Skin protection brand LifeJacket and charity Melanoma UK leveraged spiking soccer interest around Qatar 2022 by partnering on a campaign called ‘Fan Paint’ to drive awareness of skyrocketing skin cancer rates in men.
‘Fan Paint’ – which is supported by ambassador, skin cancer survivor and former England and Arsenal FC footballer Paul Merson – taps into the long established football fan tradition of painting faces in team colours.
Developed in harness with creative agency Havas London and its specialist sport and entertainment division Cake, ‘Fan Paint’ launched ahead of the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup: as thousands of England and Wales fans head to Qatar – a country known for extremely high temperatures and strong sunlight intensity and where fans attending the matches in-person are three times more likely to get skin cancer than those who travelled to the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.
The campaign emerged after recent statistics showed that melanoma rates, particularly in men, have increased by a frightening 50% over the past decade: indeed, men are now almost twice as likely as women to die of skin cancer. Yet, men remain stubbornly resistant to putting on sun protection: just one in five use sunscreen regularly.
Thus the campaign aims to counter this entrenched attitude and drive behavioural change by raising awareness of the dangers of unprotected exposure to the sun and to promote a simple solution: sunscreen.
The initiative directly targets fans heading to Qatar (for a World Cup that has moved to the winter for the first time ever because of the intense heat in the host country) and indirectly also targets sports fans in general.
At the heart of the project is a new sunscreen/face paint hybrid called ‘Fan Paint’ which was developed for the campaign and was distributed to England supporters’ groups travelling to Qatar ahead of the tournament so they could remain protected whilst painting their faces in traditional team colours.
The product was trialled throughout the summer at several sporting events: including at UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, Premier League fixtures, England Cricket test matches and at the Commonwealth Games.
To launch the campaign, Merson – who had skin cancer in 2012 – fronted campaign creative and PR to help raise awareness and LifeJacket also gave away 15,000 travel sachets of the sunscreens for free by inviting people traveling to Qatar to reach out and request a free sample over social media.
“I think Fan Paint is amazing. People will paint their faces then they go to Qatar. And it will be hot. Like no other World Cup in my opinion. It’s protection that’s so important,” said brand endorsers and campaign frontman Paul Merson. “This is cancer that is preventable. Until I had it, I never really understood skin cancer.”
One core piece of creative in the campaign parodied the iconic 2006 Nike OOH and print execution featuring Wayne Rooney painted in England’s Cross of St George with his arms outstretched.
The fresh homage execution sees Rooney replaced by a decidedly less athletic everyman and the red paint has been replaced by the unmistakable red of sunburn: complete with handprint across the character’s stomach) as he grimaces in pain. It is accompanied by the copy line ‘SPF. Just Apply It’ and runs on out-of-home sites in and around Heathrow Airport as fans fly out to the Middle East.
SPF. Just Apply It.
Fan Paint Ad of the Day
Thanks, @Campaignmag!https://t.co/fUmzJssdU6@lifejacketskin @MelanomaUK pic.twitter.com/SCn1MKFzy6
— Havas London (@havaslondon) November 23, 2022
Plus, for those not attending the tournament in person, a pop-up activation at PUMA’s London Carnaby Street enables fans to support their team while simultaneously getting educated on skin protection.
Havas London Creative Partner Elliot Harris said: “When it comes to their team, men are hopelessly, if endearingly, loyal. When it comes to sun protection, men are stubborn – or at the very least, uneducated. With Fan Paint, we tap into one trait to help affect the other, piggybacking on existing fan behaviour to raise awareness, change attitudes, and save lives. It’s a beautifully simple creative solution to a real-world problem – or, in other words, what we’re best at.”
“Not only is skin cancer on the rise for men, but it’s more common in men,” explained Melanoma UK CEO Gillian Nuttall at the campaign launch. “Our skin is our largest organ, we must never allow it to burn – and yet most cases of skin cancer are caused by overexposure to UV rays from the sun. It’s imperative that we all start to take skin health seriously – so we welcome any attempt to get more men protecting themselves, particularly as temperatures get hotter.”
LifeJacket Skin Protection Co-Founder Billy Boulos added: “Skin cancer is relatively controllable versus many other cancers, and there are things that can be done to avoid it. It’s just that men don’t – with women three times more likely to use sunscreen. Our mission at LifeJacket is to change attitudes and behaviour towards everyday skin protection and ultimately, stop the increase in skin cancer.”
The ‘Fan Paint’ campaign was created for by a joint team at Havas London, Havas Media (and Talon) and Havas Studios which included Chairman & Havas UK Group CCO Mark Whelan, Chief Creative Officer Vicki Maguire, Global Executive Creative Director Elliot Harris, Creatives Sam Adio and Ken Abalos, Account Managers Hollie Loxley, Matt Ramage and Irina Patrichi, Agency Producers Hannah Levy and Stefanie Price, Assistant Agency Producers Lucy Farrell and Elvin Musiriza, Head of Communications Faye Raincock, Communications Director Ollie Dearn, CSO/Head of Strategy Britt Iversen, Planner Adam Hinson, Designers Darta Losane, Morgan Shipley, Sam Adams, Josh Toogood and Sarah Butler, Photographer Alan Powdrill, Photographers Assistants Chris Parsons and Lola Smith, Casting Director Andrew Connor and Makeup Artist Deanna V’Icevska, a media team led by Jamie Finn, Shenney O’Hara and a content team which included Katie Keith, Steven Hamon, Adam Javes and Femi Anderson.
The group at Havas’ sports and entertainment agency Cake UK included Kat Harding, Charlie Piggott, Kimberley Broadbent, Charlie Hugill and Amelia Palfreyman.
Red Havas team members Team: Rachael Sansom, Georgina Thompson, Neil Johnson, Fariba Ghazizadeh and Andrew Szwajkowski handled PR.
Comment
Melanoma UK and LifeJacket (which creates and sells a range of year-round, high-performance skin protection products) also point out that their campaign rolled out just a few months after Premier League Champions, Manchester City Fc controversially banned fans from taking sunscreen into its Etihad Stadium earlier in the season despite temperatures reaching 31C (89F) on match day during a UK heatwave. A decision branded as ‘disappointing’ and ‘very worrying’ by Melanoma UK.
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