Pentruviata.com (“For life”)

The challenge

Get 20.000 people to donate blood.

The outcome

The campaign gathered 50.000 blood donors. That’s right we gathered two and a half more than we targeted.

Short presentation

When one out of every three people in need of blood risks losing his or her life you know you have to do something about it. Nation-wide. The ReACT association reacted to this threat and commissioned us to address the issue.

The solution

As with all matters of the heart we knew we had to connect to possible donors emotionally. We teased, flash mobbed, communicated and convinced people not only to donate blood but also tell others to.

We started the campaign teasing. We invented the word “Grandocardiac” (big - hearted). We than asked people on the street what do they think about this heart condition and what should we, as citizens, do about it. The video footage was put together and we made a viral video out of it.

We involved bloggers in the campaign and asked them to spread the word. We got more than 5000 mentions at the moment. All over the country.
We put everything on Grandocardiac.ro, the campaign minisite.

The mystery unveiling was done when we rolled out a Flash Mob. We asked people to draw a heart, show it for precisely 2 minutes at 7 pm in a central location. It was a hit. People showed up (we didn’t actually expect that). So did the media. Next day the word was out and PentruViata.com was launched.

The campaigned benefited from almost 5 million banner views generously donated by local media agencies, which we contacted. The banners showed (they still do as I write this) a car you have to get passed the finish line (suggesting blood as an essential element for life) and a blood bag that filled when the mouse hovered (showing how easy it is to donate blood).

The results

Bloggers picked up the banners and badges. The movement got national attention and led to more than 50 000 blood donations that will help save lives. The project won a prize at the Civil Society Gala in 2009 for its results.
PentruViata.com was one project we really put our heart into.