Open Media and ClearChannel have partnered with the Teenage Cancer Trust to launch a new campaign. This initiative underscores the significant contributions the charity has made to cancer care for teenagers and young adults since its foundation in 1990.
The in-house creative team at Teenage Cancer Trust developed an advertising campaign to address the core problem that the charity aims to solve: the necessity for specialist, age-appropriate care for teenagers and young adults with cancer. The campaign’s design leverages the phrase ‘Cancer care wasn’t made for young people,’ thus highlighting both the problem and the solution offered by the charity’s specialist units, nurses, and youth workers.
James Robertson, head of creative at Teenage Cancer Trust, stated: ‘The insight we’ve had over the last few years suggested that a lot of people were aware of us, but there was still a lack of awareness about what Teenage Cancer Trust does, or why we’re needed. We felt that the best way to address this was to simply refer to our roots and focus on the core problem that our founders set out to solve. We had a healthcare system that was unable to provide the age-appropriate care and support that young people needed. Teenage Cancer Trust was, and still is, the solution.’
As with all of the charity’s work, the campaign’s creative direction was informed by the lived experiences of the young people it supports. Robertson mentioned: ‘We reflected on a recent piece of content that Shell Rowe, a woman who was supported by Teenage Cancer Trust, had recently posted on TikTok. The experience she shared about being faced with cancer when you’re
not a kid, but not quite an adult
in a healthcare system that
wasn’t built for young people
felt powerful and reflected our core purpose.’
The challenge in developing this campaign was to maintain the impact of these words, while simultaneously building understanding of the charity’s role and creating an engaging advert. Robertson explained: ‘We knew that meant a clean design, uncomplicated by anything too clever or conceptual. Word count is always a struggle with out-of-home advertising; you only have a couple of seconds of attention, and then it’s gone. However, we found a solution by focusing on the problem and simply correcting it, resulting in a statement that articulates both the problem and our position as the solution.’
This campaign will be displayed on out-of-home (OOH) media nationwide in partnership with ClearChannel, launching this week. Simultaneously, there will be accompanying social media content across all of the charity’s channels. Warren Fiveash, head of marketing, added: ‘We can’t thank Clear Channel enough for their support with this campaign—from design advice to media space. Their Platform for Good is changing the lives of so many and helping us to increase awareness of what we do. We also extend our thanks to Open Media, who have been a great support to the campaign.’
The partnership between Open Media, ClearChannel, and Teenage Cancer Trust exemplifies a collaborative effort to highlight the crucial need for age-appropriate cancer care, effectively utilising both traditional and digital media channels to broaden awareness.