Finalist
Transforming North East London Nail Salons into Gynae Health Education hubs
Summary of work
Ovarian cancer has one of the poorest survival rates among gynaecological cancers, largely because symptoms are often unrecognised until the disease has progressed. In the UK, around 7,500 women are diagnosed each year, with cases projected to rise significantly by 2040. In Northeast London (NEL), diagnoses increased by 20% between 2018 and 2022, while baseline research found that only one-third of women felt confident recognising ovarian cancer symptoms.
To address this awareness gap, NEL Cancer Alliance partnered with The Eve Appeal and JPA Health to adapt the existing You Need to Know campaign to focus on ovarian cancer. The campaign targeted British and European women in NEL, with particular attention to communities facing barriers to health information, including Polish, Turkish and Lithuanian speakers.
An insight-led strategy combined community engagement with digital outreach. Awareness activities were delivered in trusted everyday spaces such as nail salons and community venues, supported by multilingual resources and a social-first communications approach.
Judges’ comments
This was an authentic, eye-catching and engaging campaign that was really well executed. It was impressive across all aspects, with great ambition, good proof of concept, good community representation and good broadcast coverage. The campaign that felt really creative and refreshing – they know their target audience and gained excellent insights from the audience perspective. It was very patient focused and the judges felt that the nail salon approach worked really well, and that it was a good strategy to move it out of the clinical setting.
