A comprehensive range of activity was again put in place to promote September as ‘Cervical Screening Awareness Month’ (CSAM), enabling providers to organise local activities, which were supported by national advertising, promotions and additional resources.

Last year’s enhanced range of promotions achieved very positive results, including:

• a 62 percent increase in calls compared to the monthly average over the previous year. This represented an additional 2000 calls and was an all-time record for the number of calls (5678) made to the 0800 number in a single month
• around 4200 new enrolments in the National Cervical Screening Programme (NCSP) in September 2008 and another 3800 in October 2008. This represents an 11 percent increase in new enrolments in these two months compared to the monthly average for new enrolments in the previous 12 months
• a full 1 percent increase in coverage achieved in September and October 2008.

A number of new initiatives were put in place for 2009, to build on the success of last year’s promotion.

Advertising

New radio and print advertisements were developed for the month, based largely on current campaign material. Existing advertising material was adapted to promote September as ‘Cervical Screening Awareness Month’, mainly through inclusion of the ‘CSAM flag’.

The driver from ‘The Van’ television ad was given prominence in much of the advertising to provide a clearly identifiable image for September’s promotion. A strong on-line advertising presence was established for the first time.

Partnerships

The Cancer Society and Family Planning both lent their support to the month, with promotion through their network of branches. The Programme has also formed an exciting new partnership with Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturers of Stayfree. The partnership involved:

• stickers on 350,000 packs of Stayfree pads (approx. 3 months supply) carrying cervical screening messages
• additional retail advertising profile for NCSP through all Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown stores. This included NCSP radio ads playing through 150 stores, CSAM posters on display in store and inclusion of NCSP ads in two of their mailers (going to more than 1 million households).

There was also a web-based competition for women, in which they could go into the draw to win one of 1000 Johnson & Johnson travel packs. As well, in September Johnson & Johnson mentioned NCSP in its advertising and NCSP advertising mentioned Stayfree.

Promotional items

As with last year, 1164 clinics and smear taking practices throughout New Zealand were provided with additional promotional resources for CSAM, which included:

• awareness month posters for display in practices during September tent cards (‘While you’re here, book your smear’) for display on reception counters
• free 30ml hand and body lotion samples from the Cancer Society’s elements range of skincare products for distribution to women who have their smear test during September (and while stocks last). The packs contained a joint letter from the NCSP Clinical Leader and Programme Manager, outlining plans for September and thanking providers for making the Programme a success.

Contracted providers were given bulk supplies of the additional resources. They were also given supplies of Stayfree pads, and Carefree liners and tampons for distribution to women. Fifteen hundred travel gift packs, courtesy of Johnson & Johnson, were also distributed to contracted providers.

PR and media support

Providers were supported in their efforts to generate local news coverage, with localised media releases distributed to media at the beginning of September. A full review of this year’s promotion will be undertaken in November.