4. Conclusion

According to Mowen and Minor, research can benefit society. "Finding ways to influence people to act more responsibly […] and applying research findings to develop treatment methods and preventive actions" is paramount, and the natural way to do this is through the research into social marketing best practices [42].

Considering the campaign analyzed in this chapter, besides the health communication informing about breast cancer, several other actions took place. A major effort was made in order to reach Brazilian citizens through the Senate's social media, as well as with an actual person-to-person contact, all these to try to make more people aware of the disease. For that, a close-targeted initiative was developed throughout the month of October: the outsourced female collaborators were invited to undergo an on-site medical consultation with the Senate mastologist doctors, and if the case required, the patient would be referred to a mammography exam carried out by the Public Health System (as a result of the partnership between the Senate and the Federal District Government). A total of 150 mammograms were performed. A disturbing fact is that most of the women who were reached by the initiative had never undergone a mammography before, which is an important exam to prevent breast cancer.

From the 150 patients assisted, 15 had an altered mammography result, and 4 of them had a diagnosis of breast cancer and were referred to a public hospital for treatment.

Although 150 people is a limited audience, the tests and the mammograms were just part of the campaign, which aimed to achieve, through advertising and journalistic information, the awareness of a wider audience, and the numbers registered show the campaign was extremely successful.

The high point of the initiative was being able to have the full support of the Public Health System to conduct the exams. It was a very important strategic partnership for the 2017 campaign, one that must be cherished and nurtured. Nevertheless, some mammograms were not performed within the expected period, due to problems commonly found in public hospitals nationwide, such as lack of personnel and equipment availability. This issue should be carefully addressed in the future editions of the Pink October campaign, for a more precise logistics and service for the women targeted in the program.

Other public and private institutions can take advantage of the strategies—and, literally, of all the informational materials produced –, although adjustments on the brand are needed, specially due to the fact that the October Rosa brand in the Senate has used the silhouette of the building of the National Congress.
