HELP REMEDIES | Help I Want to Save a Life | 2012
When You Cut Your Finger, You Could Save Someone's Life / Help Remedies "Help I Want to Save a Life"
Open up a bandage, and inside is a bone marrow donor registration kit. The blood from your cut finger, just as it is, might be enough to save a life.
The problem
In the US, more than 10,000 people need bone marrow transplants every year, but because of a shortage of donors, about 3,000 of them die without ever getting one. The idea that registering is painful or a hassle stood in the way. Graham Douglas at Droga5 had spent ten years chasing this problem, ever since searching for a donor for his twin brother, who had leukemia.
The insight
All you need to register as a bone marrow donor is a few drops of blood. So Douglas realized: why not just use the blood that's already coming out when you use a bandage anyway? He wanted to prove that the solution could be stupidly simple.
The idea
Help Remedies packed a cotton swab and a mailing envelope right into their bandage packaging. Just dab the blood from your cut finger onto the swab and mail it in, and you're registered as a bone marrow donor. DKMS agreed to handle the processing for free. Big pharmaceutical companies had turned them away again and again, but once they emailed Help Remedies, the deal came together that same day.
What happened
The campaign launched in 2012, handed out at TED 2012. It won the Grand Prix for Good at Cannes Lions and the White Pencil at D&AD.
Afterthought
This is a story about an ad agency inventing an actual product. A personal experience took ten years to take shape, and then it all got moving with a single email—I love that process. Maybe I should send someone an email today too.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2012
