Personal care brand Philips India has launched a digital campaign to spread awareness about breast cancer, in association with its agency Ogilvy One. Launched on October 19, the campaign ‘Husbands initiated Movement’ or HIM, urges men to ensure that their wives take a 10-minute breast self examination once every month.

According to a comparison report of breast cancer in India, the US and China, obtained from the Globocan Project, in the years 2015, there will be an estimated 1,55,000 new cases of breast cancer and about 76000 women in India are expected to die of the disease.

In India, for every 2 women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, one woman is dying of it. In a bid to spare awareness and nip this disease in the bud, October is the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Even though most people are aware of the disease and its implications, very few take time out to perform the recommended monthly self-examination. Women affected in India usually turn up at the later stages when the mortality rate is higher. 

A basic mammogram (an X-ray of the breasts) is recommended for all women over the age of 40, to help catch breast cancer early. If detected early, the chances of survival increase.

For this campaign, the brand has created a microsite called HIM Initiative.com. It bears information about the disease and the test. "It's simple. Just tell your wife to do this test, while you do one of the chores she does," says the website, which also has a Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool. So far, the site has received 55,000+ visits so far.

The campaign features a video, which is produced by Cutawayy Filma and created by Ogilvy CommonHealth, Ogilvy's own healthcare communications agency. The video, which was published on YouTube, features a deaf-and-mute couple and has already fetched over 6 lakh views.

Vivek Sharma, Head of Marketing, Philips India, calls this a "multiple touch-point campaign that intends to bring about a behavioral change in women."

"The purpose of the campaign," he informs, "was not to sell any product, but to spread awareness about the 10-minute test. The brief was derived from the consumer insight that women don't prioritise their own health and are more bothered about their family's health. That is why we have targeted the male partner through the campaign. By helping her with her chores he can ensure she takes time out to examine herself."

The initiative is also supported by a Twitter campaign, with the hashtags #HimInitiativeand #AgainstBreastCancer.

The campaign is being extended on DTH platforms, print publications on weekends, cinema screens and on-ground activities involving corporate houses in the NCR region. Philips plans to conduct such activations for its own employees too.

Sanjeev Jasani, SVP & Head, Delhi, OgilvyOne, Ogilvy's digital engagement agency, says, "The website is the hub of the campaign. The video and other social media activations are elements being used to bring traffic onto the site. The brief was simply to engage as many people as we could through the campaign."