One Match, Canadian Blood Services’ stem cell and bone marrow network, has unveiled a new recruitment tool, “One Hero,” an interactive comic book aimed at ethnically diverse groups of men aged 17-35.
According to Canadian Blood Services, “One Hero” is meant to mirror the real-life drama of a stem cell donor saving the life of a patient battling leukemia. The user plays the “hero” in the storyline, progress through the story while being educated about the process of donating stem cells. Once they reach the end, the user is offered the chance to save a real life by initiating the registration process on OneMatch.ca
According to Barb Williams, creative director at RAPP (an integrated business unit of DDB Canada, Canadian Blood Services agency of record) some of Canada’s ethnic communities – especially men of African, Aboriginal and Caribbean decent – are under-represented on the OneMatch network and there is an immediate need for patients from these communities to have better access to stem cell donors.
Patients in need of stem cell treatment respond best to those from their own ethnic base, Williams said, and it’s likely because of “cultural reasons” that donations from these particular target markets are scare.
“We looked at the behaviour of that target and realized we needed to go into their world and convey the message in a fun way,” Williams said. “This age group is quite savvy to traditional marketing messages.”
Developed by Stopp/LA, “One Hero” is a parallaxing, animated site that transforms the user’s scrolling action into a digital turn of the comic book page. It tells its story across five chapters, encompassing 26 frames and over 200 individual images. Sound and music for the site were created by Klang, a proprietary sound engine developed by Plan8.
To drive potential donors to the site, Tribal Worldwide (another DDB affiliated agency responsible for the social media promotion “One Hero”) is reaching out to video game and comic book bloggers for support, and banner and rich media advertising are running on select websites.
Facebook ads are targeting friends of people who are already registered on the OneMatch network, as well as friends or fans of Canadian Blood Services. OMD is responsible for the media planning and buy, and DDB Canada is handling PR.
Promotion for the site, which launched last week, will run for six weeks.
