Our HeadSmart symptoms awareness campaign is a lynchpin to our strategy of raising awareness of brain tumours symptoms among children and young adults and we know that in our community, 75% of teenagers are using Snapchat.
So, we’ve teamed up with CDM London to craft our HeadSmart campaign for the App that will run over the next three weeks.
CDM, a design agency who are long-term supporters of ours, have commissioned five illustrators to create exclusive filters and a website landing page that highlight four key symptoms of a brain tumour: vomiting, dizziness, abnormal eye movement and persistent headaches.
Together with offbeat ‘fail’ videos, the campaign aims to reach out to over a million teenagers in the UK.
Jon Linscott, Client Partnership Director CDM London, said: ”CDM London has been a determined partner to The Brain Tumour Charity for over a year now, but so far our efforts have been focused on fundraising.
“Hearing that brain tumours are the most common cause of cancer death among children and young people, we knew we had to support The Charity’s HeadSmart campaign to help create awareness amongst young people of when they should get checked out.
“We’re committed to developing life changing creative campaigns and hope that this imaginative SnapChat initiative, where we’ve linked up with a some of the most talented designers in the UK, will really help young people to better recognise the signs of a brain tumour and encourage them to see a GP if they are experiencing any of the symptoms persistently.”
In the last eight years, our HeadSmart campaign, that we lead and fund, has reduced the diagnosis times of brain tumours in children and young adults from over 9 weeks to 6.5. Our aim is to reduce this further.
From today, Snapchat users will get the chance to use and share the exclusive filters and interact with the ‘fail’ videos to find out more about symptoms.
Amie, one of our 23 Young Ambassadors said: “I really like the Shotopop and Andrew Rae filters. I’d definitely use them on my Snapchat – I’d probably post on my story summarising the signs and symptoms of brain tumours so my friends and family can see in a simple way, on a form of media not expected to give such informative facts.
“I think they’re great for wider outreach to people who don’t know too much, as well as being simple and fun to interact with.”
The four filter illustrators, all of whom are supplying their work for free to help the campaign, are: American Susan Burghart’s whose work has been recognized as the Computer Arts graduate showcase winner and was also part of the permanent collection at the University of Arts, London; Shotopop, a much sought-after London-based collective (their filters pictured); Andrew Rae, an illustrator and graphic novel artist who works for the New York Times and the London science Museum; Andy Goodman, a Bath-based graphic novel writer and designer. The fifth illustrator, Serge Seidlitz, a London-based illustrator, produced the symptom icons on the website landing page.
Shane, another of our Young Ambassadors said: “So many young people use Snapchat, including myself, and showing the symptoms in a way that isn’t so daunting is just brilliant!
“I suffer with Diplopia (Double vision) and the first filter with the eyes is completely relatable. I love it, it’s a great way to get the message out there.”
We’ll be updating news and our social channels about the campaign as it progresses this month.