Even If You're a Jerk Your Whole Life, You Can Still Turn It Around After Death / Donate Life "The World's Biggest Asshole"

The problem

Donate Life America was seeing a drop in organ donor registrations, especially among young men in the millennial generation. Young men were far less likely than women to register as organ donors, and lagged well behind in registration rates. Emotional, heartstring-pulling approaches were essentially invisible to this audience. At the time, 120,000 men, women and children in America were waiting for organ donations. Somehow, young men who didn't want to talk about this topic at all had to be made to face it.

The insight

In interviews with donor families, the production team heard testimony like "we were shocked to find out our family member, who was a jerk in life, had registered as an organ donor." They found a powerful insight in the gap between "an incredible gift" and "who this person actually was in life" — and the idea that someone could become selfless only in death. Millennial men sometimes call themselves "assholes" themselves, so the team was convinced this could become a character people would relate to. The message came down to this: "If you've been a jerk your whole life, and you're only going to do one good thing, make it organ donation."

The idea

The Martin Agency created a fictional character named Coleman F. Sweeney, played by actor Thomas Jane. He throws pee out of car windows, steals underwear from the laundromat, shoots the neighbor's dog with a paintball gun, snatches candy from kids, and argues with a waitress over the amount of fries that come with a $1.99 lunch. Then this man suddenly dies of a brain aneurysm, and it turns out his driver's license marks him as an organ donor. His organs save the lives of good people — a teacher, a veteran, a father of two — and at his grave, all of them come to thank him. The film was shot by production studio Furlined, used a song by Coldplay, and was narrated by actor Will Arnett. It closes with the line: "Even an asshole can save a life."

What happened

The ad got 50 million views in its first week and more than 100 million views total. Registrations, which averaged 149 per day before the campaign, jumped to an average of 1,080 per day in the first week — with registrations among millennial men aged 18-34 up as much as 1,200% over normal on some days. Two weeks in, the daily average was 1,040, a 698% increase; registrations among 20-34 year-olds were up 236%, and among the specific target of men aged 20-34, up 215%. The share of registrants in that group jumped dramatically, from 26% to 56% of all registrations. The campaign won in 10 categories at Cannes Lions, plus a Webby People's Choice Award and an Adweek Arc Award. At Cannes in 2017, it won in the Health & Wellness, Cyber, Direct, and Promo & Activation categories.

Afterthought

Someone pointed out that "a real-life Coleman Sweeney would probably never see this ad, but since most people are more or less jerks, some of them might become donors hoping for a chance to redeem themselves after death" — and I think that's exactly right. Apparently it took the client 24 months to convince their board to run this, and getting the board — especially the women on it — to accept the word "asshole" was reportedly a real struggle. Still, I have nothing but respect for the courage it took to push this through, and for The Martin Agency's persistence in getting it approved. This is an ad that makes you believe there's still hope for redemption in anyone.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Gold 2017

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