Life Lolli
KMSZ (Bone Marrow Donation Centre)
Issue 52 | September 2019
Agency
BBDO Duesseldorf GmbH
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: Till Diestel Creative Managing Director, Executive Creative Director: Kristoffer Heilemann Creative Directors: Andy Wyeth, Veikko Hille Creative Concept/Art Director: Ann-Catrin Bloemer Art Directors: Jan Schulz, Miguel Chorda´ Copywriters: Christian Korntheuer, Marie-There`s Schwingeler, Jan-Philipp Michalik Creative Technologist: Martin Boeing-Messing
Production Team
Chief Production Officer: Steffen Gentis Producer: Norbert Henning, Juhn Kim Production Company: CraftWork
Other Credits
Client Service Director: Marei Wilke Account Executive: Clara Wesemeyer Project Management: Patrick Heinz, Marta Zlatewa Head of Planning: Ralf Sieke
Date
February 2019
Background
Every day in Germany, two children are diagnosed with leukemia. Often, stem cell donation is their only chance of survival. Statistically, donors under the age of 30 are the ideal candidates as donors with the likelihood of a positive match being five times greater.
KMSZ, the organization devoted to collecting bone marrow samples, needed to find a way of getting young people to want to help.
Idea
The typical tool for DNA tests is a simple swab on a stick. The idea was simply to wrap the swab in a lollipop, which was heart- shaped because it was perfect for social media, providing an irresistible opportunity for the selfie-generation to share their good deed with the world.
By making the DNA test playful, fun and tasty, young people could be attracted who had never even considered a stem cell donation before.
Life Lolli came inside a pack, which converted into a swab-holder the lolly- lickers could mail back to KMSZ.
The first 200 packs were mailed out to influencers on World Children’s Cancer Day. Gamers, musicians, beauty bloggers and sports stars all showed their hearts and invited their followers to order a lollipop online and show theirs.
Results
The influencers helped the idea reach 86.5 million people. There were 628,000 interactions. 19.9% of visitors to the website ordered a lolly leading to a 106% increase in kits ordered and a 680% increase in donor registrations. The average age of donors has dropped from 37 to 26.
Football club Borussia Dortmund asked to have their own heart lolli in yellow, to distribute to fans.
Stores asked to be able to stock the lollis.
Our Thoughts
Mail has become unfashionable in recent years. This is the first example of it we’ve been able to feature in Directory for nearly a year. But without the postman, this sweet idea (yes, I know, bad pun!) could never have worked. He was involved three times, first in delivering the packs to the celebs, then to everyone who ordered one, then in sending their swabs on to the labs for testing. Thanks to him (and her, of course) hundreds of children may get thrown a lifeline.