This Is the First Poster Designed to Catch Lung Cancer

As part of its campaign for Lung Cancer Awareness Month taking place throughout November and to bring down the high lung cancer death rate through better awareness of symptoms, the Marie Keating Foundation has created the first poster to catch lung cancer.

Using bespoke technology the team behind the activation – The Brill Building with PML – created a poster than only reveals itself to those who cough. The innovative approach seeks to encourage those with a long-standing cough to get it checked, and to reach them in the most targeted way possible. 

In Ireland, lung cancer is the leading cause of death with just 20% of people diagnosed with the disease surviving beyond five years, following a lung cancer diagnosis. However, the good news for patients is that many countries throughout Europe have improved the management of lung cancer through better risk reduction strategies, diagnosis and treatment.

As part of their Big Check Up campaign, for Lung Cancer Awareness month, the Marie Keating Foundation are calling on the Irish Government to make 2022 the year we commit to improving survival rates and reducing the lung cancer death rate permanently. As part of this ask, they are launching a petition to go out to the public to gain support and raise awareness of the importance of launching a health check trial in Ireland. Sign the petition today here.   

It is all part of what the charity are calling the most targeted media campaign ever to catch lung cancer with social and radio buys focused on areas like Co. Carlow and areas of Dublin City with the highest rates and risk for lung cancer, the poster to catch those with symptoms and the petition to find lung cancer in patients in the future before symptoms appear.

Created by The Brill Building team of creative lead Peter Snodden and project lead Sorcha Hanratty with ECD Roisin Keown the integrated campaign with PR from Rep. Inc and partners will see the activation and petition supported by online video, radio, press and social content. Impactful imagery was created by Pedro Esteban Slaibe of Custom Image CGI.  The powerful film for the activation created by the in-house The Brill Building team of Director of Photography Kevin Cantrell with Edit and Motion from Graeme Wells features lung cancer patient Johnny Hassett, a well known Irish horse trainer whose story of diagnosis inspired the creative team to devise the execution.

Hassett’s message is stark. “If you get a cough checked and you don’t need anything, great. But if you need intervention and you don’t get it checked, then you’ll die.”

Dr Jarushka Naidoo, consultant oncologist at Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre, Lung Cancer Chair for Cancer Trials Ireland and adjunct assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University said: “Early detection and diagnosis can save lives and give families precious time- the most valuable thing to loved ones. When lung cancer is found at an early stage, there is a better chance of successful treatment. Further, evidence from other countries shows that lung cancer screening does indeed catch lung cancer early.”

In Ireland, the 5-year survival rate for lung cancer patients is approximately 18%. This means only 18% of people that are diagnosed with lung cancer will be alive after five years.  This is extremely low in comparison to other five-year survival rates for common cancers such as, Prostate: 99%, Breast: 89% and Colorectal: 65%. 

The annual Big Check Up campaign aims to increase awareness of early signs and symptoms, encourage action and ultimately improve survival rates through early diagnosis.

CEO at the Marie Keating Foundation, Liz Yeates, speaking about the campaign, said: “A comprehensive Lung health check for those at high risk has the potential to catch lung cancer earlier than first symptoms present and if we really can’t live with the lung cancer mortality rate any longer then we need to explore all options that could get patients the care that could save their lives”. 

Peter Snodden, Creative Director, The Brill Building said: “This is an important intervention in the fight against lung cancer. If we can reach just one person with a cough that could be cancer through this activation, then we’ll have saved a life. But reaching many more through the campaign message that a persistent cough needs checked has the potential to do so much more again”