Sky Media and Prostate Cancer UK Partnership Sparks Conversation Across the Summer of Sport
As prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, the campaign, with stars from the worlds of rugby union, football and golf, urges men to have conversations about their health with loved ones, friends and family
Prostate Cancer UK and Sky Media have announced a fresh continuation of their game-changing partnership by celebrating the great men in our lives and encouraging men to discuss their health with loved ones.
Earlier this year, Prostate Cancer UK launched its national TV advertising campaign with Sky Media, telling men: ‘Men We Are With You’. The successful campaign led to Prostate Cancer UK seeing a 207% increase in visits to the website from people searching for information about risks and symptoms.
Continuing this journey, the leading men’s health charity now aims to develop open and positive conversations with men around prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men, by connecting across high-profile sporting moments. The campaign dives into the lives and relationships of well-known individuals across rugby, cricket, and golf; expanding on Prostate Cancer UK’s long-established profile in football.
The partnership tells the stories of famous sportspeople and their close friends and families, revealing how sport has been a key part of bringing them closer together. Kicking off the stories of solidarity, rugby fans can watch how twin brother Ben, supported two-time Lions captain, and a Six Nations winner, Sam Warburton throughout his career here.
The multi-faceted TV advertising campaign will see three bespoke documentary-style pieces of content featuring famous sport stars across Linear TV and social media. The longer three-minute versions of content will also sit across Sky Sports’ YouTube and Facebook channels, with a one-minute cutdown for Instagram and a 90” edit for TV. Native articles will also be hosted on SkySports.com.
The next phase of the campaign launches this week alongside the 3rd Test of the England vs India cricket series. Focusing in on England fast bowling star, Mark Wood, and his father, Derek, this content will broadcast conversations between the father and son, exploring the deep connection between friends and families. In a similar vein, the third phase of the campaign will take place in early September aligning with the BMW PGA Golf Championship and will highlight conversations between European Tour golfer, Daniel Gavins and his caddy Liam Harrison.
Running alongside these original pieces of content, an ambitious live media stunt aims to encourage audiences to share positive stories about their loved ones and men in their lives affected by prostate cancer by tweeting Sky Sports. Teaming up with Never.No’s cloud-based engagement solution, Sky Media will air these personal messages as dynamic ads during a 30” spot in commercial airtime. The dynamic ads will allow those watching the commercial break to send in messages via Twitter, which will then be broadcast in the subsequent commercial break using Bee-On technology that integrates real-time data and socially generated content. The dynamic ads will broadcast on the 28th of August, the 4th day of the 3rd Test of the cricket and the 10th September in line with the BMW PGA Golf Championship. The dynamic ads will be voiced by longtime Prostate Cancer UK ambassador and Soccer Saturday presenter, Jeff Stelling.
The partnership highlights the the importance of men’s relationships with their loved ones. Through the dynamic ads and documentary-style stories, Prostate Cancer UK and Sky Media aim to drive personal connections between men and ultimately conversations about their health and wellbeing during sporting moments, a time when men usually come together.
Ali Day, Director of Communications at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Throughout 2021 we will engage men across the UK with our mission to engage men across the UK with our mission to tell them ‘Men, We Are With You’. Our continued collaboration with Sky Sports will allow us to reach more men and those around them – their partners, their children, their mates and their families.
“We want to be front and centre with the Sky Sports audience during this year of sport, and are excited to help them to understand the dangers of the disease through the lens of household sporting personalities.
“Throughout football, cricket, golf and rugby, we want to amplify that lifesaving messaging further. Prostate cancer is a disease affecting 1 in 8 men in the UK, and that risk doubles to 1 in 4 if you are black. To put that into perspective, that’s two men in every rugby scrum, a player in every football and cricket team. That’s simply not good enough.
“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, but we want to see a world where men’s lives are not limited by the disease, and we know men and their loved ones feel the same. We look forward to continuing our thriving relationship with Sky Sports and thank them for their support in our quest.”
Sarah Jones, Director of Planning at Sky Media, commented: “We’re thrilled to be working again with Prostate Cancer UK to amplify their important cause. We know that sport is a key space where men unite and an ideal place to encourage talking about their health with loved ones. It’s great we’re able to expand to a wider array of sports and stories this time and introduce dynamic conversations with social content forming part of live TV creative.”
English Cricketer, Mark Wood, added: “You make great friends through sport, in Cricket, and especially in the dressing room. You’ve got all these guys who’ve got your back on the field and I’m sure they’d have your back off the field as well. It’s vitally important that people keep speaking!”
Taylor Barr, Partnerships Lead at the7stars, said: “We’re delighted to have helped our client Prostate Cancer UK extend their collaboration with Sky Media even further to build on some of the great work already done earlier this year. Sky Sports remain a great audience fit and home for this partnership that will help us amplify this life saving message even further, and to encourage men to have open and honest conversations about their health with their loved ones. This time around, we’re excited about the new content we’re creating with some incredible sporting personalities throughout the year, that will bring our male audiences closer to the sports they love.”
Brokered by the7Stars and its Supernova team, Prostate Cancer UK’s campaign was created by Sky Media and its Commercial Production team and runs until the 30th September 2021.
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