Riverchase Dermatology is the biggest provider of free Melanoma screenings in Florida, the sunshine state. Florida is a place where many people come specifically to lay out in the sun, making their work all the more urgent here. In May, Melanoma awareness month, they came to Boost Creative looking for an advertising campaign they could use to promote their free screenings.
Ad design by Melissa Jones at Boost Creative
The thinking behind this campaign began with the idea of treating the search for melanoma as a search for treasure rather than the search for cancer. In years past Riverchase had used fear as the motivation for their campaigns, reciting facts about skin cancer's dangers to bring new patients through their doors. I felt that this tactic, while useful, was tired and expected. Injecting some wit into the campaign would generate interest among the varying demographics of south Florida.
Pirates are an endearing staple of Florida life, locals sport "Salt Life" stickers on their trucks, and pirate themed T-Shirts deck many a beach-goer. Historically Florida was discovered by Ponce De Leon, and quickly became an important stop for Spanish vessels. Famously, pirates flocked to Florida to prey on the fully stocked ships. Referring to this history, the Atlantic coast is affectionately called the "Treasure Coast". More recently, the local college FSW sports a pirate as their mascot as well as the NFL expansion team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who go so far as to feature a giant pirate ship in their stadium. It felt only appropriate to use the Treasure hunt theme as a fun way to get local populations excited for their free skin screenings. This theme allows for a breadth of applications which keep the campaign fresh across many mediums.
Pirate ship at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In dermatology the visual of the Dotted line is commonly used when referring to cosmetic surgery. Popularized by fiction novels about pirates like Treasure Island, the dotted line plus "X Marks the Spot" has become an engrained part of pirate folklore.
In the past Riverchase had used "You Missed a Spot" as the headline of their free screenings campaign. In this campaign the use of the word Spot refers not only to the spot where treasure is buried, but also to the Melanoma spot which often looks like a misshapen freckle. Riverchase's logo is also circular, so in much of their materials we use the circle element.
Social Media Post designed by Melissa Jones at Boost Creative.
All of these elements came together for a Melanoma May campaign which was thoughtful, interesting, locally minded, and positive. Check out the campaign here.
