Making Cancer Research UK's Race For Life Unmissable

Race For Life is the most important fundraiser in Cancer Research UK’s (CRUK) portfolio, consisting of 450 events in which participants can run, jog, or walk.

CRUK set out to relaunch its flagship fundraising event after the Covid-induced disruption of recent years. The charity was also aware that most participants do not travel more than 10 miles to take part in a race, so knew it needed to optimise its ad campaign to drive location-based relevance while maximising efficiency. Additionally, CRUK wanted to deepen its connections with two seemingly disparate audiences - since men and women have different existing perceptions of and experiences with Race For Life. To achieve this, a powerhouse collaboration came together to run a first of its kind campaign that united an innovative omnichannel strategy with data-led addressable creative. The campaign leveraged location-based data, audience insights, and client first-party data to activate and optimise multiple digital channels in real time, including broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD), digital audio, digital out-of-home (DOOH), mobile, premium online video, and premium display. The end goal? To execute the most local, national campaign CRUK has ever run.