Bowel Cancer Screening

NHS England’s new ‘Bowel Cancer Screening’ campaign has launched featuring the engaging ‘Ribbon Dancer’ creative. This latest phase of NHS England’s ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign is designed to encourage people who are sent the NHS bowel cancer screening home test kit to complete and return it. The campaign launches on Monday 20th February and runs until 31st March 2023. It is supported by Cancer Research UK.

Not for use, sharing or posting before 20 February 2023.

Campaign details

Target audience: Adults, Men, Minority ethnic group, Women

Topics: Cancer, NHS, Screening

Campaign start date: 20 February 2023

Campaign end date: 31 March 2023

Background

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK. Yet the latest data shows that almost one third of people who were sent an NHS bowel cancer screening kit in England last year did not go on to complete it. Early diagnosis is vital, as detecting bowel cancer at the earliest stage makes you up to 9 times more likely to be successfully treated.

Campaign aims

The campaign aims to increase the number of people returning a completed bowel cancer screening test by raising awareness that it can detect signs of cancer before they notice anything wrong and addressing the main barriers preventing people from completing the test.

Target population and campaign overview

Campaign activity is targeting people aged 56 to 74, to align with the age of eligibility for being sent a home test kit. The campaign will also focus on those from lower socio-economic groups and ethnic minorities as these groups have been shown to be less likely to complete the screening kit.

The campaign will run in England and includes TV, Video on Demand (VOD), online video, community radio, search, PR, partnerships, and social media. There will be activity targeted to ethnic minority audiences including Black and South Asian communities, and engagement with disability organisations to reach disabled audiences, with alternative formats being made available for partners.

Summary of resources available

Campaign resources are being made available, which include:

Campaign toolkit
Social media assets and copy (15” cutdowns of TVC and subtle motion of key visual)
Posters (A3 and A4, with and without crop marks)
TV commercial (30” and 60”)
Messaging matrix
Screening saves lives logo lockup

Please check back regularly as more campaign assets will be uploaded as and when they are produced.

Assets are available with and without the Cancer Research (CRUK) logo.