DONATE LIFE PA AND PAVONE AD AGENCY CAMPAIGN SETS THE BAR HIGH FOR ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR REGISTRATION EFFORTS

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Donate Life Pennsylvania had a lofty goal: to register 180,000 new organ and tissue donors from 2015 to 2018

a href="http://www.donatelifepa.org">Donate Life Pennsylvania had a lofty goal: to register 180,000 new organ and tissue donors from 2015 to 2018. To achieve that goal, the organization teamed with Harrisburg marketing agency Pavone.

The result? The three-year campaign exceeded the initial goal by 26 percent, with final total of 227,335 registered organ and tissue donors.

“For us, this campaign was never about the awards. It was about one single objective: saving lives by convincing Pennsylvanians to register as organ and tissue donors,” said Pavone President Michael Pavone. “That we were able to do it with attention-grabbing, award-winning work makes reaching that goal even better.”

Along the way, the Pavone campaign took home top honors in the Media Campaign category in Donate Life America’s annual Pinnacle Awards, an awards program that recognizes the best organ and tissue donor campaigns and success stories from state organizations nationwide.

To achieve that ROI, Pavone and Donate Life Pennsylvania created the organization’s most thought-provoking marketing campaign to date, targeting Pennsylvanians with outdoor, print, social media and digital video.

“WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?”

Efforts over the past three years included Pavone’s “Which Side Are You On?” campaign, which highlighted the perceived differences between organ donor registrants and those who aren’t registered. The campaign pulled no punches, delivering a compelling call-to-action to not sit on the fence any longer but make the life-saving decision to register as a donor.

EAST VS. WEST

“Which Side Are You On?” campaigns included a statewide media buy, with targeted billboards that pitted Pittsburgh and Philadelphia residents against each other in an organ donor registration battle that tapped into cross-state rivalries.

The Philadelphia billboard — in black and gold and signed “Pittsburgh” — taunted Eagles fans with the claim that “Yinz got no heart, Philly” and challenged proud residents to “prove us wrong” by signing up to be an organ donor. The Pittsburgh billboard, in green and white, delivered a similar jab.

“HUMAN SIDE OF DONATION”

To provide a balance between the emotional and rational messaging of the “Which Side Are You On?” campaign, Pavone developed a series of vignettes that showcased the “Human Side of Donation.” These videos — posted on Facebook and as YouTube pre-roll ads — featured people at all stages of the donation process, including families of donors, organ recipients and those on the waiting list.

Donate Life Pennsylvania (www.DonateLifePA.org) is a collaborative initiative between the Gift of Life Donor Program, the Center for Organ Recovery & Education and the Pennsylvania Departments of Education, Health and Transportation. It is funded by Pennsylvania residents through voluntary contributions to the Governor Robert P. Casey Memorial Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Trust Fund, including driver’s license renewals, vehicle registrations and state income tax filings.