There are so many things you could do in under a minute, why not make saving your life one of them?
That’s the message that Balls’ in Your Court aimed to send across to local young men. Running from December 2018 to March 2019, Balls’ in Your Court is Singapore’s first and only campaign that focuses solely on testicular cancer and testicular self-examination (TSE).
The ballsy campaign defied social stigmas by openly discussing testicular cancer, a topic that few dared to broach due to its relation to genitalia. It brought to light the fact that cancer can affect persons of any age; testicular cancer, in particular, occurs most commonly in young men aged 15 – 30. But early detection and treatment of the cancer can result in a 95% survival rate.
In a bid to encourage young men to be accountable for their own health, the campaign educated males on testicular cancer and the procedures of routine TSEs so they could check for any warning signs of the disease.
To make people more comfortable with the topic of cancer, the campaign approached testicular cancer in a cheeky way without trivialising the severity of it. This strategy allowed the team to start conversations about testicular cancer amongst males and females alike.
Furthermore, a study by the team found that 23% of males cited their female counterparts as playing a significant role in influencing their health behaviours. With that in mind, Balls’ in Your Court then launched a Valentine’s Day video that some couples, with the females expressing strong support for their partners to do TSE. Watch the video below.
The Highlights
The team achieved major milestones by securing partnerships with Singapore Cancer Society, National Cancer Centre Singapore, and PanAsia Surgery Group. These organisations played a part in advising collaterals and content for the campaign.
In order to reach out to its target audience of males aged 18 to 30, the team also organised outreach efforts at tertiary institutions, shared working spaces, and charity events raising awareness about cancer.
Lastly, the campaign also received media coverage in The Business Times, Shin Min Daily News, and Lianhe Zaobao.
The Memories
Reflection #1 – The Challenges
Target audience.
One challenge the team faced was trying to reach out to the older members of our target audience. While the campaign attained a healthy reach at local tertiary institutions, with many students expressing interest and support for our cause, the team found that adults around the ages of 26 and above tended to be less open to the campaign, due to the sensitive nature of the topic.
This challenge has shown that even though Singapore is not as conservative as before, stigma regarding topics related to genitalia still exists. But the team hope that their campaign helps pave the way for more conversations regarding testicular cancer and testicular health.
Securing sponsorships.
The team reached out to several male-centric brands, but were either turned down or received no replies. While sponsorships would have helped in cutting project costs on items such as door gifts, the team still had enough financial funding.
Reflection #2 – The Takeaways
Partnerships are important.
Firstly, strategic partnerships are a necessity in helping a campaign attain a larger scale audience. By having well-known organisations on board with our cause, we can tap on their brand reputations and expertise, lending more credibility to the campaign.
Females were more receptive than males.
Females expressed interest and support for our campaign, despite it being targeted mainly at males. It was heartening to know that many were keen to find out more about testicular cancer as they wanted to pass on the information to their loved ones.
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