Press release

Vienna, Austria
September 23, 2015

Official launch of skin cancer awareness campaign "Spot the Dot" 
Young creatives gather their powers and start a non profit project to raise the awareness of melanoma and other types of skin cancer

Each year, 2 to 3 million non-melanoma cancer patients, and 132,000 melanoma patients, are diagnosed globally. When prevention fails, catching skin cancer early is  crucial and highly treatable. A group of young creatives in Vienna realized by their own experiences with skin cancer, that there's not much knowledge about these type of cancers and so they decided to raise awareness of melanoma and other skin cancers, and encourage self-exams for early detection by starting an online campaign called "Spot the Dot". On September 23rd the campaign will be launched world wide on www.spotthedot.org 

Founder of Spot the Dot Marije Kruis (32 years old), Dutch but currently living in Vienna, Austria, is a skin cancer patient herself. Marije: "I personally thought skin cancer is something that only happens to people who are extensively exposed to the sun all their lives. When I googled skin cancer I only saw the most horrifying pictures which didn’t relate to the spot that appeared on my lower leg some years ago. To be honest, I never thought this could happen to me, but in 2014 I did get diagnosed with melanoma cancer (a type of skin cancer). While talking to my friends I realized there is not a lot of common knowledge about skin cancer and skin examination etc. Most people around me don’t do a yearly skin check even though it’s in most countries for free and a very simple procedure. I hope that with this initiative we encourage people to keep an extra eye on their skin and understand the importance of  examination of the skin and prevention and detection of skin cancer. "

Together with Viennese BLAEK Design Studio she created the campaign and the last half a year she spend networking to get more young creatives from all around the world involved. "It's amazing to see how many people are willing to help out with such a charity project, we had a team of 20 people working on a photo shoot and music video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNR7eWbHpQc), artists such as Nychos, Frau Isa, I met Lucy and others offered to make some art for us, tattoo artists, doctors, The Austrian Cancer organization and family and friends all helped out." - Marije Kruis

Hereby we'd like to invite everyone to our launch event:
Wednesday September 23rd
The Loft, Lerchenfelder Guertel 37, 1160 Vienna
Start: 20.00
Live music by Scott Foster Harris (ex LA Guns) 
https://www.facebook.com/events/972641182789117/

Watch the official Spot the Dot video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNR7eWbHpQc

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Website & campaign owner: Marije Kruis/SPOT THE DOT
For more information please email to: contact@spotthedot.org
www.spotthedot.org

Campaign concept, web design & development: BLAEK Design Studio
www.blaek.at

Follow us on: 
Instagram: spot.the.dot
Twitter: spot_the_dot
https://www.facebook.com/spotthedotcampaign