Cannes Lions
HILL HOLLIDAY, Boston / DONATE LIFE / 2021
Overview
Entries
Credits
Background
Right now, 110,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for a lifesaving transplant. Every 10 minutes someone is added to the waiting list, and 20 people die each day because the organ they need is not donated in time. Becoming an organ donor is necessary; still, it's a tough decision, even more so for teens around sixteen to eighteen years old who are given a choice of whether or not to register as an organ donor when applying for a driver's license. Our challenge was to show this target group that their organs could have an amazing life after their lives. So, to help them decide, for the first time, we changed the tone a bit and raised awareness for the cause in a way that teens like most: with humor.
Idea
Donate Life is a nonprofit organization that works to increase the number of donated organs, eyes, and tissue available to save and heal lives through transplantation. When people decide to become organ donors, they ensure that their lungs, hearts, livers, and gallbladders can still have fun and adventures in someone else's body instead of being devoured by worms. To bring young people closer to the idea, we decided to launch a humorous campaign, with posters, print, and outdoor media, showing the two ways that an organ can end up. On one side, there's the step-by-step process of a heart, liver, and kidney slowly dying inside a small and claustrophobic coffin. On the other side, the donated organs are driving cars, swimming, hiking, kayaking, toasting marshmallows, walking on the beach, knitting, jogging, and enjoying a much better future.
Execution
To bring the organs to life and create an impactful visual, we created every part of the poster. We built a big box that served as a canvas for our characters and scenario. Then we handcrafted more than 20 design elements and positioned them in every space in the box. The depth of the box determined the size and proportion of each element. Everything was designed with felt, from the scenario itself to the objects and organs. It took weeks of work to create each character's expression, develop the different textures, and manually build the tiny pieces that comprise the ad. Color also has an important role in this campaign. The idea was to highlight the positive aspects of donating organs and show the sadness of ending up in a claustrophobic coffin. In the end, we didn't use photo manipulation to achieve the final result. It was all created analogically.
Outcome
• Increase of 6% of registered donors
Increase of 16% in visits to the website
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