I worked pro-bono for the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust (LCYCT), the only UK charity to fund medical research specifically into cancer affecting 13-24 year olds.

As a small charity with limited PR budget, I came on board to help promote its campaign to raise much-needed funds for research into gonads cancer (testicular and ovarian cancer), among the most common tumours in adolescents. Having already created a promotional video to highlight the campaign messages, featuring two well-known rugby league stars, and set up a text to donate service, the charity needed someone to take the campaign to the next level.

Press releases were tailored for different target audiences with the focus predominantly on raising awareness of the cancers and how they affect teenagers to pull at people’s heart strings and encourage them to text to donate towards the research. To do this, and to strengthen the campaign, we found three case studies of young people with ovarian and testicular cancer who were willing to talk about their experiences of cancer. Support was also secured with local Super League clubs that committed to raising awareness of the campaign through their own marketing channels.

It was the charity’s first major media campaign, which launched during National Youth Against Cancer Week, and resulted in coverage in the Daily Mail and other national papers, Manchester Evening News and other regional and local newspapers, Granada Reports, North West Tonight, Key 103, BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC Radio Merseyside and rugby league titles. One of the case studies secured interest from a number of women’s weekly magazines and This Morning... During the campaign the promotional film received an influx of views on YouTube - Stephen Fry even tweeted about it!

The charity’s profile was also raised at a national level which has always been a key objective.

For more information on the gonads campaign, please click here.

For examples of the case studies that supported the campaign, please click here.