Teenage Cancer Trust:
#BestToCheck
A campaign that teaches young people how to check for early warning signs of cancer – but honestly, it’s a lot more fun than it sounds.
“Every day in the UK 10 children and teenagers are diagnosed with cancer.”
Insight
According to multiple neurological studies, teenagers are biologically wired to respond to peer influence. That’s because their brains undergo changes that make them highly attuned to social situations.
At the same time, the reward system in the teen brain becomes extra sensitive. “Research shows that even just having one other peer around can change the reward response in the brain and also the risk-taking tendencies of teenagers.” – Dr. Emily Falk, University of Pennsylvania.
To get teenagers to take cancer seriously and check themselves regularly, we needed to influence them with people they liked, followed and respected.
The best place to do that? TikTok.
Last year, TikTok surpassed Google as the most-visited site on the web. About two-thirds of teens say they have used TikTok with 16 percent of those saying they use it almost constantly, (Pew Research, 2022).
Our TikTok influencers
We teamed up with TikTok influencers – @MrTov, @just_mattt, @stevenmckell – to create short videos in their own styles that included a range of cancer symptoms and the call to action #BestToCheck, complete with bespoke animations.
The final videos received over 8 million views with over 300,000 interactions.The charity also moved up 3 places in Brand- Vue’s ‘100 Most Loved UK charity Brands’ list – from 47th to 44th.
Most importantly, UK searches for ‘Teenage Cancer Trust’ increased by over 213% over the course of the campaign, making a real difference to young people’s lives.
“A pleasure to work with – they pulled out all the stops to get these vital health messages in front of millions of young people.
–Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets