A young girl is on a breathless chase, shouting at someone to leave her dad alone and stop picking on black men. It’s a brilliantly unexpected way to get viewers’ attention – for a subject that men don’t want to pay attention to. As it turns out, the girl is shouting at prostate cancer.
Through her, the campaign shows how loved ones and the community around each man have a vital role to play in putting prostate cancer in its place – from helping men know their risk and what they can do about it, to calling on the government for systemic change, raising money to fund groundbreaking research, or standing with men through their prostate cancer journey.
The idea, The Unexpected Hero, comes from VCCP for Prostate Cancer UK, extending the organisation’s It’s About Time brand positioning.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. 1 in 8 men will get it, and if you’re Black, your risk is double. Despite it being curable if found early, 12,000 dads, brothers, sons and mates die from the disease each year, and there is still no national screening programme. The campaign wants that to end. Its hero commercial delivers an urgent and emotional call to stand together and take action – it’s about time we all stood up to the most commonly diagnosed cancer in England.
The Unexpected Hero was directed by Nicole Pott through VCCP’s content creation studio Girl&Bear Studios, with a voiceover from David Tennant and a soundtrack by alt-J.
Running across the UK and covering TV, radio and out of home, the campaign speaks directly to 45-60-year-old men – many of whom are reluctant to make a fuss, but are precisely the ones at risk. It also reaches out to their wider network – partners, friends, families and colleagues with the aim to help drive change.
Many involved in the creation of the film have been directly impacted or have had someone close to them affected by prostate cancer. This included nurse, Michael Lewis, from the West Midlands, who makes a cameo appearance in the film and himself has had successful treatment for the disease.
Michael stated, “I consider myself lucky – my cancer was caught early, but for so many men it isn’t found until it’s harder to treat. Like this ad says, it’s about time more men knew about prostate cancer, and it’s about time we had an early detection programme. Prostate Cancer UK is a charity close to my heart, so I’m hugely excited to be a part of this ad. It’s so important to break the stigma of this disease, and by talking about it and being in the ad I hope I can help do that. We can put prostate cancer in its place and help save more men’s lives – lives like those of my friend, who wasn’t so lucky, but saved my life.”
The campaign follows last year’s successful campaign, A Future Full of Good Things, that aimed to get more men a potentially lifesaving early diagnosis by encouraging them to use Prostate Cancer UK’s 30 second online risk checker.
Ali Day, director of communication at Prostate Cancer UK, stated, “Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in England, yet awareness and urgency still lag behind. With The Unexpected Hero, we wanted to show that men are not alone – they’re supported by families, friends and communities. To get this message across most powerfully, we picked the person you’d least expect to be chasing prostate cancer, a young girl. She represents us all and her voice is our voice. This campaign is a powerful statement that we’re facing up to the growing challenge, but we can’t take it on alone. If we’re going to campaign for an early detection programme, fund lifesaving research and put prostate cancer in its place, we need more of us to stand together. So that no man has to face prostate cancer alone.”
Jim Thornton, executive creative director at VCCP, added, “As a man of a certain age, I’m all too aware how prostate cancer creeps up on us blokes without any warning and kills 12000 of us a year. But not everyone’s as aware. The team have brought this silent killer vividly to life to show how family and friends have a really important role to play in trying to keep their men safe. We all need to join Prostate Cancer UK and get righteously indignant about this colossal and unnecessary loss of life, and the loss of dads, uncles, grandads, brothers and cousins to their families.”
Credits
Client: Prostate Cancer UK
Advertising Agency: VCCP
Executive Creative Director: Jim Thornton
Creative Team: Emma Jackson & Aly Golani
Business Director: Molly Moore-Brabazon
Account Directors: Alec Woolford & Nicole Mouawad
Planning Director: Joe Miller
Media Buying Agency: Mi Media
Production Company: Girl&Bear Studios
Executive Producer: Olly Calverley
Producer: Rich Guy
Agency Creative Producer: Gaynor Goldring
Production Manager: Miriam Deas
Production Assistants: Angeline Gill & Ana Ungureanu
Trainee Camera: Felix Borer
BTS Operator: Filly Simon
Director: Nicole Pott
Editor: Ales Dordoni @ Final Cut
Post-Production Company: Selected Works
Post Producer: Angie Broomfield
Colourist: Nielsan Bohl
Audio Post-Production Company: Jungle
Sound Engineer: Ben Leeves
