UK charity Macmillan overhauls brand strategy, launches new ads

UK cancer support charity Macmillan is overhauling its content marketing strategy to focus on a “poignant but hopeful” brand message and will launch a series of ads on TV this week to tell its new story.

Macmillan recently decided to drop its “Not Alone” positioning in order to show another side of dealing with cancer. The new series of creative clips will push the message that sufferers still live normal lives and will include both a dad’s and a sister’s everyday activities, juxtaposed with the realities of the illness at the end.

Richard Taylor, Macmillan’s Executive Director of Marketing, Fundraising and Communications, said that the new content campaign comes at a time when the charity is reassessing its entire brand strategy due to an increasing demand for its services. Around four million people are expected to be dealing with cancer by 2030, which is double the current number.

A revamped Macmillan brand is expected to be launched next year, and the latest series of ads is the first step towards a wholesale change in its marketing outlook. Taylor admits that the charity currently has the perception among the public of providing support to those at the end of their lives, but Macmillan wants to broaden that viewpoint and highlight the work that it does from diagnosis through treatment and recovery.

“We want this campaign to nod to the future brand strategy at Macmillan. The language, tone, content and messaging behind it, you will see that through our other campaigns,” Taylor told Marketing Week. “The idea that underpins it – that life with cancer is still life – you will see that or a version of that in everything because it is such an insightful truth. Then come spring 2018, we need to think about how we launch our new brand articulation.”

Macmillan is also stepping up its efforts to use econometrics effectively to ensure that its campaigns have the “impact and reach” required to change its brand perception. It will also be measuring awareness, consideration and affinity to ensure that people with a cancer diagnosis know where to turn if they need financial or psychological help.