Both brands worked closely with Cancer Research UK, amongst other fundraising and research groups, to support the charity’s newest UK fundraising campaign which aims to bring the nation together to help beat cancer sooner.
Metro dedicated its front page and replaced the ‘o’ in its masthead with the ‘Unity Band’, an image of the campaign’s fundraising wristband which signifies the coming-together of Cancer Research UK, Anthony Nolan Trust, Breast Cancer Care and Movember for this campaign.
Inside the paper there was an advertising strip running across the first 10 pages, an Editor’s note penned specially for the cause, four pages of branded content and a 60 Seconds interview with charity ambassador Gaby Roslin. All of this is also replicated across Metro’s digital editions and follows previous charity takeovers of the paper for Stonewall’s ‘Rainbow Laces’ and Breast Cancer Now’s ‘Wear it Pink’ campaigns.
Continuing in the spirit of unity, say the publishers, Metro’s dmg media stable mate, MailOnline was also supporting World Cancer Day. There was a high profile MailOnline logo ‘morph’ – the first time this format has been used for a charity campaign – as well as scrolling skins, banners, billboard ads, a sponsored feed and first impression targeting across the site for the entire day.
Ted Young, Editor of Metro said: “We’re extremely proud to be supporting this important campaign in Metro. We’ve seen a great impact from our previous charity takeovers and we’re thrilled that our colleagues at MailOnline are involved, helping the campaign to reach an even wider audience beyond our 3.3m readers.”
World Cancer Day, already an established day of cancer advocacy but rarely used for fundraising purposes, is now a dedicated day for donations and awareness. As cancer will impact 1 in every 2 of us over the course of our lifetimes, the four charities involved are asking the nation to show their support by wearing the Unity Band, costing £2. The symbol is to unify people in their mission to fund essential research into all 200 cancers.
People can purchase a Unity Band from Cancer Research UK high street shops or by visiting cruk.org/worldcancerday to find out more and donate.
