Insight
Brazil has very few organ donors per capita. Brazilian Association of Organ Transplants (ABTO) needed to generate a public debate and, hopefully, increase the number of donors. The insight is powerful because it is based on a truth: people are not shocked by the burying of organs that could save lives, but they are by the burying of a luxury car.
Strategy
To change that, Leo Burnett asked a very famous and eccentric Brazilian billionaire, Chiquinho Scarpa, to post on his Facebook page that he would bury his half-a-million dollar Bentley in the yard of his mansion, inspired by the pharaohs. In the burial event, with the media broadcasting live to the whole country, the Organs Donation campaign was revealed.
Execution
The ABTO is a non-profitable organisation. The challenge was to develop an idea that was efficient even with no budget. Leo Burnett chose the Facebook as the “fire starter” – posting is totally free. Right after the famous eccentric billionaire Chiquinho Scarpa posted that he would bury his $500,000 Bentley in the yard of his mansion, it was literally everywhere. Scarpa became Brazil’s number one villain. People were revolted. The national media took the bait and strongly criticised Scarpa’s decision on every TV channel, radio station, newspaper, magazine and internet portal in the country, making a £22m integrated campaign for ABTO for free. In the burial event, with the media broadcasting live, the organ donation campaign was revealed, achieving results way beyond the expected. Posters, prints and radio spots followed, all aired for free with the newly gained support from the media.
Results
Organ donations increased by 31.5% in just one month. More than 172 million people impacted on social networks alone, through only six Facebook posts. It generated $22m of earned media with all of the spontaneous coverage on TV (live broadcast included), radio, newspapers, magazines and Internet portals, with ZERO investments in media. The production cost was only $6,000 – that’s the total cost of the whole campaign. It ranked number one in Brazil on Trending Topics and number two in the world.