Association Insight International & European Association Insights Spring 2015 | Page 35
Association Success Story | Association Insights
Association Success Story
Project
World Cancer Day 2015:‘Not Beyond Us’ – a social
media campaign
Categories
Effective voice, Event, Campaign
Dates
April 2014 to February 2015
Each World Cancer Day campaign is developed and
launched in the year preceding the Day itself, so the
World Cancer Day 2015 campaign was developed in
2014 and launched on 4th September 2014, using the
next months to build momentum and engagement in
the Day.
Association
Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)
Members
With more than 840 organisations in 150 countries, our
membership base features the world’s major cancer
societies, ministries of health, research institutes and
patient groups.
Project team
Vanessa Von der Muhll, Head of Communications,
Marketing and Web
The Communications Team at UICC, which comprises
three full time staff, leads the campaign, but other
teams in the organisation are also involved and
engaged throughout.
Objectives
We assess the success of each World Cancer Day by
measuring:
1. The number of UICC members active on the Day.
UICC has a growing membership base which now
numbers more than 840 organisations in 150
countries. This number has trebled in recent years
and their level of engagement with the UICC agenda
has improved. We recognise that the profile of World
Cancer Day critically depends on their commitment
to raise awareness on the day in their own country
and with their local media. It is therefore essential to
the success of the campaign that we maximise the
number of UICC members involved in the Day.
choices, early detection, treatment for all, quality of
life, etc). This is our headline measure of success –
the opportunity to see, hear and read about the Day
across all media types.
3. W
e compare progress year on year to ensure that
we learn from previous campaigns. This allows us to
assess what has worked and what has not worked, so
we can achieve a greater impact each February 4th.
Background
Policy development by associations is traditionally
done by their own experts and board members. The
labour Union is facing decreasing number of members.
We decided that a different approach was needed.
By involving members directly and asking them what
they want, the policy advice was much better tailored
to their needs. Which in the long run will give a higher
membership satisfaction. Moreover, the outcomes
were highly appreciated by the Minister, as they were
clearly based on the needs in society, and not only the
outcome of a complex political process.
Introduction
On 4th February 2015, the Union for International
Cancer Control (UICC) marked World Cancer Day
collaboratively with its many members, partners and
supporters around the world, breaking previous records
and culminating in 10.7 billion opportunities to see, hear
or read about World Cancer Day in 2015.
The campaign focused on taking a positive and
proactive approach to the fight against cancer using
the tagline ‘Not beyond us’. It explored how we can
implement what we already know in the areas of
prevention, early detection, treatment and care, and
in turn, open up to the exciting prospect that we can
impact the global cancer burden – for the better.
Through the hundreds of activities and initiatives that
took place around the globe, we were able to show
that there is much that can be done at an individual,
community and governmental level to harness and
mobilise these solutions and catalyse positive change.
2. The global media coverage of the Day (opportunities
to see, hear or read about ‘World Cancer Day’) and
the pick up on social media (eg #WorldCancerDay,
#NotBeyondUs (campaign theme), healthy life
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