DON’T SKIP THE BREAK: TURNING FRANCE 2’S AD BUMP INTO A LIFE-SAVING REMINDER - ScreenVoice.cz

Campaign objective

FranceTV Publicité (FTP) built the campaign around a single TV-native move: take the short on-air ident that usually marks the start and end of advertising on France 2 (a well known visual “bump”, where the channel’s celebrities seem to be touching the screen to ‘enter’ into the advertising break) and turn it into a moment to pass an important message.

The campaign’s main message is a very concrete one. The concept is to use the idea that viewers often step away at the start of a commercial break, often to go to the loo, rather than fighting it. The on-air line addresses the “bathroom break” habit directly and links it to a second action: use that moment to take the at-home colorectal cancer screening test.

INCa places the work within a wider public-health target: its ten-year strategy aims to raise participation across all screening programmes and reach one million additional screenings by the end of 2025 (across screening types).

Context

“Mars Bleu” is France’s annual mobilisation month for colorectal cancer prevention and screening. The campaign partners cite a participation problem: only 34.2% of eligible people, women and men aged 50–74, without risk factors, relevant medical history, or symptoms, complete the national colorectal cancer screening programme.

That context shapes the choice of format. A standard spot has to win attention inside a moment many viewers treat as downtime. FTP instead shows their commitment byplacings the message in the channel’s identity itself, ie the very famous break opener. The bet is simple: if the viewer recognises the bump as “the break starts now,” the message lands before the decision to leave the room. The fact that the celebrity, who is usually only shown a few seconds pressing on the screen, now suddenly continues to appear on screen, talking directly to the audience with a message that is very timely, ie relevant to the moment itself, makes the format even more powerful.

The creative tone stays light while tackling a sensitive topic. The campaign uses a familiar and very respected French TV figure, Samuel Étienne, and frames the prompt as a direct address rather than a medical lecture. The form links that choice to credibility and attention: a host known to the audience carries the message in a voice that resembles channel presentation, not an external interruption.

The campaign also ran a spot ahead of the France–Scotland rugby match for 11 GRPs. Médiamétrie’s year-end ranking lists France–Scotland as the biggest TV audience in France in 2025.

Creative Minds

FranceTV Publicité (FTP) led the on-air format on France 2 and coordinated delivery.

France Télévisions / France 2 provided the on-air environment for the device, with Samuel Étienne appearing on screen as the channel-side presenter for the diverted break-start ident.

INCa (French National Cancer Institute) partnered on the public-health message; Emmanuelle Colin (Director of Communications and Information) is named as a spokesperson.

Australie.GAD and dentsu worked alongside the other partners on the campaign.

Video available here.