Bowel Cancer Guernsey

The Guernsey Bowel Cancer Awareness Charity was formed in 2002 and is registered with the Guernsey Association of Charities and has a management committee of seven trustees. The committee organises a series of events each year to raise funds for the Charity and to raise awareness of bowel cancer. Money raised is spent both on specialised equipment and educational initiatives.

The Challenge

Bowel Cancer Guernsey is a local charity that plays an active role in improving the awareness, prevention and diagnosis of bowel cancer within the Bailiwick. 

This year, 2022, is a big one for the charity as it marks their 20th anniversary. Loud Tie Day is one of their most popular initiatives and, with last year’s event having been cancelled due to Covid, this year’s campaign needed to be a huge success to commemorate their special anniversary.  

In addition to raising vital funds to support the charity, key aims of the campaign included reigniting the much-loved initiative while promoting it to as broad an audience as possible, from schools to corporates.  

The Black Vanilla approach

Social Media  

The charity has been increasingly keen on focusing on younger audiences to spread the message that bowel cancer can affect any age group. Social media was seen as an effective tool for targeting this younger demographic, so we launched #20WaysIn20Days on the run-up to Loud Tie Day, demonstrating 20 ways people can help reduce their risk of bowel cancer.  

This social media campaign generated noise across three platforms, including a new Instagram page, which we launched in the run-up to the campaign.  

We launched the hashtag #LoudTie22 the week before Loud Tie Day to encourage people to share their Loud Tie Day images across social media. This generated social media noise amongst charities such as Health Connections and also local schools.  

We actively shared social media posts from Loud Tie Day participants on campaign day, while encouraging others to share theirs. 

Press  

We issued a Loud Tie Day launch release to media, along with an image of the team down at Guernsey Self Store who have long been supporters of Bowel Cancer Guernsey.  

A proactive media relations campaign ensured that details of those participating in the campaign, including schools and local businesses, were shared with the local media, maximising interview opportunities and generating further buzz. This allowed us to achieve a significant amount of coverage both pre-event and on the day.  

Creative  

We teamed up with Two Degrees North to create eye-catching posters and graphics specifically for Loud Tie Day which were used on social and across the island as posters.  

The Results

Coverage 

The campaign received widespread coverage across regional print, online and broadcast media, including: 

ITV Channel Islands News, Guernsey Press, BBC Radio Guernsey, Bailiwick Express, Channel Eye.  

Social media 

Social media noise was also generated across several platforms and included:  

Guernsey Press, ITV Channel, Sarre’s Doggy Day Care, Jonathan Wills, ITV, Health Connections, MSG, GROW Ltd, Oscar Puffin; Les Bourgs Hospice; Island Health Guernsey; Guernsey Chamber of Commerce.  

School involvement 

The following schools all supported the campaign: 

La Mare Primary, The Ladies’ College, Amherst Primary, St Annes, Alderney, Elizabeth College, Castel Primary School, Notre Dame Primary and Blanchelande 

Money Raised: £1,000+  

Gallery

Black Vanilla is essential to my business, I consider them a long-term partner in my work. I initially approached PR with a degree of cynicism but was quickly impressed by the difference that the team’s expertise has made to my business.

In addition to devising and implementing a social media strategy that has proved extremely beneficial in raising Leaders’ profile, their
proactivity has opened opportunities to reach new clients and develop our core leadership offering.

Phil Eyre, CEO, Leaders, Leaders

Black Vanilla was instrumental in bringing our vision for the event to life. They transformed the venue and produced an evening which truly showcased some of Guernsey’s best qualities. The team were amazing to work with and truly encapsulated our needs.

Claire Heaume, Manager, Marketing and Communications, , Butterfield Bank (Guernsey) Limited

We have worked with the team at Black Vanilla for a number of years, across our events and publishing platforms. They understand the markets and the readership we are dealing with, not to mention our exacting requirements which differentiate us from other businesses in our space. I can’t fault their attention to detail and responsiveness to our business needs.

Carl Methven, Publisher, BL Global

I was very impressed with your whole PR operation – you put a lot of effort into supporting the event and it was handled very professionally.

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