Breast Cancer Foundation NZ stepped outside its comfort zone with its Normal for Me campaign. Here’s why the charity chose a playful take to raise awareness of a serious topic.
Breasts that put on a light show to Darude’s Sandstorm might not be your normal, but it could be for someone else.
At least, this much is true in Breast Cancer Foundation NZ’s latest awareness campaign, dreamed up with creative agency Ogilvy NZ. The series of ads features women whose breasts shine disco lights, pop popcorn or play orchestral music.
These abilities come much to the surprise of their friends, or the one retail assistant faced with a dressing room filled with popcorn. But the women are quite relaxed, assuring those around them it’s normal.
“Know what is normal for you, so you’ll know what’s not,” reads the tagline at the end of the ads.
There’s this wonderful insight that there’s no clinical definition of what “normal” is when it comes to breasts, says Ogilvy NZ’s Executive Creative Director Kristal Knight, only what is normal for you.
Shift in focus
She adds that breast cancer is a very serious topic, but being told to get your mammogram or check your breasts for signs of a deadly disease can be both confronting and intimidating.
“Given how scary the concept of cancer is, it’s no surprise that people find it a struggle to make it a regular behaviour.
“So Breast Cancer Foundation NZ decided to shift its focus to breast awareness and the importance of women getting to know what’s normal for them – embracing the unique quirks that every person has makes the concept far less scary and far more empowering.”
Inspiration for the campaign, launched during Breast Cancer Awareness Month last October, came from BCFNZ’s goal to reduce the number of late-stage breast cancer diagnoses in Aotearoa, says the charity’s Marketing Manager Jacquie Jardine.
“Early detection is key to improving outcomes and that starts with empowering women to understand what’s normal for their bodies and to act quickly if they notice any changes.”
Keep it simple
Working with Ogilvy, the BCFNZ team knew that to achieve this they had to keep the message simple, focusing on the importance of familiarisation.
It’s a new direction for the charity and required a big step outside its comfort zone – but introducing some humour and playfulness felt essential to create meaningful impact, without making light of the serious subject matter, says Jardine.
“It took courage from our entire team to stand behind this idea. We had conversations around how best to deliver the message, knowing it had to be both respectful and powerful to resonate effectively.”
Intentionally, the campaign removes any complexity or stigma around breast health as well as breast cancer symptoms, to encourage open conversations that might otherwise feel uncomfortable.
‘Normal for Me’ follows BCFNZ’s previous work with Ogilvy, ‘Maybe it’s a sign’, that used pairs of rounded objects to remind people to get their mammogram.
For Ogilvy, a large part of the inspiration came from Peter Field and Adam Morgan’s The Extraordinary Cost of Being Dull, which says that safe advertising costs more in the long run.
“Credit to Ah-Leen [BCFNZ CEO] who saw that with so much seriousness and somberness in this space across the world, there needed to be some lightness. She backed the weird,” says Knight.
And with BCFNZ a charity, playing it safe was never part of Ogilvy’s strategy.
“We didn’t have the media budget to buy extra share of voice. That meant our campaign had to work hard and generate fame to stand out creatively and engage viewers emotionally,” says Knight.
Positive vibes only
Both Ogilvy and BCFNZ were aware the campaign could be risky, and so were well prepared in case of backlash.
But almost surprisingly, Knight says that none came. “It could’ve been polarising but there’s been no negative feedback, only really positive feedback,” she says.
Jardine adds that the charity’s community has got behind the campaign, with social media comments, emails and in-person conversations all showing how much Kiwi women are resonating with it.
BCFNZ has even received compliments and recognition internationally.
Knight says injecting humour into the campaign allowed the charity to create positive emotions in a category that has always done the opposite. Women who have been through breast cancer shared their appreciation too.
One said that humour was what got her through her own breast cancer journey, opening the doors to conversations and interactions that would’ve felt uncomfortable or awkward without it.
‘Normal for Me’ has been running across social media, TV, radio and out of home, with support from influencers.
A new audience
It has already had a noticeable impact, reaching millions of people nationwide, says Jardine. And with the campaign nudging people to go and find out more, rather than laying out breast health content, BCFNZ has seen an uptick in website views.
The campaign’s dedicated landing page has seen a 10% increase in traffic compared to the rest of the BCFNZ website, and 99% of visitors to the breast awareness page are new users.
“Not only are we seeing a new audience engage with the campaign, that audience is also taking action by further educating themselves on breast health which is exactly what we were hoping for,” says Jardine.
For Knight, it’s been an important campaign to work on, both in her role with Ogilvy and as a punter herself.
“It’s rewarding to do projects like this, to see the results and know you’ve done some good.”
This story comes from NZ Marketing magazine issue 82, March-April 2025. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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