Detect Cancer Earlier marketing campaign: evaluation report 2023/2024

4. Campaign Development and Delivery

Overall, the performance of the first phase of the ‘Be the Early Bird’ campaign was strong. A similar media strategy was therefore deployed for the second phase, however, timings were adjusted to September / October to avoid other cancer campaigns / messages (for example, other campaigns on TV) competing for attention. Posters were also included in pharmacy windows for this burst of activity as these had been very effective in previous years for DCE.

The other change was to update the campaign call to action – changing from “Unusual, persistent symptoms? Contact your GP practice” to “Unusual, persistent symptoms? Your GP practice wants to know” for the second burst of the campaign. Evaluation from phase one activity suggested that a more inviting message was required to encourage people to contact their GP practice if they were worried about symptoms.