Instead of shedding blood, why not share it? / The Peres Center for Peace "Blood Relations"

The problem

There's a group called the Parents Circle Families Forum, made up of people who lost family members in the long-running conflict between Israel and Palestine. At Cannes in 2010, Saatchi & Saatchi Israel put out a call to creatives around the world for "an idea to bring Israelis and Palestinians closer together." An idea from BETC Paris was chosen, and that's how Blood Relations was born.

The insight

Could someone bring themselves to hurt a person whose blood runs through their own veins? If you could show, at the most basic level, that blood is blood, that people are people, maybe you could stop a conflict. That question was the starting point.

The idea

On the United Nations' International Day of Peace, Israelis and Palestinians from the Parents Circle gathered together to donate blood. That blood was sent to both an Israeli blood bank and a Palestinian hospital in East Jerusalem, where it was actually used to save lives. A website was also set up for people who couldn't be there in person, letting them take part through a virtual blood donation.

What happened

Blood Relations won Gold in five categories at Cannes Lions 2012, the most awards ever won by an Israeli agency.

Afterthought

Blood stored in a blood bank doesn't carry a nationality or a religion written on it. It's simply there to save a life. I don't want to hurt someone when their blood might be flowing through someone I know.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Gold 2012

Featured in

• Alone, You Can't Reach ItAn ad that isn't finished until one more person shows up.

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