Client
City Cancer Challenge
Year
2025
Type of sector
Health
Type of work
Campaigns
An absolutely necessary component of impulsing change is connecting with people. With nearly 70% of the world’s population having access to or actively using social media, these platforms remain one of the most effective ways to get a message across and reach a wider audience. And yet, social media is also a language, and a world, of its own.
This is especially true for City Cancer Challenge (C/Can), a non-profit organisation partnering with cities in low and middle-income countries to strengthen and streamline initiatives that improve cancer care. Operating worldwide and connecting with a broad network of cities, healthcare leaders, and stakeholders, social media plays a central role in their communications. It’s a space to share their international actions with current partners, and to reach out to new ones.
Still, communicating information on social platforms has its own specificities and challenges - especially when it involves technically-oriented or data-heavy content, as is the case for much of C/Can’s work.
Alongside this, in 2024, C/Can was evolving how it articulated its mission and impact, in order to more authentically capture its approach towards strengthening cancer care systems in cities across low-to-middle income countries. They were looking for a partner who could help develop a strategic visual and editorial framework that reflected both the ambition and innovation behind C/Can’s work. At DDS, we embraced this opportunity, developing a unifying narrative platform: “From the Ground Up”, supported by the tagline “Uncover the gaps. Power the system.”
We focused on the idea of their “gaze”: one that is both hyperlocal and systemic, a gaze that can zoom into the complexities of a single city’s health system, but also zoom out to see patterns across countries. We compared this to the dual precision of a microscope and a macroscopic lens, referencing the world of oncology and scientific research, but just as relevant to their social impact mission. We framed C/Can’s perspective as, above all, “human and equitable”: rooted in data, shaped by diverse voices, and fundamentally human.
This multi-scale way of seeing oncology shaped the visual identity as well. We worked with C/Can to build a visual language anchored in the motif of the lens, with round shapes, zooming gestures, and layered imagery. This motif appeared throughout the year's content pieces, in videos, infographics, and post layouts, evolving with each campaign while maintaining coherence.
Across 2025, our collaboration with C/Can unfolded through five major content efforts: three campaigns and two ongoing editorial series. The first campaign, “From the Ground Up”, introduced the new narrative, combining data, short editorial framing, and visual storytelling to highlight the urgency and complexity of equitable cancer care. The campaign spanned three platforms (X, LinkedIn, Instagram) and included a short social-format video summarising C/Can’s approach.
We followed this with The Cancer Glossary, a long-form monthly series redefining what “C” could stand for in the context of cancer care: City, Care, Community, Collaboration, Customised, Criteria, Capacity, Commonality, Commitment, Change. Each concept was unpacked in two posts: one conceptual, one real-world example (“in action”), using storytelling to bridge policy and practice. Given the multidimensionality of C/Can’s work and its global network of partners, particular care was taken to ensure that communication remained aligned with their broader positioning and values.
In parallel, we helped to develop two other campaigns. The first one centred around the CEPF, C/Can’s City Engagement Process Framework (focusing on systemic approaches to cancer equity). The second campaign focused on Women and Health. It launched in early 2026, and built on C/Can’s research and work showing that women, when meaningfully included in conversations and decision-making around health systems strengthening, are powerful drivers of transformation. This happens through advancing health equity, contributing to economic growth, and helping build more resilient and sustainable health systems. We also supported the rollout of the City Assessment Dimensions (CAD) Indicators content series, helping to communicate C/Can’s impact measurement approach through data-driven visuals and storytelling.
Overall, our collaboration was less about isolated campaigns, and more about building a shared narrative and visual logic that could be further explored and developed over time. As an ongoing collaboration beyond specific posts, the work with C/Can continued throughout the year. We developed templates to support other types of posts, such as event recaps, project milestones, or participant introductions. We also adapted current formats to support C/Can’s evolution, helping C/Can’s social presence feel more consistent, legible, and human.
As content was rolled out month by month, regular reviews and refinements based on performance insights contributed to improved engagement rates (for example, up 43 % on Linkedin), alongside broader organic growth and ongoing communication efforts. All of this helped unify their visual language and maintain consistency across different content types. The partnership lasted through the full 2025 calendar year and included support in launching and building out their Instagram presence, which became an active part of their communications from early 2025 on.
City Cancer Challenge Account
What connects you most to the projects and initiatives you care about?
Number of answers:
