About

To mark International Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Ogilvy Social.Lab, NRJ Belgium and Pink Ribbon Belgium launched an original campaign to teach essential hand movements that every woman should know, using the tip of her fingers: how to perform a self-examination and spot the nine warning signs of breast cancer.

The background

It is often thought that breast cancer only affects women over the age of 40, but almost 5% of all breast cancer cases occur in younger women. Unfortunately, teenage girls and young women show little concern, or, at least, are not aware of breast self-examination procedures. Ogilvy Social.Lab  developed #MixForBoobs for NRJ Belgium and Pink Ribbon Belgium to address this issue.

#MixForBoobs is an original campaign and an educational programme based on a simple but unpublicised fact: the scratching techniques used by DJs to mix on vinyl decks are identical to the self-examination techniques that all women should learn to detect breast cancer. This idea of using the codes of vinyl scratching in a playful and relevant way to raise awareness of breast self-examination among a younger audience immediately appealed to NRJ Belgium.

“When Ogilvy Social.Lab presented us with the idea, we were immediately seduced. Since then, we have worked together, hand in hand, to bring this project to fruition in the middle of a pandemic. The task wasn’t easy, but the teams didn’t give up: They were aware that we had in our hands a real idea full of meaning for the NRJ brand and its listeners“, says Laure Di Francesco, Head of Communication at NRJ.

#MixForBoobs

Under the supervision of the medical experts of Pink Ribbon Belgium, Ogilvy Social.Lab and NRJ Belgium have produced two double vinyl albums to support the demonstration of self-care techniques. The albums contain a new song; each track corresponds to the time needed for each self-care gesture, and the lyrics serve as instructions while stressing the importance of screening.

To visualise the techniques, the agency and the radio station also shot a video clip showing artists and influencers practising self-checks using the discs. Video tutorials on social media and on the NRJ Belgium website explain the right gestures in a playful way and invite each woman to reproduce them in front of the mirror to detect the nine warning signs of breast cancer in time.

The #MixForBoobs campaign was launched on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and the French and Dutch websites of NRJ Belgium from 1st October 2021, with the support of Clara Luciani, Typh Barrow, Julie Taton and many other artists and influencers, to reach as many young women as possible. A video clip, tutorials, testimonials from a medical expert and breast cancer survivors explain the steps and remind us that breast cancer can strike at any age.

Many elements of the campaign, including a unique TikTok challenge, have been designed to be highly interactive and easy to share. Indeed, the more women see #MixForBoobs, the more they will master the breast self-examination technique and spot the nine warning signs, which everybody involved hopes will help save lives.