Why the NHS partnered with a supermarket to get people to check their bodies
Winning The Drum Awards for Social Purpose in the Government or Public Sector category was 23red and NHS England for the ‘The NHS Care Label’ campaign. Here is the award-winning case study.
Why the NHS partnered with a supermarket to get people to check their bodies
Objectives
For the NHS to achieve their ambition to increase the proportion of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 from around half to three quarters by 2028, they need to encourage people to be familiar with their bodies and adopt a mindset of ‘knowing what’s normal for you’. This will encourage people to spot changes early and seek advice from a health professional. Our objective was to increase body awareness amongst adults and encourage those who spot any changes to contact their GP practice.
Strategy development
There is a general lack of body awareness, and people often don’t recognise changes to their body, which may include new cancer symptoms. This is exacerbated by the fact that pre-existing or ambiguous health conditions, or changes brought on by lifestyle (e.g. weight gain) can mask cancer symptoms.
Research also shows that consumers are receptive to health messaging from non-health brands, where the advice is authentic and helps tackle health challenges.
Our approach was to harness these trusted brand voices and create a new way to remind people to get familiar with themselves in places and moments where they are already thinking about their body.
From getting dressed, to going to the toilet, we wanted to prompt people to be body aware during their most private moments; establishing what’s normal for them so they can spot changes and contact their GP practice if something doesn’t feel right.
To spot early symptoms of cancer, we know it’s important for people to be aware of symptoms, and to have greater body awareness so they can notice any changes.
Our approach was anchored in the behavioral principles of EAST – making it easy, attractive, social and timely to 'be body aware' and regularly check for changes:
EASY: Nudging consumers to be body-aware in relevant moments.
ATTRACTIVE: Highlighting that early diagnosis makes cancer more treatable and can save lives.
SOCIAL: Normalising what’s ‘normal for me’ and checking regularly.
TIMELY: Issue potentially life-saving prompts when people are thinking about their bodies.
Execution
The solution was a first of its kind creative collaboration between the NHS and Morrisons, one of the UK's largest retailers to add cancer awareness messaging to underwear care labels.
Labels in Morrisons own brand Nutmeg crop-top bras and boxers are used to deliver a vital message from the NHS every time you get dressed; making checking easy, normal and regular. The advice was tailored by product; crop-top bras highlight common symptoms of breast cancer and boxer shorts highlight testicular cancer symptoms.
Product packaging expands on the key messages, explaining more about testicular and breast cancer symptoms and people at risk.
Care labels in clothing are traditionally reserved for garment instructions, so this is a genuinely powerful new way to deliver lifesaving prompts in the right place at the right time. It offers a repeat reminder in a truly relevant moment when people are in the mindset of ‘body awareness’.
A joint PR moment involving the NHS and Morrisons supported the launch of the partnership in August 2023. The campaign featured personal stories from four cancer patients, two Instagram influencers, Shannon Alexandra and Kreena Dhiman, and Edward Solly and Natalie Robinson. They talked about how from their experience a daily reminder to be more body aware and getting diagnosed early really could save your life.
Results
This partnership and the reinvention of the humble care label was a catalyst for big results.
To date, nearly 400,000 pairs of Nutmeg-branded boxer shorts and crop-top bras carrying NHS care labelling have been sold. The products continue to be stocked across 240 Morrisons stores.
At launch, more than 180 pieces of high-quality media coverage across national and consumer titles were generated, including BBC News, The Mirror, The Sun, Sky News, The Telegraph and Daily Mail. This achieved a reach of 475 million.
Organic content posted across NHS, Morrisons and influencer social media channels achieved over 1.1 million impressions.
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