The Cancer Brand

We launched the Cancer brand in 2004, two years before Product (RED), the HIV fund raising brand by Bono and his buddies. Cancer, or Syöpä in Finnish, had two goals: to raise funds and to help those who suffer from cancer through publicity. Our message was that most people actually survive cancer, they’re still your friends and relatives and they need your friendship and support. The first 5 weeks alone gave us so much media coverage that it would have made Cancer brand the second biggest advertiser of the whole year … just ahead of Volvo. All products had the account number and the word Syöpä, which is an exceptionally ugly word in Finnish, printed on them. First products were designed by Paola Suhonen of Ivana Helsinki, photographed by Lauri Eriksson and the brand was launched with an exhibition in the respected Design Museum of Helsinki with poems by Mikko Rimminen.