Awareness
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK. It needs to be talked about. Shouted about. Jumped up and down about. Until every man is aware of it and knows what to look out for.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK. It needs to be talked about. Shouted about. Jumped up and down about. Until every man is aware of it and knows what to look out for.
Real Men know all about it
A major new advertising campaign, ‘Real Men Know All About It’, was launched to get men – and the women in their lives – to find out more about prostate cancer and to be proactive in dealing with it. The campaign was created free of charge by advertising agency Publicis. It included a raft of striking advertising and information materials which were quickly taken up by radio and printed media – again free of charge.
Prostate Cancer Awareness Week swept across the UK in March 2006, with the help of companies, community organisations and individuals who worked with us.
Standard Life sponsored the printing of 600,000 drinks mats, which put the prostate cancer message under the noses of men and women in pubs and workplaces.
"As part of our continued support of The Prostate Cancer Charity, we were pleased to provide funding for the printing of the Real Man drinks mats for Awareness Week. We believe it’s very important that men know all about their health."
Karen Frost, Community Investment Manager, Standard Life
Smartbox, which operates an exclusive channel on pub TVs, converted our Real Man press ad into an animated 30 second TV advert and donated over seven hours of screen time, in over 500 venues.
Awareness Week saw a fourfold increase in information pack requests, while 750,000 drinks mats, posters and ‘z-card’ guides to prostate cancer were distributed to pubs and clubs.
Lamp-posts in busy traffic and shopping locations were adorned with large Real Man posters thanks to StreetBroadcast who donated the space.
Ricky Gervais created a funny, award winning radio ad about how easy it is to have a quick examination for prostate problems. Could it have a place on your intranet or website? Here Ricky's radio ad.
Debbie Bowles’ father died of prostate cancer two years ago, and this year she persuaded her employer, Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, to carry our Real Man message on one of their 40 foot trailers which deliver parts around the UK.
We funded 80 talks and workshops to reach African Caribbean men, who are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men.
Hundreds of people affected by prostate cancer helped us generate a huge media impact. The Prostate Cancer Charity was mentioned in 179 national and regional media articles during Awareness Week, making many thousands more people aware of prostate cancer – and that there is a charity dedicated to helping anyone worried about it.
11 companies, including Novartis, sanofi aventis and AstraZeneca, helped provide the funds to make a major success of our National Conference in November 2005, attended by 400 people concerned about prostate cancer.
Prostate Cancer Awareness Week 2007 will take place from 19th – 25th March. If you would like to join us, please contact the Charity’s Events Manager on 020 8222 7622.
Getting closer to men who need us
Calls to our Helpline from African Caribbean men rose by 96% this year. The overall proportion of black men calling is still low, but this rise shows that our efforts to take the message to African Caribbean community groups are making a very practical difference.
Our leaflet specifically created for African Caribbean men and their families reached some 13,000 people at local community events, carnivals, conferences, exhibitions, workshops and training days.
In Birmingham, we appointed an outreach worker for six months, building good working relationships with health agencies across the West Midlands and getting the issue of prostate cancer talked about in hard-to-reach communities.
Poet, novelist and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah (second right, pictured with cast members), has written a play to raise awareness of prostate cancer. Developed with £24,000 from The Lloyds TSB Foundation for England & Wales, it will tour Bradford, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol. If you’d like to sponsor the play in Manchester and London, please contact Kate Billingham on 020 8222 7658.
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