Title	THE BREAD EXAM
Brand	SPINNEYS AND THE LEBANESE BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION
Product/Service	SPINNEYS FLOUR
Category	G01. Local Brand
Entrant	McCANN Paris, FRANCE
Idea Creation	McCANN Paris, FRANCE
PR	WEBER SHANDWICK Paris, FRANCE
PR 2	ROWAT PR Beirut, LEBANON
PR 3	WEBER SHANDWICK Istanbul, TURKEY
PR 4	WEBER SHANDWICK Istanbul, TURKEY
PR 5	WEBER SHANDWICK London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production	McCANN Paris, FRANCE
Production 2	SATELLITE MY LOVE Paris, FRANCE
Production 3	OCTOPUS Paris, FRANCE
Production 4	CRAFT Dusseldorf, GERMANY
Additional Company	SLOW FOOD BEIRUT Beirut, LEBANON
Additional Company 2	LEBANESE BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION Beirut, LEBANON
Additional Company 3	LEBANESE BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION Beirut, LEBANON
Additional Company 4	AUB MEDICAL CENTER Beyrouth, LEBANON
Additional Company 5	McCANN Düsseldorf, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Cedric Astrella	McCann Paris	Executive Creative Director
Sebastien Boutebel	McCann Paris	Executive Creative Director
Adrian Botan	McCann Worldgroup	Chief Creative Officer Europe
Carmen Bistrian	McCann Worldgroup	Creative Excellence Manager McCann Europe
Guy Lewis	McCann Paris	Creative Director
Mateo Fernandez	McCann Paris	Associate Creative Director
Sonia Presne	McCann Paris	Art Director
Flora Sagnes	McCann Paris	Art Director
Anne-Sophie Guerin	McCann Paris	Copywriter
Farah El Feghali	McCann Paris	Copywriter
Benjamin Homsy	McCann Paris	Copywriter
Etienne Philippe	McCann Paris	Motion Designer
Karim Victorin	McCann Paris	Motion Designer
Cedric Vanhoutte	McCann Paris	VP, Global Business Leader
Nathalie Maisonnave	McCann Paris	Account Director
Camille Ghossein	McCann Paris	Account Manager
Tugce Sezer	McCann Paris	Strategic Planner
Pierre-Jean Bernard	McCann Paris	Head of Digital
Matthieu Tombarelle	McCann Paris	TV Producer
Caroline de Genis	McCann Paris	Post Production
Isabelle Crechet	McCann Paris	Sound Producer
Fouad Abdel Malak	FP7 McCann	Regional Executive Creative Director
Guy Swimer	McCann Health London	Executive Creative Director
Goetz Ulmer	McCann Worldgroup Germany	Chief Creative Officer
Deborah Guepey	Weber Shandwick France	Account Director
Alain Dib	Satellite My Love	Executive Producer
Danielle Rizkallah	Satellite My Love	Film Director
Claire Paillot	Octopus Production	Producer
Le Trio Joubran -	Randana Label	Music Artist

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Because it’s unacceptable to talk about women’s bodies and show them in the media, Spinneys and the Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation found an acceptable way to get everyone talking about breast self-exams without offending anyone. They used a popular baker to deliver a vital health message, creating a bread recipe video which uses dough to show women how to self-check. Because it avoided any taboo, food influencers and women could share the recipe online. The gestures then spread on all major media in the region and around the world, as well as the oldest social media ever: word of mouth.

