With more than 40% of Arab women having never scheduled a mammogram (despite numerous breast cancer awareness campaigns in the region), and with early detection increasing survival rates by 99%, K-Lynn, a lingerie brand in UAE catering to women’s intimate needs, encouraged Arab women to practice early detection self-checks.

Building a new experience, based on the insight that a self-check takes just five minutes, while women in the Middle East spend an average of 60 minutes a day shopping online, we got K-Lynn to pioneer, transforming its e-commerce shopping channel into a self-check guide for signs of breast cancer.

K-Lynn, a lingerie retail brand, that cares about women’s intimate needs, wanted to demonstrate care for their health too.

We focused on Breast Cancer. Cancer is the 3rd leading cause of death among women in the Middle East, after cardiovascular diseases and injuries, with Breast Cancer being the leading cause of cancer deaths Studies highlight that women, under 45 years of age, are more prone to breast cancer vs. others.

Our challenge was to spread breast cancer awareness for K-Lynn in a way that offered a tangible solution that respected the region’s cultural sensitivities.

When it comes to region, talking about breast cancer is as much a taboo as is openly discussing one’s lingerie.

And communication efforts and campaigns for breast cancer are limited to a month in the year: “Pinktober”.

Instead of competing in that month, we K-Lynn wanted to create a more frequent way to remind women to self-check.

Our objective was to show women how to perform a breast cancer self-check in a way that Arab women would be comfortable with.

This is something that couldn't be done on public platforms or through mediums that women wouldn't respond to when it came to such a sensitive topic.

Women don’t get themselves checked because they believe they don’t have enough time for a self-check.

Despite multiple brands and organizations saying how easy and quick it was to do a breast cancer self-check, over 60% of Arab women have never self-checked. 40% of Arab women have never had a mammogram screening.

This was appalling in reality especially given research into breast cancer, shows that there is a 99% chance of survival among women, owing to early detection.

The most common reason given was they didn't have enough time for a self-check.

But, interestingly, they spent 60 minutes daily browsing fashion online, and even longer browsing lingerie.

They weren’t prioritizing those vital 5 minutes to self-check.

Additionally, while they said didn’t have time, the truth was they didn’t have enough knowledge and confidence. While brands spoke about it, no one had really shown how to self-check.

We wanted to turn women's online browsing habit on K-Lynn's e-commerce website into a life-saving habit.

And in doing so, we wanted to help women to check themselves out for signs of breast cancer, every time they checked out lingerie sets for themselves.

So, we converted conventional lingerie poses on e-commerce platforms into steps to self-check for signs of breast cancer.

All lingerie e-commerce platforms worldwide, portray their models posing and showcasing the range of products with absolute comfort and confidence. They are exactly the same, from one lingerie brand to another. K-Lynn did the same, ever since its inception.

These new photographs with each model striking a much more meaningful post, replaced the online catalogue and turned the entire K-Lynn e-commerce platform into a potentially life-saving shopping experience for every women shopper, by becoming part of a step-by-step guide and reminder to self-check.

Getting women to self-check themselves every time they checked out K-Lynn’s collection on web and mobile, worked.

As the message spread, women even started K-Lynn’s competitors on social media - from LaSenza and Victoria's Secret to Calvin Klein and H&M - asking them to join the idea and to also promote self-check using their online catalogues.

Through the impact and influence, this new experiential and transformational solution exceeded objectives and benchmarks:

We reached 55% of female shoppers.

Website and mobile site visits increased 43%.

Average time spent was 6 minutes (new benchmark).

And as word spread, K-Lynn’s overall brand buzz increased by 213%.

56% of visitors engaged with chat function.

Most importantly, affiliated clinics reported a 47% increase in mammogram checks.

Additionally, although sales wasn't a target, the engagement also drove a +23% incremental increase in online sales, during the same period, with no sale nor promotion active.

A 5-minute self check can help in early detection of breast cancer and increase survival rates by 99%.

And while numerous awareness campaigns have communicated the importance of a self-check, most women in the region DO NOT regularly perform this 5-minute exercise; cancer cases in Arab women under the age of 45 years are increasing at an alarming rate (projected to reach 1 million by 2030). An even more alarming statistic: More than 40% of Arab women have never had a mammogram screening in their life.

However, women in the region DO spend an average of 60 minutes browsing fashion online. Even more when it comes to browsing lingerie. This daily online behaviour became the driving insight of our campaign – helping us engage with women during these 60 minutes to encourage a 5-minute, life-saving self-check.