce an introductory pilot and attempt to use this to gain funding from a
broadcaster or sponsor to produce an entire series.
Accompanying the documentary would be a number drives on social media encouraging
young cancer patients to Snapchat, tweet, Instagram, blog, vlog, and share their
experiences in real-time to an audience. We create environments in which content can be
shared and empower a young generation to talk openly about cancer.
Workshops on campuses and in schools could help to spread this message around the
UK. There’s potential for these to presented by the same influencer that hosts our
documentary or even an inspiring figure such as Woody Roseland. Striking print adverts,
banner ads, and social film cuts could feature uncensored statements from young patients.
Playful social media icons designed by young cancer patients in the form of ‘Chemo-jis’
could help to raise awareness and open up conversations about cancer and its treatments
online.
These materials start conversations on cancer using young people’s language and
methods of communication. For example, Marketing Magazine notes that “four in five 18–
65s use emojis on a regular basis, while 72% of 18-25s find it easier to express emotion
through emojis rather than written word”. Brands such as IKEA and McDonald’s have
successfully used bespoke emojis as marketing tools. However, Macmillan’s usage of
emojis would be far more closely tied to their real-world application. They are far more than
fun pictures, they are a younger generation’s shortcut to expressing complex emotions.
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T H E C O N T E N T: E N G A G E M E N T
The purpose of all the content under the “SHIT. IT’S CANCER.” campaign is to raise
awareness of teenage cancer and the services Macmillan provide. It will direct the
audience to Macmillan’s website to find support and more information. The supporting
informative content that would be included on this site would be presented in a variety of
formats.
Additional content would be shot with our influencer and recuts of content from the
documentary would provide short features focusing on explaining a specific treatment, the
history of cancer, or a patient anecdote. Bite-sized animations could explain scientific
terms e.g. ‘Metastasis in 60 Seconds’. Advice on how to check for cancer or symptoms to
look out for could also be presented by a team of teens and young adults in a similar
fashion to the Barclays LifeSkills series:
https://youtu.be/m9W8A18dOLU?list=PLecqH2uhOR0ZS6NsFbVd7hKZx8ugj5gLj
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T H E C O N T E N T: S U M M A R Y
Overarching Campaign
• SHIT. IT’S CANCER.
Engagement Content
• Influencer Documentary Pilot
• Influencer Documentary Series (if funded)
• Influencer school/college/university workshops
• Chemo-jis app
• Cancer Uncensored (UGC stories, adverts, and posting boards)
Informative Content
• Influencer Documentary Shorts (e.g. What is life like after cancer? What does chemo
feel like? How do I tell my friends I have cancer?)
• Cancer Explained Animations (e.g. What is metastasis? How does chemo work? What
is lymphoma?)
• Check Yourself Guides
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93 Shepperton Road
London N1 3DF
+44 (0)20 3411 8040
[email protected]
casualfilms.com
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