Association Insight International & European Association Insights Spring 2015 | Page 37
Association Success Story | Association Insights
The Media: We prepare a global press release linked to
the theme of the Day which gives journalists a clear news
“hook” which engages them at a global level on the Day.
This Press Release is prepared in advance and circulated
under embargo the week before February 4th with our
media agency leading contact and response.
The World Cancer Day campaign is developed primarily
by the UICC team in Geneva, led by the Communications
Team, with the strategic input of the World Cancer Day
Advisory Group, comprising UICC member organisations.
The Advisory Group provide their guidance and feedback
on a voluntary basis to help ensure a robust, international
campaign is developed that will appeal to the full breadth
of UICC members, partners and stakeholders. It includes
individuals who are the marketing leaders of major cancer
organisations around the world. Their experience is critical
in the design and delivery of each World Cancer Day
campaign.
Consultants are also engaged to contribute to other
specialised areas including graphic design and press and
media.
» Motherbird based in Australia: graphic design agency
who developed and implemented the campaign’s visual
identity. Each year we try to give the Day a clear visual
identity, which supports the theme and the sub-themes.
This is important as it helps communicate the messages
across different languages and cultures.
» RedDoor Unlimited based in the UK: PR agency who
supported with press/media on and around the Day. They
lead the engagement with the world’s media agencies,
advising us on the most impactful and engaging Press
Release for the day.
» Three Stories: An individual consultant who supported
the development of the evidence sheets, including liaising
with the Advisory Group to help ensure consistency of
message and key facts and figures that feed into the
campaign.
Six organisations provided financial support to the 2015
World Cancer Day campaign, of which the social media
campaign is a part: Dutch Cancer Society, World Cancer
Research Fund International, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Roche, Eli Lilly.
Challenges
» World Cancer Day was not really in the calendars
and plans of the cancer community so membership
engagement had been a challenge earlier on. There were
so many specific cancer days/weeks/months that had
been established that it was challenging having members
see World Cancer Day as an additional awareness
opportunity rather than competition to what was already
being done.
- The strategy of World Cancer Day relies on the
collaboration of our members and them delivering
the campaign and its messages down to a grassroots/
public level. In having to invest in building momentum
amongst our memb ers as a priority it meant that public
awareness of World Cancer Day has lagged behind.
»F
inding strong enough media hooks to entice the media
to pick up on the Day at a global level.
www.associationsnetwork.org
- It has also been challenging having some of our
members and partners use World Cancer Day as a
platform to launch new reports, projects, initiatives,
etc. and engage the media in their own countries and
communities.
»R
emoving “UICC” from the campaign and establishing
World Cancer Day as a standalone brand. This was more
of an internal challenge amongst the Board as there was
concern that removing our name and logo from all the
materials would reduce visibility for the organisation.
»D
eciding where to allocate the limited budget so that it
would have maximum impact.
»O
verall it is challenging fundraising for something that
has ‘open ownership’ so to speak. In developing World
Cancer Day as a standalone brand that can be used
by all, we have somewhat become victims of our own
success as organisations do not see the need to pay to
be associated with the brand.
»W
ith such a huge number of events and activities now
taking place on World Cancer Day, it means there is
more and more to monitor and measure. Unfortunately
we don’t yet have an adequate number of members
proactively reporting back their efforts (that it would
provide an accurate picture of the scope of global
activity), that our team at UICC manually checks the
websites, media and social media for each of our
members to see just how the campaign has been
implemented. Although an extremely valuable exercise, it
is time and resource heavy.
- Showcasing these events and activities are an
important part of not only the reporting process, but
also for engaging others in future campaigns, so we
rely on having great stories and images to share.
» The campaign materials have been developed with our
members as the primary target audience, but we are now
seeing a greater pickup at an individual/public level. It
brings us to question whether or not future campaigns
should try to address both these audiences and adapt the
strategy accordingly.
Success Factors
Social media has been an underlying growing component
of the World Cancer Day campaign over the last few years.
This year we used Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and
encouraged our members around the world to share their
own online campaigns with others. It has been successful
because:
1. W
e developed and shared a great theme for the Day (Not
Beyond Us). This resonated with all target audiences. The
four sub themes allowed individuals and organisations to
refine the message to align with their own interests.
2. W
e had a coordinated campaign between social and
traditional media with consistent messaging, crafted to
resonate with each target audience.
3. The messages were underpinned with comprehensive
evidence based information which gave all parties
confidence to share them with journalists. All data,
statements and conclusions were fully justified.
4. Great ideas were shared rapidly across our members via
social media, supporting the website, e-blasts and the
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