The Sun newspaper mankini case study

Remember the infamous mankini as worn by spoof Kazakh reporter Borat? A world qualifying match at Wembley between England and Kazakhstan in October 2008 gave The Sun newspaper the ideal forum to use Sacha Baron Cohen’s character to raise awareness of male cancer charity, Orchid, and testicular cancer.

London agency EHS Brann created 20 direct mail packs containing Borat-style mankinis for The Sun, which were sent to celebrities and football pundits to create a buzz around the campaign.

On match day there were 20 Borat lookalikes at Wembley handing out information leaflets for the charity but the message went beyond the stadium through talk shows, blogs and coverage in The Sun. As a result, visits to the Orchid website more than doubled.