Laser beam breasts – is that normal? Breast Cancer Foundation NZ urges women to get to know their breasts in new campaign via Ogilvy NZ
Breasts that play loud music with a built-in wind machine. Breasts that put on a laser show when exposed. Or pop corn. ‘Normal for me’ is different for everyone – and an important message addressed in the latest breast cancer awareness campaign live this week via Ogilvy.
Developed for the Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand (BCFNZ) and directed by Revolver’s Fiona McGee, the new campaign shows the importance of every woman knowing what’s normal for them – no matter how unusual or fantastical it might seem.
Using the tagline ‘Know what’s normal for you, so you’ll know what’s not’, it aims to reinforce that the best way for women to engage in early detection is to get to know their own bodies, so they’re able to spot any changes.
It will be rolled out across multiple platforms from this week to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Executions include three films that will be seen on VOD, cinema, social, digital, plus static OOH (billboards, street posters and street furniture), and radio, influencer activity and PR.
Ogilvy NZ executive creative director Kristal Knight said the campaign used laser-beam, music-playing, corn-popping breasts to capture attention and address an uncomfortable issue through warmth and humour, rather than fear: “We needed to create a comfortable space around a topic that’s uncomfortable by nature. Knowing what’s normal for you is more than a call to action, it’s a fundamental change in behaviour, and taking the fear out of getting to know our own bodies is an important step. So to make this message memorable, we went to the extreme, and through the genius of Fiona McGee created breasts with fantastical abilities, to remind all women that ‘normal for me’ looks and feels different for everyone, so you need to get to know yours.”
The campaign follows another BCFNZ campaign developed by Ogilvy to encourage mammograms called ‘Maybe it’s a sign’ launched in April. The agency has been working with the not-for-profit charitable trust for the past two years.
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ CEO Ah-Leen Rayner said the latest campaign was another important step in making women as breast-aware as possible: “We know that breast cancer is more treatable if it’s caught early. For women over forty, we’ve reminded the nation that this means having regular mammograms. But long before that age and stage, the most important things we can do is perform a self-check, and get really familiar with what’s ‘normal’, and what isn’t. It’s an incredibly important yet overlooked action of getting to know yourself, your breasts and your whole chest area. A seemingly simple, yet potentially life-saving act, and one we hope this memorable campaign will remind all women to undertake.”
Adds Chelsea Sietses and Matt Woods, creative team at Ogilvy NZ: “Asking people to examine their breasts can bring out a whole range of different emotions and sensations, which are completely unique to the individual, much like their breasts. And since there is no universal normal, we hope this campaign will encourage all women to check in with their own chest to discover what’s normal for them, and empower everyone to own their unique quirks.”
The campaign, which will run for the next 10 months.
Strategy and creative: Ogilvy NZ
Media agency: Spark Foundry
Production Company : Revolver
Director: Fiona McGee
MD/Co-Owner: Michael Ritchie
EP/Partner: Pip Smart
Producer: Mark Foster
DOP: Maria Ines Manchego
Production Designer: Sarah Cooper
Wardrobe: Sara Beale
Casting: Lighthouse Casting NZ
Editorial: The Editors
Editor: Mark Burnett
Edit Assist: Shaun Ellis
Grade/Online : Blockhead
Colourist : Dave Gibson
Sound studio (films): Liquid
Executive producer: Tamara O’Neill
Sound design: Craig Matuschka
Sound studio (radio): Radiate
Engineer: David Liversidge
Music Licencing: Level Two
Music supervisor: Marcus Brooke-Smith
Social strategist: Casey McPike
PR advisor: Kimberly Kastelan