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Trillium Gift of Life Network, in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care and the Ministry of Government Services, has launched a new TV, cinema and online campaign in support of its new online organ donor registry.
The seven-week English and French campaign from Toronto’s Narrative Advocacy Media, a division of Bensimon Byrne, launched Monday with a 30-second TV spot entitled “Get Up.” Over a delicate piano-led ballad, the spot depicts people of various ages waking up in a hospital bed, removing breathing/intravenous tubes, shutting off medical apparatus and walking out of the hospital.
The spot then cuts to a super that reads “One organ donor can save up to eight lives” (“Un seul donneur d’organes peut sauver jusqu’á huit vies”) and urges people to register at the BeADonor.ca/SoyezUnDonneur.ca site. The website was developed by Bensimon Byrne’s Mighty Digital division.
A 60-second version of the “Get Up” spot will appear in cinemas beginning July 1, while additional support is being provided through pre-roll video and online banners, as well as through the Trillium Gift of Life’s Facebook page and via Twitter at @TrilliumGift.
“We wanted to make sure we had a campaign that was inspiring and motivating and helped Ontario residents realize the positive impact they could have by making that decision to register,” said Versha Prakash, vice-president of operations for the Trillium Gift of Life Network in Toronto.
Ian MacKellar, creative director at Bensimon Byrne, said the tendency in much PSA advertising is to focus on the negative aspects of a problem, but he wanted the work to reinforce the positive aspects of organ donation. “We wanted to celebrate the positive in every [campaign] element, and remind people that by really stepping forward and doing something you can help people,” he said. “These are success stories.”
It is a particularly poignant campaign for MacKellar, who worked alongside a copywriter named Michael O’Reilly at the former Roche Macauley & Partners (now Lowe Roche) who suffered from cystic fibrosis. O’Reilly was on the waiting list for a lung transplant, but died before a donor could be found. His legacy is remembered with an award in his name presented by the Advertising and Design Club of Canada.
Ontario is just the second province after British Columbia to introduce an online donor registry. “It is one of the best practices for a successful donor registry,” said Prakash. “People can do it in the convenience of their home, without having to download forms and complete them and mail them in. It’s now a very easy and convenient way to register and we hope to see a significant uptake.”
According to Prakash, just 19% of Ontario residents age 16+ are currently registered organ donors. Trillium Gift of Life’s immediate goal is to more than double the number of new registered organ donors from 171,000 in fiscal 2010 to more than 370,000 in fiscal 2011.
Online registries are common in the U.S., where an estimated 40% of the population is registered on an organ donor list. According to Prakash, the discrepancy is attributable to the fact that Ontario hasn’t previously possessed an easy mechanism for people to register as an organ donor.
