BITE Insight

In the UK, a person is diagnosed with cancer every two minutes. This stat is horrifically powerful, made even more so by the fact that nearly every single one of us knows one of these people. Research forms the vital backbone to tackling the disease, but it’s not always easy to work at the necessary speed with the vast amounts of data needed.

This is where Vodafone Foundation’s DreamLab app comes in. Working with Text100, the app was launched in the UK with a 60 second campaign starring the Star Wars actor John Boyega. The ad sees Boyega receive a call from his agent to play, not the star hero, but the app’s sidekick, encouraging people to #SleepLikeAHero.

Your super power is simple. Download the app, put your phone on charge overnight and press Power DreamLab. While you sleep, the app works away in the background to process scientific data, either over Wi-Fi or mobile data. It crowdsources the power of people’s phones, which lie idle overnight. The more people who use the app, the faster it works.

When you open DreamLab on your phone, it’s processing power is used as a secure virtual super-computer to crunch the billions of data sets so needed by medical researchers. This speed is essential in the fight to beat cancer.

Text100 also worked on producing a How-To video with Imperial College London, the Vodafone Foundation’s partner. The video explains how the app’s processing power will help match genetic profiles to cancer treatments, find new combinations of existing drugs and eventually result in tailored treatment plans for patients.

DreamLab’s message is to encourage ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Boyega, known for playing a superhero, adds a starry seal to the campaign. People are fascinated in understanding more and more about how their body and especially their sleep works. This app allows you to do that, whilst also making a difference. Charge. Sleep. Fight Cancer.