Spikes Asia

The Balls Towel

CHARIOT AGENCY, Petaling Jaya / CANCER SOCIETY / 2023

Presentation Image
Case Film
Supporting Content
1 of 0 items

Overview

Entries

Credits

OVERVIEW

Background

Testicular cancer is usually curable when it is detected early and treated accordingly; treatment is often successful even at later stages. Experts recommend performing a self examination at least once a month to catch any irregularities early on, when it is most treatable. But 90% of Malaysian men do not know how to check themselves for testicular cancer, and therefore, did not perform regular testicular self-examination, only discovering the anomalies once the cancer has already advanced.

National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM) wanted to promote awareness of a very preventable form of cancer in men. But in Malaysia, where conservative values were still predominant, it was an altogether very niche audience of men who had access to and were open to hearing these messages of the importance of regular self examination.

Idea

Men want to be efficient at everything, and that includes bathing. In their urgent need to get it done as fast as they can, it often leaves them wondering if they had just wiped their face with the same part of the towel as they had just used to wipe their balls. So we created a towel that came with clear markers for the balls and face, serving as a timely reminder to perform a self-examination. These towels could be purchased as gifts, with proceeds going to the National Cancer Society of Malaysia.

Strategy

Men often think that they are infallible to cancer. So instead of targeting men themselves, we spoke to the people around them. By packaging the Balls Towel into a gift-worthy kit, we didn’t have men getting these towels for themselves. Instead, loved ones would purchase this life-saving gift for them.

Execution

The Balls Towel Kit was designed to look like a manly-man’s idea of fun: loud stickers, bold statements, and a wise-cracking attitude. Inside the kit was a towel made with 100% pure cotton and fine stitching that clearly marked the zones for their head and balls. The kit was complete with a waterproof infographic that they could take with them in the shower, outlining the steps to perform a testicular self-examination.

The Balls Towel could be purchased via a microsite, starting from 1 December 2021. It was supported by a series of videos and influencers.

100 kits were produced, and promoted with a media budget of RM500 (less than USD120)

Outcome

The campaign received 69k impressions, 24k engagement, and a 74% view-through rate for the videos. All the kits were sold out within 72 hours of launching the microsite, with all proceeds going to NCSM.

Similar Campaigns

12 items

Dead Whale

DENTSU JAYME SYFU, Makati city

Dead Whale

2021, GREENPEACE

(opens in a new tab)