The Cancer Support Community and Klick Health
867-5309
When someone learns they or a loved one have cancer, the Cancer Support Community and Gilda’s Club has a world of information that will help them, but too few people know how to reach them.
Instead of a traditional approach — building awareness around a new number — the strategy drew from the most basic advertising insights: Why not tap an existing phone number, one that is already a musical memory deeply ingrained into pop culture? This effort harnessed Tommy Tutone’s 1981 hit, “867-5309/Jenny,” turning it into the new hotline number for this important cancer resource. (Admit it. You’re already singing it.)
And it made sure listeners got to meet the new phone number with all the kudos it deserved, breaking first on radio, then spreading to streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube, then amplifying it across social media. The effort also started a tsunami of earned media with 2 billion earned media impressions from more than 1,000-plus media hits, including high-profile TV, such as CNN and ABC News, and outlets such as People, The Hill and TheGuardian.
All these experiences work because this isn’t just a song, but a deeply embedded memory, reinforced through decades of repetition, rhythm and nostalgia. Music is one of the most powerful memory triggers, and in this case, isn’t just recognizable — people can instinctively recall and repeat it. “These are gorgeous executions,” one judge wrote, “built on a great, simple idea.”
Media planning reinforced this insight, prioritizing audio and environments where the number naturally lives, ensuring every exposure strengthened memory and made the number easier to recall and use when it mattered most.
From search to culture, 867-5309 was redefined from a song lyric into a real-world resource people could use when they needed support.
Silver
Exact Sciences and Olixir New York
Skip the Drama
Colon cancer rates are rising, especially in people aged 45 to 49. Yet it’s over 90% curable when caught early with screening. To convince these younger people, who dread the ordeal of colonoscopy prep and the overly serious messaging that dominates the category, this campaign wins for going cultural rather than clinical. Ads that looked like teasers for the TV shows they were already binging were instead little parodies of their favorite genres — Yellowstone-esque frontier dramas and Housewives-ish cattiness. It removed all emotional friction. And in shifting the narrative from “this is serious and uncomfortable” to “this is easy and within your control,” it sparked double-digit growth for the product and rising awareness in the key demographic target.
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