Background

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide accounting for 1 in 6 cancer deaths (1). But studies prove that 96-98% of cancer cases can be cured if they’re detected early enough (2). There are striking geographic differences in the incidence and mortality rates in different world regions. In cultures where traditions prevent women from talking openly about their bodies, early detection is very difficult. Women shy away from even mentioning the word ‘breast’. According to WHO, about one in twelve women will be diagnosed with breast cancer over the course of their lifetime (3). And breast cancer rates across the Middle-East are expected to double between 2012 and 2030, which is the highest relative increase of any region globally(4). The Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation needed a way to break through the cultural barriers with a solution tailored uniquely to their traditions and taboos.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Because tradition prevented Lebanese women from talking openly about their bodies, we had to show them how to perform a self-exam without ever mentioning nor showing breasts. However, they respect these traditions and don’t want to break away from them. We knew we couldn’t overcome this taboo without a deep understanding and respect for tradition. So we used it to our advantage and decided to join forces with one of the oldest customs in the world: baking bread. “The Bread Exam” is a recipe video where a traditional Lebanese baker demonstrates the steps of a breast self-exam through a similar gesture: the act of kneading and pressing dough. Shared via the hashtag #Khabazte (meaning ‘Have you baked bread?’), the video reminded women to bake bread so they would never forget to self-check. The Bread Exam put breast cancer into the conversation by creating a new language for it.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

The Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation joined forces with Spinneys, a popular supermarket chain in the region to encourage women to self-check. Although awareness of breast cancer is high, only 1 in 10 women ever performed a breast self-exam(1). Our audience was conservative women who respected traditions. We had to find a way to penetrate their daily lives where they felt most comfortable, without talking about breasts. Our research pointed us towards one clear direction; the kitchen. Using Spinneys flour, we developed a bread recipe video which demonstrates the steps of a breast self-exam on dough. The recipe never once mentioned breasts or the Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation. It relied entirely on PR to say what we couldn’t, and “Khabazte?” gave women a code to talk about breast cancer. We then amplified the campaign across the Middle East and Europe with local influencers in Jordan, Turkey, Germany and the UK.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

The Bread Exam video was released on social media during Pink October (4th). By combining the expertise of a baker and a gynecologist, we created a realistic cooking video with real medical advice. The campaign was fully integrated thanks to the addition of traditional touch points: on Spinneys’ packs of flour, bread wrappers and demonstrated live in souks and Spinneys stores. Soon after, the recipe expanded to the Middle East via a Jordanian influencer, before spreading to Europe on World Cancer Day (4th February) as influencers in Turkey, Germany and the UK shared their own Bread Exams, reaching millions of women around the world. An Instagram reminder even told women to keep self-checking. By leveraging the ritual of sharing recipes, we amplified our reach organically. While by transferring the self-exam from an intimate context to a traditional one, we gave women an acceptable way of talking about breast cancer.

List the results (30% of vote)

A silenced topic became a universal discussion. The Bread Exam video reached over 112 million people globally and was praised by over 300 main media, amplifying our voice and starting a conversation despite the taboo. The Lebanese President personally mentioned the initiative and rewarded the Foundation (National Order of the Cedar). On World Cancer Day, influencers in Turkey, Germany and the UK shared their own versions of the recipe, helping their own communities overcome the taboo. More importantly, the video provided women with a natural and acceptable way of learning how to self-check. 3 out of 4 even felt comfortable sharing it. Thanks to baking, self-checking went from a taboo to a tradition, providing women with a brand new ritual: 86% declared that from now on baking will always remind them to self-check (1).

Please tell us about the brand in relation to the locality or market where the product / service is distributed

Spinneys is the leading supermarket retailer in the Middle East, with hypermarkets and supermarkets currently operating in Lebanon, Egypt, Qatar, Oman and UAE. The brand has 16 branches across all of Lebanon, extending from the south to the north. Moreover, acting responsibly for the community is in Spinneys’ DNA. Donation campaigns for The Children Cancer Center, SOS, The Lebanese Red Cross and more, are launched several times per year to support these NGOs’ causes and stand by the Lebanese communities. More importantly, the brand has been highly popular online during the last two years and has been consistently among the top 10 most popular food related searches online. During the campaign, searches for “Spinneys” went up by 110%. Spinneys didn’t just provide the main ingredient needed to make bread, they provided the everyday reach and visibility that breast cancer awareness was desperately lacking in a region silenced by taboos.