Cancer Research UK launches 'Musicommercial' to help beat cancer

The first ever 'Musicommercial' is unveiled today to launch this year's Tesco and Cancer Research UK's Race for Life - the UK's largest women-only fundraising event series.

Cancer Research UK has teamed up with a host of celebrities and stars of the West End stage to present 'Join the Girls', a compressed musical theatre performance that tells the story of Race for Life in under six minutes. The musical will be touring major cinemas across the UK throughout February, before the screening of various 'chick flicks'. It will create a live musical advert that will entertain audiences at the same time as encouraging women to sign up for their nearest event and to raise money to help beat cancer.

'Join the Girls' will star a different celebrity in each region, launching in London on Wednesday 2nd February with Michelle Heaton and TV presenter Jeff Brazier, both of whom have close connections to the cause. The celebrities will be joined by ambassadors in each region who have been touched by cancer. They will be backed by a core cast of West End performers who have had lead roles in several major musicals including Oliver and Chicago.

Natasha Dickinson, head of Race for Life, said: "I'm not sure what Gershwin, Sondheim or Lloyd Webber would think, but we are excited to be pioneering this new medium where art meets advertising to promote Race for Life 2011. We believe that 'Join the Girls' is a fun and entertaining way to spread the word about Race for Life and we hope it will encourage women to sign up to their nearest event this summer. We want to make this year's Race for Life series the biggest yet and raise more money than ever to help beat cancer."

The Musicommercial continues Cancer Research UK's innovative approach to promoting Race for Life. In 2010, the charity launched its first ever single, a remake of Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun', featuring 25 celebrities including Kym Marsh, Caroline Quentin and 80s icon Carol Decker.

Michelle Heaton added: "It was great fun getting involved in the musical, I couldn't believe how much they packed in to six minutes! I know audiences across the UK are going to have such a laugh watching 'Join the Girls', and will be inspired to take part in Race for Life this summer. My message to women out there is you don't have to run it, you can even sing your way around the course if you want. But just make sure you take part so we can raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research UK's life saving work."

Now in its 18th year, Race for Life is the UK's largest women-only fundraising event series, with over 300 events taking place in 2011. Women from across the UK come together to simply walk, jog or run 5k and raise money to help beat cancer. It is not competitive and women of all ages, shapes and sizes take part each and every year. Last year nearly 690,000 women took part and raised an incredible £54m towards beating cancer. This year the charity hopes to make it even bigger and is encouraging women from all across the UK to sign up for their nearest event at www.raceforlife.org.

2011 is the tenth year that Tesco has supported Race for Life and to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the partnership, Cancer Research UK and Tesco will be joining forces with a goal of raising £80 million to help fund the charity's lifesaving research.

Source: Cancer Research UK