Blood Cancer Awareness Month in September provides an opportunity to remind the public about the urgent need to support research to find cures for blood cancer.
In September 2019, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) sought to bring a new level of social awareness to these diseases through a viral social media campaign: Kiss Blood Cancer Goodbye Challenge.
We challenged our social media audience to join us in raising awareness and funds for life-saving research towards a world without blood cancers in the Kiss Blood Cancer Goodbye Challenge. The purpose of this challenge was to build brand awareness and increase awareness of blood cancer. Donations, while perhaps a byproduct of the campaign, were not a primary focus.
Strong support of the challenge on social media from survivors, celebrities, influencers, patients, and more has led to increased awareness of blood cancer and education about the mission of LLS: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
LLS is a global leader in the fight against cancer. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care. As an organization founded by a family for families, LLS celebrated 70 years of impact in 2019 by looking to the past for inspiration to propel us forward in our continued fight for all those touched by blood cancer.
Our strategy for this viral campaign encompassed social media, an influencer campaign and a landing page. With consistent, innovative and striking content throughout the month of September, our work drove awareness of blood cancers to a level not previously achieved during Blood Cancer Awareness Month. Celebrity influencers helped elevate our campaign and bring broad awareness.
Challenge Activation
In the Kiss Blood Cancer Goodbye Challenge, we asked social media users to post a creative photo or video showing how they kiss blood cancer goodbye. We offered up a few suggestions, such as blowing kisses to the camera or even creating a dance routine that features the gesture. In doing so, we hoped that users would come up with their own unique social media posts.
Users were asked to tag LLS’s social media handles and to nominate three friends, challenging them to create a post or donate to the cause.
Social Media Strategy
We launched our campaign with a splash on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. Collectively we have over 480k followers across our LLS National Facebook, Instagram and Twitter platforms. We wanted to inspire and motivate these users with outstanding content.
During the launch and campaign, we:
Created a custom Kiss Blood Cancer Goodbye logo
Featured custom Facebook & Twitter video cover images
Utilized #KissBloodCancerGoodbye to track participation and garner awareness
Designed custom Facebook frames
Created GIF stickers for our followers to use in their Instagram and Facebook Stories
Featured A 9-tile takeover grid on Instagram to announce the challenge
Developed a landing page that highlighted ways to participate, inspirational content, and social media assets to use across various platforms
Engaged our 56 LLS chapters across the country to spread the word on their local social media channels
Fostered additional engagement by highlighting the challenge on the social channels of LLS fundraising campaigns Light The Night & Team In Training.
Highlighted challenge submissions from key LLS personnel, such as LLS's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Gwen Nichols.
Shared outstanding user generated content throughout the month on all channels, and especially Instagram & Facebook stories.
Responded to all challenge submissions, engaging consistently with users.
Influencer Strategy
To kick off the challenge, we initiated conversations with 78 Instagram accounts of users that are blood cancer survivors, advocates, caregivers, and LLS supporters. Influencers ranged from nano (0-10K followers) to mid-tier (50k-500k followers) level.
We asked the influencers to take part in the challenge by sharing their own submission or personal connection to blood cancer, and encouraging their followers to do the same. The influencers would also tag 3 people to continue the challenge.
We provided these influencers Leukemia & Lymphoma Society blood drop hats to use in their challenge video/photo (we included FTC guidelines in the shipment).
The results of our campaign far surpassed expectations and previous Blood Cancer Awareness Month initiatives.
Influencer Results
Our influencers who are cancer survivors, caregivers, and LLS supporters posted creative boomerangs, videos, to thoughtful photos during this time using the hashtag.
Several celebrities also posted on their social channels including
The celebrities that participated in the challenge reached over 2.2M Instagram and Twitter followers and garnered 70K+ views of video content.
Separately, our other influencers reached over 216K of their follower base and accumulated 14.2K views of video content.
Mission Accomplished
Through this campaign, we were able to surpass LLS’s initial goal, eliciting an unprecedented level of social media exposure. And while Blood Cancer Awareness Month has come to a close, we are confident that the #KissBloodCancerGoodbye challenge delivered a lasting message – together, we can find a cure and together, we can kiss blood cancer goodbye!
