Cancer Research Campaign

One day, Tony Handley got a strange telephone call. The caller wanted to know how many women were working at Brahm. When he told her, she said that eight of them would get breast cancer at some point in their lives, and what was he going to do about it? That's how Brahm got involved in the Breast Cancer Research advertising campaign.

Katie Rand was the Account Manager for this project, which had only £2,000 and 16 free poster sites in the Yorkshire and Humber area. Initially, the team was comprised solely of women, but it was a man - Joe Coleman - who came up with the idea for the advertisement. The ad had to be sensational and have a wide appeal. Traditional breast cancer campaigns have been targeted only at women: this campaign would be aimed at men too.

Bryony Morton, Brahm's Direct Marketing Account Manager, and her boyfriend Phil, bravely disrobed to be the campaign’s ‘poster children’. Journalists immediately picked up on the advertisement, and it featured in national tabloids. The striking image, combined with the ‘real people’ aspect, plus the fact that Phil is a policeman, made the picture appealing to a wide range of people. The adverstisement, which was created on a shoestring budget, generated £50,000 worth of free PR.