BITE Insight

Cancer charities often attract higher levels of donations than other charities in the UK. But it can be difficult to create an effective ad without it seeming overly emotional, simplistic or sometimes distasteful.

VCCP and Macmillan Cancer Support have moved on from the success of the previous Not Alone campaign with the launch of Life With Cancer. Their latest campaign explores what ordinary life looks like when you’re living with the illness.

Based on an insight that 85% of people don’t want to be defined by their cancer, the ads, that run across print, OOH, radio, TV and social, focus on the reality that a life with cancer is still a life. They feature a series of relationships from a dad and his daughter to friends, sisters and lovers.

The four films juxtapose the hardship of living with cancer with the happiness that everyday activities can bring. Rather than focusing on the diagnosis of the illness, the ads instil hope and the idea that normality is essential for recovery. Time doesn’t stop. Children still need to be looked after, bills need to be paid and life will still go on.

The emotional ads challenge the perceptions of what life with cancer is actually like. They don’t scaremonger, nor do they sugar-coat, but rather conclude with a message of hope: “Life with cancer is still life”.