Hair is not that important HIGH VOLTAGE BRAINS
Task
About 300.000 children under the age of 19 are diagnosed with cancer every year worldwide. After chemotherapy, many teenagers start losing their hair, and thus they get the fear of shaming. The charity fund “The Gift of Life” wanted to change the attitude towards bald boys and girls in society. Teenagers without hair are not the ones to be stared at in the street. It was important to communicate the message to a broad audience without negativity and without playing on sympathy.
Ideas and solutions
We launched the slogan “Hair is not that important” on the platforms which would get maximum recognition and reach to the project. Recognizable branding was developed for the project. It demonstrated that hairstyles can be different: curly, straight or not growing at all — and this is normal. The branding formed the basis of the website. The website contained the stories of five teens about how the hair loss changed their lives — how it happened and how they felt. On the website, one could leave a donation and find out how else they could support the project. We organized collaborations with companies, and children with cancer could contact the companies themselves. During the week, a network of barbershops transferred to the fund the revenue from each most often asked after chemotherapy haircut —a clean shaving or a buzz cut. The temporary tattoo brand launched a set of tattoos specifically designed for the bald head. A part of the sales revenue was also donated to the fund's account. In the fund’s social network pages, they added an official filter mask with the words “hair is not that important” which was announced by the ambassadors. The mask was well received by the users to share personal experiences in coping with shaming in their teens. The media, actors and singers, bloggers and large communities in social networks spoke out about the project. Weekly reach on Instagram was 186,000, and the total project reach — 2,500,000. 2,500,000 of people have heard “Hair is not the main point. Looks aren’t all that important. It’s all about who you are”.
