Dear Brad Pitt

Background

Colon cancer kills even more people than breast cancer. In 2008, 610,000 died from the disease as opposed to 460,000 from breast cancer.

People over the age of 50 have a 1/20 chance of getting colon cancer. It takes about 10 years for it to develop but, if detected early, there is a 95% cure rate.

There is a cheap and easy test for the disease but hardly anyone in Belgium knew about it.

Idea

In May 2013, Angelina Jolie underwent a double mastectomy because she carried a faulty gene, which made breast cancer a likelihood.

She put discussion about cancer on every front page and news channel in the world.

Perhaps her husband could do the same for colon cancer.

A letter was sent to Brad Pitt enclosing a colon cancer test kit. It was also sent to his management company, his agent, to his French castle and to various press organisations in order to create buzz. It was also put online at www.dearbradpitt.com

Results

The story spread rapidly through social media and made it to the TV news. However, there was no response from Brad Pitt. So a Thunderclap campaign was created.

(Thunderclap was a way people could share a message in an online sort-of flashmob way with all their followers and friends at a specific time, on a specific day.)

So far, it has reached 1.25m people. There was support from celebrities, politicians, organisations from around the world including a group of Italian football stars.

Traditional media followed the story and a radio station in Belgium tried calling Brad Pitt.

A message came from his management team that Brad was busy until mid-February but they 'could probably get some answer...'

More blogs and websites took up the story. So far, it has reached around 5.4 million people. Some of whom may have their lives saved by taking a simple test.

And it all started with a letter.

Our Thoughts

Asking Brad Pitt to stick something up his backside is very ballsy but also very clever when linked to his wife’s actions earlier in the year (that created such worldwide awareness of breast cancer prevention). Even cleverer when you remember that Brad was about to turn 50, the age when a simple test can detect colon cancer at a treatable stage.

It would appear that the lack of budget was what led to such an ingenious idea of just writing to him and then letting the world read the letter.

Turning to Thunderclap, which won an Innovation Lion at Cannes in 2013, was an inspired use of a new platform to push the message out across Belgium and beyond.

Mail itself can reach anyone. Even Brad Pitt. But it can’t force a response.

Still, in this instance, let us hope the massive pressure generated by social media eventually gets this useful and elusive husband to reply.