SYDNEY: An Aussie sun-conscious rapper called MC Al Bino, who has been generating plenty of media coverage in Australia and overseas, is the brainchild of Naked for client Cancer Council of NSW.
Al Bino, the marketing alias of local rapper Antidote, hit the web on Tuesday (16 December) with the YouTube posting of the video clip for his single, “It’s a beautiful day for cancer”. Within 24 hours, news.com.au ran a story on what it described as a “gruesome anti-skin cancer video”.
The feed was picked up on the same day by Fox News in the US, and discussed on the Nine Network’s Today show. The clip is also a hot topic of discussion on numerous blogs in Australia and overseas.
“It’s a beautiful day for cancer” was written and produced by high-profile US hip hop artist Lyrics Born, adding credibility among music-obsessed youth.
The track includes lines such as “Damn, you really should have worn my hat and glasses, because your skin tone looks like black molasses” and “Why in the world would I need sunscreen all over me, when all the girls oh they just cream over me.”
Naked pitched the idea to the Cancer Council of NSW during the pitch for the ad account in March this year. It was adopted without any changes, according to Naked CEO Asia Pacific Mat Baxter.
The campaign targets young Australians, aged 13 to 18. The Cancer Council revealed it was behind the so-far unbranded campaign at a press conference this morning (19 December). Donated media space on TV, print and outdoor will follow. According to Baxter, the Nine Network has indicated it will run the 3.5-minute film clip in its entirety in a solus ad break.
Naked and the Cancer Council are also intending to launch MC Al Bino-branded sunblock and apparel, in association with Puma. “This is not a TV ad, a radio ad, a print ad. It’s an idea that can blow out in any direction,” Baxter said.
Paul Swann, executive ideas director at Naked, said creating a straight campaign with a “don’t” message would have been wrong for the target market, which believes it is invincible and tends to ignore messages from authority figures.
“We went out unbranded because as soon as you attach an authority to a message, youth ignore it,” he said.
MC Al Bino has MySpace and Facebook pages. He had clocked up 385 friends by this afternoon.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in Australia, causing approximately 1600 deaths a year, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
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