A group of friends’ weekend away turns into a nightmare as their irresponsible sun behaviours come back to haunt them. Two scantily-clad runners are stopped by a creepy little girl in the bush. Two girls receive an ominous warning by an old, scarred lady. A young guy falls clutching to the ground from not wearing sunnies. A young girl scrambles as the sun hunts her down. And a young man experiences the horrifying effects of forgoing sunscreen. Each scenario directly relates to a different sun safe behaviour. Had our four protagonists adopted them they wouldn’t be fighting for their lives.

Beyond the narrative, the film taps into the science of horror films. When people watch scary movies their dopamine levels spike, making them more receptive to neurochemically conditioned behaviour change. This allowed us to sear the 5 S’s of Sun Safety into people’s minds.

SITUATION

Queensland, Australia is known as the Sunshine State. It’s also the skin cancer capital of the world, with 3600 victims each year. Despite traditional campaigns spending millions on sun safety messaging, skin cancer cases (and deaths) are rising, particularly amongst younger people.

BRIEF

Emphasize the risk of ignoring sun safe behaviours for 18 to 34-year-old Queenslanders; increase the perceived personal relevancy of protective behaviours for modifying risk.

OBJECTIVES

Encourage Queenslanders (18-34) to reduce UV exposure and sunburn rates; help reduce the incidence of skin cancers occurring in Queensland.

Short term (by end of campaign period):

- Increase those in target audience who:

- agree that sun protection is needed daily in Queensland

- agree campaign was personally relevant

- agree campaign made them realise there are things they can do to reduce their risk of skin cancer

- intend to practise sun safe behaviours more often

Queensland, Australia is known for its year-round sunny weather. Its great weather encourages an outdoors lifestyle, which means Queenslanders spend more time in the sun, all year round, than other Australians. Older Queenslanders grew up bombarded with sun safety messaging and, having had run-ins with skin cancer scares themselves, tend to adopt sun safe behaviours. However, the younger generation don’t remember or care about the 5 S’s of sun safety (SLIP on a hat, SLOP on sunscreen, SLAP on a hat, SEEK shade, SLIDE on sunglasses).

The campaign has only been live in market 7 weeks, so the long-term behavioural change will only be able to be measured over the next few years. Already the results have outperformed any previous campaign trying to create sun safe behavior change in the 18-34 year old demographic.

In just 7 weeks we have achieved:

- 371,200 completed views across various platforms including YouTube, Facebook, online video and digital display (Note: 18-34 year olds represent approx 21.52% of Queensland’s 5.5 million total population).

- 94.2% video completion rate on YouTube.

The campaign has attracted significant attention in social media and is a rare campaign that’s already becoming part of culture:

“Where can I watch this movie?” - Peter Burns

“This is completely brilliant. Will share with my teenage kids. Love it.” – Eliza French

“Gold. A great approach to delivering a serious message.” - Tanya Liebrecht