Coppafeel: Connecting with young people

"We have to be quite clever with how we speak to young people - the last thing they want to listen to is a health information message"

Kristen Hallenga, Co-founder

CoppaFeel, one of our ‘Challenger Brands to Watch’, have been in the press a lot lately with the launch of their ‘Check ‘em Tuesday’ campaign with The Sun’s page 3.

In what has proved to be a controversial move for the breast cancer awareness charity, questions have been asked as to whether a partnership with Page 3 is appropriate, as well as whether The Sun’s intention is to genuinely help raise awareness of the disease or is merely a way to hit back at growing criticism of the paper’s daily feature.

CoppaFeel co-founder Kristin Hallenga’s response is that for a small charity employing six people the partnership gives them an opportunity to reach a new audience of millions and raise awareness among the young about early detection that could one day save lives. The end, it’s suggested, therefore justifying the means.

Whilst much of the current conversation is around this recent campaign, CoppaFeel have something of a track record in getting their message heard, gaining a huge amount of interest and traction amongst young people for a small charity with little to no marketing budget. Kris’s strategy has always been to look for ways to subtly wedge themselves into the lives of their audience rather than preach a message that often has people simply switch off.

We interviewed Kristin just prior to the launch of ‘Check ‘em Tuesday’ to talk about their strategy in connecting with young people and getting their message heard.

CoppaFeel in numbers

• Raised £300,000 in 2013
• Employ six full-time staff
• Have university teams at 55 UK universities
• Recent partnership with the Sun’s page 3 is worth the equivalent of £1.5 million in advertising

Music: ‘Biplane’ by Poddington Bear From the album Strummed