Don’t be a boob

Indifference is suicide

The agency: Lowe Lintas is one of India’s largest and most storied communication groups. Having started operations in India in 1939, the agency is today a star office of the Lowe and Partners Worldwide network.  Headquartered in Mumbai, the agency has a brilliant talent pool of over 750 people across seven divisions and nine cities, and manages a client list of 250 plus.
The creative team: Arun Iyer, Shalini Avadhani, Ameya Kovale and Rajesh Doraiswamy.
The concept: While we were researching the disease, we stumbled upon a shocking discovery: When it comes to taking away the lives of women in the country, breast cancer is second only to suicide. Now that would have been just another inclusion in a list of FAQs if we didn’t recognise the sadness in the fact that most women who die of the disease are in a sense committing suicide by being indifferent to breast cancer warning signs.

Awareness is everything

The agency: Contract Advertising India is part of the WPP network and counts brands like Cadbury, Asian Paints, Shoppers Stop, Domino’s, Dabur, JK Tyres, Star Plus, Jockey, HSBC and CNBC among its clients.
The creative team: Hetal Ajmera, Bianca D’sa and Thomas George.
The concept: We wanted to use typography in a surprising way to deliver the core message that self-examination is essential. Awareness is the first weapon against breast cancer, a disease that affects a woman’s mind as much as it affects her body. This ad attempts to communicate to her the strong need for regular self-examination in front of a mirror.  

Use your hands

The agency: Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) is one of the largest marketing communications networks in the world. O & M India is the most awarded network in the country. The company’s creative and effectiveness recognition cuts across all its practices – advertising, digital marketing, customer engagement, public relations, healthcare communications, activation and shopper marketing.
The creative team: Rajiv Rao, Abhijit Avasthi, Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Abhijit Karandikar, Nilay Moonje and Nishigandh Dhende.
The campaign roster: Vodafone Made for first love, Bourneville Not so sweet and Gujarat Tourism.
The concept:  Some of the facts and figures about breast cancer in India are startling. And when you consider that almost 98 per cent of these cases could be prevented if women were more aware,our role as communicators becomes even more important. We’ve used the concept of the magnifying glass in an interesting visual play to remind women of the importance of self-examining. It’s meant to convey that hands are the ‘eyes’ that can help in early detection.

Touch yourself regularly

The agency: McCann Erickson has long been recognised as a leading advertising agency and strategically creative brand-builder. It handles a wide range of local and international brands, including L’Oreal and Western union, in more than 120 countries. It is the founding unit of McCann Worldgroup, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
The creative team: Prasoon Joshi, Denzil Machado, Aritra Chaudhuri and Mahesh Kawathankar.
The concept:  How easy it is to beat breast cancer with early detection. This ad was created keeping in mind the fact that while browsing through a magazine, women hardly want to read disturbing ads about a disease as serious as breast cancer. The headline, which is cheeky, but far from risqué, immediately catches the reader’s eye. And the rest of the words just casually tell them how easy it is to keep breast cancer at bay. We tried to bring in the perspective of a humorous doctor who advises someone about an ailment, without making the mood gloomy.

Breast cancer affects everyone

The agency: The Grey Group was founded in 1917, and today, partners clients in over 80 countries across the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. Grey Worldwide’s client roster includes some of the country’s biggest brands, like P&G, Reliance Telecommunications, Honda Brio, Britannia, Dell, Honda, Fox Traveller, Fortis Hospitals, National Geographic and Volkswagen.
The creative team: Malvika Mehra, Amit Akali, Sham Ramachandran, Ram Jayaraman, Shezah Salam and K Shihabudeen.
The concept: All doctors agree that early detection significantly improves breast cancer survival rates. But only a small section of women does self-examination, and a still smaller number goes in for regular mammograms. Most women do neither, so at the greatest risk. We used Venn diagrams to show how awareness and action can save breasts, and lives. In urban India, one in 30 women runs the risk of developing breast cancer in her lifetime. The statistic is frightening. Breast cancer affects all of us; we all have women in our lives whom we care deeply for. The horrific scenario of losing someone that means the world to us is what motivated us to take up arms for this cause.

We asked six of the country’s top agencies to create ads that would grab eyeballs and spread the word – awareness and self-examination are your best defence.

All it takes is a few minutes

The agency: JWT is India’s largest advertising agency and among the world’s biggest marketing communications networks. JWT India’s clients include Unilever, Pepsi, ITC, Nestle, Airtel, Godrej, the Aditya Birla Group and Nike.
The creative team: Priya Shivakumar, Kavita Mohandas, Ben Samuel, Ashvin Naik and Nakul Talgeri.
The concept: We wanted a brave and bold headline that grabs attention and draws you in to read the rest of the communication. The campaign hopes to raise many an eyebrow and exhort women to spend two minutes every day in the all-important self-examination. Hopefully this will help save a few precious lives.