For Life - For Organ Donation: WAITING. FOR SEVEN YEARS.

Credits & Description:

Type of entry: Sectors & Services
Category: Charity and Not for Profit
Advertiser: FOUNDATION “FOR LIFE – FOR ORGAN DONATION”
Product/Service: FOUNDATION “FOR LIFE – FOR ORGAN DONATION”
Agency: OGILVY GERMANY Frankfurt, GERMANY
Chief Creative Officer: Dr. Stephan Vogel (Ogilvy)
Executive Creative Officer: Tim Stuebane (Ogilvy)
Executive Creative Officer: Birgit van den Valentyn (Ogilvy)
Art Director: Matthias Bauer (Ogilvy)
Art Director: Johannes Jost (Ogilvy)
Copywriter: Anke Roell (Ogilvy)
Account Management: Iskra Velichkova (Ogilvy)
Agency Producer: Anna-Lina Woerner (Ogilvy)
Director: Thomas Bausenwein (Filmmeisterei)
Editor: Thomas Bausenwein/Adam Snyder (Filmmeisterei)
Film Producer: Dorothee Strohmaier (Filmmeisterei)
DOP: Stephan Heinz/Philip Vogt (Filmmeisterei)
Performer: Michael Stapf ()
Advertiser´s Supervisor: Birgit Blome (DSO)
Describe the campaign/entry
12,000 people in Germany are waiting for a life-saving organ donation. Three of them die every
day. And all because too few of us have an organ donor card.
We wanted to rise awareness for this important topic. Put it higher on the public aganda across the whole country. A traditional campaign wouldn't do the job for this complex and controversial issue – and the very limited financial resources of the foundation 'FOR LIFE – for organ donation' either.
So we had to earn media with a strong, outstanding and activating PR effect: we developed an extreme waiting live-event. At a train station where everybody hates waiting, we confronted people with Michael Stapf, a 27 years old dialysis patient, who has been waiting for a kidney for 7 years now.
Digital billboards called directly to action: just get an organ donor card.
The story left nobody untouched and raised a storm in an upcoming discussion.
We caught the attention of over 7.12m people (viral, TV station reports, blog articles, tweets, online message boards).
Our campaign turned a small budget of only €25.000 into media worth €982.557 . Plus most importantly, because it's priceless: getting 24.8% raise of ordered organ donor cards during the campaign period.
Describe the brief from the client
1. Make people aware of the problem of too few organ donor cards and too many patients
waiting,
2. Make clear how hard waiting for an organ donation can get.
3. Get the topic 'organ donation' higher on the agenda across German.
4. Convince more people to get an organ donor card.

Results

Michael’s story left nobody untouched. Over 163,000 watched the viral. His story was featured on many TV programs and newspapers. Website visits increased by 33% during the campaign. Over 16,000 organ donor cards and apps were downloaded.
We reached something what you can’t buy: a higher chance for people like Michael Stapf to keep on living.
1.Awarenes/public interest
With a budget of only €25,000 we managed to earn media worth €982.557:
Over 144.000 views on YouTube.
Over 229.000 twitter followers reached.
Over 1.169.000 total online impressions.
2.122.000 people reached offline.
3.832.000 people reached with TV coverage.
A total campaign reach of 7.124.274 with only €25.000 budget.
2.Mobilising
33 % more visits on the homepage fuers-leben.de.
24,8 % more donor card orders during the campaign period via fuers-leben.de and the fundation’s hotline (compared to the monthly average).
12,8 % more downloads of the organ donor app.

Execution

We did not only tell people how hard waiting can get for an organ donation, we confronted them with a real dialysis patient: Michael Stapf, a 27 years old dialysis patient, who has been waiting for a kidney for 7 years. At a place where everybody hates waiting: a train station.
A digital billboard at the platform called for action “Some of us are waiting longer. For an organ donation. Help with an organ donor card. www.fuers-leben.de”.
We filmed the live-action and spread the word: through the internet with a viral, reports on TV-stations, blogs and discussions on message boards as well as on digital billboards across Germany.

The Situation

Make people aware of the desperate situation of 12,000 people in Germany who are waiting for
a life-saving organ donation.Three of them die every day! The challenge: We had no marketing
budget and collecting some coins as all other foundations do wouldn't solve the problem. People
had to act: by getting an organ donor card, downloadable as an app, or as a print out. Plus: they
had to deal with themselves and decide if they would donate their organs in case of their own
death due to an accident.

The Strategy

We needed to create awareness for something that usually happens behind doors in hospitals:
waiting for an organ donation. The insight: we found out in research that only 15% of people in
Germany have an organ donor card. But 52% more would donate their organs, however they
don't have an donor card yet. The result: they are not aware of the urgency of their action. And
don't see the physical and mental pain of the patients.
So, to activate them directly we confronted people at a train station – where the wait is normally
just a few minutes – with a dialysis patient who has been waiting for a kidney for 7 years.