Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men and women in the U.S. combined. Colorectal cancer is among the most preventable cancers, however one in three adults aged 50 to 75 are not up-to-date with recommended colorectal cancer screening. According to Fight Colorectal Cancer, more than 60 percent of deaths from colorectal cancer could be avoided with screening and studies suggest that lack of awareness in young patients about the signs and symptoms of colon and rectal cancers are causing a higher incidence of colon and rectal cancer in young adults under 50.
Because colorectal cancer can be prevented with proper screening, the goal of this campaign was to promote appropriate colorectal cancer screening and to make Mayo Clinic more known from a health, wellness, and prevention perspective. Launching the "Stronger Than That" music video and the #ScopeScope live procedure positioned Mayo Clinic as a major contributor to the Fight Colorectal Cancer's One Million Strong campaign. Mayo Clinic aimed to receive not only a large amount of views for the "Stronger Than That" music video and #ScopeScope procedure, but to receive local media coverage which could be built upon by reaching national media and a larger audience, all with the goal that each person reached is a potential life saved.
Mayo Clinic is derived from Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie Mayo's practice of inviting physicians to visit and learn from their techniques by observing surgical procedures in what became known as the "The Mayos' Clinic." Dr. Will travelled to 25 countries during his lifetime, and Dr. Charlie visited nine countries. The Mayo brothers saw their mission as reducing the burden of disease everywhere by embracing advanced technology and tools in their practice. Today, Mayo Clinic is embracing the advanced technology in social-networking to reach and engage a larger audience than ever before.
By partnering with Fight Colorectal Cancer and country artist Craig Campbell, Mayo Clinic created a music video to contribute to Fight Colorectal Cancer's #StrongArmSelfie awareness campaign. Using social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, Mayo Clinic engaged the target audience of adults over the age of 50 who should be screened for colorectal cancer, as well as younger family members who could encourage loved ones to be screened in a non-traditional tactic. "Stronger Than That" was first released internally among Mayo Clinic employees. When the music video was released to the public, viewers were asked to post their own #StrongArmSelfie on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. For each public post, Bayer Healthcare donated $1 to Fight Colorectal Cancer. Campbell wrote "Stronger Than That" specifically for the campaign and continues to donate all proceeds from song downloads to FightCRC.
Collaboration between Fight Colorectal Cancer and the Mayo Clinic Departments of Communication, Social and Digital Innovation, Gastroenterology, and Hepatology led to #ScopeScope, the first-ever Mayo Clinic live broadcast of a medical procedure to a non-medical audience as part of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Because Periscope broadcasts are only on the site for 24 hours it can't be known for certain, but it is likely this was the first time a hospital broadcast a colonoscopy live on Periscope. Allowing viewers in to the operation room through Periscope to view a live procedure was an unprecedented and unique healthcare experience.
At the time of both the procedure and music video, Mayo Clinic was the most popular hospital channel on Periscope with more than 15,000 followers on Twitter with more than 1.25 million followers and Facebook with more than 885,000 likes.
Everyone over the age of 50 should get screened for colorectal cancer, and the best screening test is the one that gets done. "Stronger Than That" and the #StrongArmSelfie, along with the live procedure #ScopeScope, campaigns provided Mayo Clinic a unique opportunity to reduce the burden of disease everywhere by connecting the old-fashioned social networking of Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie with the current use of Mayo Clinic's modern social networking tools to raise awareness about the importance of screening for colorectal cancer.
Total reach for the #StrongArmSelfie was more than 57 million by early April.
On Twitter, more than 10,000 posts occurred, including high profile tweets from Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, survivalist Bear Grylls, The Doctors, Bayer, College of Gastroenterology, and country artists Craig Campbell, Jerrod Niemann, and Dustin Lynch. One to two million users was reached each week during the month of March and there were more than 54 million impressions of the posts with the hashtag. #StrongArmSelfie was included in a 30 second PSA that was broadcast in Times Square on the NASDAQ marquee for 20 rotations/hour every day in March. The result was an average viewership of 1 million per day and total of 31 million people. #StrongArmSelfie also appeared on The Doctors broadcast show which has an average viewership of 15.7 million.
The broadcast of #ScopeScope had more than 3,000 live viewers and 1,800 archived views. Additional videos were created for the Mayo Clinic News Network, as well as a 28-minute highlight video for YouTube. Together, those videos have 2,825 views on YouTube and also made appearances on Times Square's NASDAQ jumbotron that has an average reach of one million per day resulting in an estimated 31 million impressions.
#ScopeScope and #StrongArmSelfie were part of the larger One Million Strong's #OMScollection campaign. Along with the #StrongArmSelfie, #ScopeScope and #31DaysofBlue, the #OMScollection gathered 96.2 million social media impressions, 90,000 website visits, and estimated 83 million media placements.
