2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

More than 90% of Canadians support organ and tissue donation but
only 32% are registered as organ donors. And currently 4,400 Canadians are awaiting an organ transplant. Signing up is easy, but it isn’t an urgent priority for most. DonerNorth needed to find a simple way to demonstrate the lost potential in organs left undonated after someone dies.

This got them thinking: what else could be recycled and given a new life to get our message across? What about something that is created with blood, sweat
and tears, only to fade out of existence after a few weeks of airtime?
What about all those dead ads?

So instead of telling people that their organs could have a second life,
they decided to show them.

During National Organ and Tissue Donation week (April 24th), The Donated Commercial was set loose on the airwaves. To demonstrate how organ donation works, they used donated parts from over 40 other commercials. The challenge was to ensure the message was clearly understood while also showcasing that all its parts had been transplanted from elsewhere.

Although the ads had been heard before, the technique used to create the piece was fresh and new. The spot clearly showed potential donors that like these recycled ads, their organs could do so much more.

DonerNorth listened to and transcribed hundreds of old commercials to find the
right phrases to help build the message. From searching to sound mixing, they continued to evolve and rewrite the script to ensure they included the best pieces to create the clearest message. After scrutinizing each piece of audio to make sure the collection could flow together seamlessly, they worked with sound engineers to splice
the segments together in the clearest way possible. The process was lengthy and labour intensive, but it helped achieve a message that both said and showed the benefits of organ donation.

The numbers had a life of their own too. With a 95% completion rate and
an 87.5% increase in Spotify’s average clickthrough rate, people were listening.
This ultimately led to a huge increase in donor signups. Seventy-nine percent of people registered to donate their organs and give them a second life, leading to hundreds of potential lives saved.

Credits

AGENCY: DonerNorth
Chief Creative Officer: Lance Martin
Executive Creative Directors: Adam Thur & Rica Eckersley
Creative Director & Copywriter: Jill Mack
Associate Creative Director & Copywriter: Lynn Sparrow
Creative Director & Art Director: Justin Turco
VP, Integrated Production: Jen Dark
VP, Production Services: Julie Riley
Audio Editor & Producer: Jonathan Lajoie
Audio Editor: Doug Groves
President: Catherine Marcolin
VP, Group Account Director: Olivia Damiani
Account Supervisor: Leigh McParland
Account Coordinator: Kimberly Barton
VP, Group Media Director: Cherie Raymond
Media Director: Samantha Marion
AUDIO HOUSE: Berkeley Inc.
Creative Director: Jared Kuemper
Engineer: Tyler Young
Executive Producer: Tyna Maerzke