It's coming home: 'Highlight your balls' wins silver Lion

"We are over the moon that our work with FP7 on the Highlight Your Balls campaign has achieved a prestigious Silver lion. This recognition is true testament to the hard work of the teams and is proof that when media and creative teams collaborate effectively it can truly enhance a campaign. The fact that it has successfully raised awareness on such an important topic as testicular cancer is even more gratifying,” says Kevin Murphy, Group Managing Director of Media at McCann Central.

Cannes Lions is one of the world's most respected benchmarks for creative excellence, with the Brand Experience and Activation category recognising agencies that have delivered work which demonstrates how the customer journey, experience of the brand and optimisation of every touchpoint led to increased brand affinity and commercial success.

About the campaign

One in 250 men will develop testicular cancer every year, which is why early detection is so crucial. However, traditional self-check videos can be dull, meaning men skip them altogether.​Our research proved humour's effectiveness in Testicular Cancer Awareness messaging and, to capitalise on this, we, together with FP7 McCann, developed a disruptive and witty campaign to cut through the noise during Testicular Cancer Awareness Month.

To activate the campaign, we wanted to cleverly leverage young men's global obsession with football. By hijacking a relatable in-game moment, such as when defenders instinctively grab their groins during free kicks, with self-check information, this helped to not only catch men’s attention at a crucial and tense moment, but it also enabled young men to learn how to perform self-checks in a new way.

In addition, we also ran informative yet humorous mid-roll ads during viral YouTube free kick highlights, while popular YouTube commentators wove self-check instructions into their live commentary.

The campaign achieved notable success, reaching 7.9 million viewers, and helping to increase donations to Testicular Cancer Society by a huge 338%.

Find out more about the campaign here.