Spot Leukaemia

What we did 

• Channel strategy  
• Media ad buying  
• Campaign delivery 

 

Background 

Awareness of the main symptoms of leukaemia is low in the UK. Less than 1% of the UK public can name the top three symptoms of leukaemia – bruising, fatigue and repeated infections. Yet adults over 65 are most likely to develop the disease, and early diagnosis saves lives. 

Spot Leukaemia is an annual awareness campaign led by Leukaemia Care and Leukaemia UK. The campaign aims to increase public understanding of the signs of leukaemia and encourage anyone experiencing symptoms to find out more on the Spot Leukaemia website and get checked by their GP. 

Since 2023, we’ve supported Spot Leukaemia with campaign planning and media ad buying to help reach key audiences. This case study focuses on the campaign for 2025, highlighting our approach and impact. 

 

Key audiences 

The primary audience for Spot Leukaemia are adults aged 65 and over – the age group most at risk of developing the disease. 

Adults aged 45–55 form the secondary audience. Although at lower personal risk, they may have older relatives affected by leukaemia and can play an important role in encouraging them to seek medical advice. 

 

Channel strategy 

Drawing on insights from previous years, we developed a channel strategy around the online and offline media habits of the key audiences. The campaign ran on the following channels: 

• Meta (Facebook and Instagram) 
• Facebook: 77% of UK adults aged 65 and above cite Facebook as their primary social media platform. 
• Instagram: stronger reach amongst our younger demographic (45-55). 
• Google Display Ads: cost-effective awareness-building, high potential reach and precise targeting options. 
• YouTube: an increasingly important platform for 65+ adults, reaching 65% of this age group. 
• Boom Radio 
• Boom: 94% of Boom listeners are 55+, 87% trust the station. 
• Boom Light: Boom’s new sister channel – caters to audiences in their 70s and 80s. 

 

Campaign delivery 

Running through the month of September to coincide with Blood Cancer Awareness Month, Spot Leukaemia was delivered through a mix of static, video and radio audio assets, allowing us to optimise formats by channels.  

We A/B tested a range of calls to action – from actionable prompts to social proof-led messaging – to understand what most effectively motivated our target audience.  

The campaign’s strength lay in our dynamic delivery: we monitored performance closely throughout, with budget reallocated towards the creatives and platforms driving the strongest results. This ensured investment was consistently focused where it could deliver the greatest impact, while generating insight to inform future awareness activity.  

Impact 

The campaign delivered strong, measurable impact across both digital and radio, increasing awareness of leukaemia symptoms and driving audiences to find out more.  Performance was tracked throughout the campaign, with results exceeding expectations across several key measures.

 

Here are a few highlights: 

 

Digital 

• Over 153,000 video views of 50%+ on Meta  
• Over 122,000 link clicks through to the Spot Leukaemia website across all digital platforms  
• 20% improvement in click-through rate on Meta year on year 
• 44% reduction in cost-per-click on Google Display Ads compared with the previous campaign 

 

Radio 

• Reached over 893K people over the age of 55 across the month of September 

Beyond delivery, testing during the campaign generated robust insights on CTAs to help shape future Spot Leukaemia media ad buying campaigns. 

Interested in how insight-led media buying could support your next awareness campaign? Get in touch to find out more.