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It all started with butter chicken.
Junk Free June was born when Steve Kenny (National Men’s Health Coordinator for the Cancer Society of NZ) and I met for lunch one day.
Steve had actually called me out of the blue and asked if I could help him with something – he didn’t say what. I was working with the Cancer Society on a couple of digital marketing activities for Get the Tools (their Men’s Health initiative) at the time and I think I was just the only young, creative guy that Steve knew.
It all started with butter chicken.
Junk Free June was born when Steve Kenny (National Men’s Health Coordinator for the Cancer Society of NZ) and I met for lunch one day.
Steve had actually called me out of the blue and asked if I could help him with something – he didn’t say what. I was working with the Cancer Society on a couple of digital marketing activities for Get the Tools (their Men’s Health initiative) at the time and I think I was just the only young, creative guy that Steve knew.
“I’ve got this idea for something… Something like a ‘junk free’ june…” he said.
That’s basically what started this whole thing. Steve wanted me to bring it to life.
We talked about different ways we could go about doing it and after we shook hands and went our separate ways that day I couldn’t think about anything else. All I could see was potential.
The concept for Junk Free June was essentially to focus on making healthy living fashionable and help people free themselves from the negative things in their life. To achieve this, I believed we needed to be ‘fresh’, edgy and bold. We had to do our best to lay the foundations for a cultural movement that fed (pun intended) off the increase in awareness and popularity of ‘clean’ eating. The challenge for me was how to actually make that happen.
There were a few interesting things that I came up with. I wanted to apply a sort-of ‘crowdfunding’ model to the charity that rewarded participants with things that they actually want based on the amount of money which they raised. I saw the prizes coming from well known, popular brands that myself and my proposed target market(s) engaged with.
Finally, I wanted Junk Free June to be incorporated as its’ own charity – not a Cancer Society event. This was the interesting part…
The challenge for me was that I didn’t really engage with their brand in the way I wanted people to engage with Junk Free June. I knew that Junk Free June would be in the best position to be successful if it was ‘its own thing’, with no rules or restrictions on what it could say, do or become as long as it stayed true to the Cancer Society’s core beliefs.
We want to build something that inspires, empowers and supports people around the world to live a healthier, happier life. The ways we’re going to do that are pretty exciting, but that’s enough about that for now.
The hardest thing for me as the ‘creative’ behind Junk Free June was actually stripping the idea right back for Year One. 2015 is all about testing the model and seeing how people respond – a ‘minimum viable product’ run if you like.
I had to ensure that I did the best I could do with very small budgets. All things taken into account, I think we’ve done a pretty good job of delivering something great to the people without using any of the strategies I have up my sleeve for the future.
Personally, I’m invested in doing everything I can to reach my potential and impact humanity in a positive way. Junk Free June is a vehicle for me to do that professionally, which gives me great pride and makes me feel very fortunate indeed.
I’ve loved every second of working on Junk Free June and I’m excited about what we can achieve!
By Matt Clayton
I’m the Creative Director of Junk Free June and a Director of Little Giant Design.
I’ve been working with the Cancer Society on Junk Free June since the idea was born in 2014. I’m responsible for the Junk Free June concept and its’ strategy, branding, technology, media, marketing and more. Let’s kick cancer’s butt together.
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