UM Scores big: 'Highlight your balls' wins silver and bronze at media week awards

What a result! We’re thrilled to announce that our team took home two trophies for our work with The Testicular Cancer Society at the 2024 Media Week Awards by Campaign UK.

Our ‘Highlight Your Balls’ campaign was awarded Silver in Best Use of Content – Budget Under £250K, and Bronze in Media Idea – Budget Under £250K at last night’s award ceremony in London. We were also proud to have been shortlisted in the Small Collaboration: Budget Under £250K category.

The judges commented that the work had an “engaging and effective strategy” and they “loved the agility and ability to make every penny count.” A massive congratulations to the team involved in this campaign.​

In 2024, 'Highlight Your Balls’ has earned 7 shortlists and 1 Silver trophy for Brand Experience and Activation at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, 3 shortlists and Silver and Bronze trophies at last night’s Media Week Awards, and one shortlist in the Media – Content category at the upcoming Drum Awards.

That’s a staggering 11 shortlists and three trophies for one campaign.

We are hopeful for more success at The Drum Awards Festival next month. Keep an eye on our UM channels for the results on Wednesday 13th November.

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%.

Credit List

Kevin Murphy, Group Managing Director

Grant Crymble, Group Head of Media Trading

Aaron Gautier Lamb, Senior Digital Media Director

Matt Brown, Senior Digital Media Manager

Ben Evans, Media Account Director

Ellis Bird, Senior Marketing Manager

Molly Thynne, Senior Marketing Executive

Find out more about the campaign here.

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