Finalist
NHS Blood & Transplant - National Transplant Week 2011
Summary of work
With over 7,500 people currently waiting for an organ, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) wanted to use its annual Transplant Week to drive sign-ups to the Organ Donor Register.
Entirely PR-led, the week needed to: make people think about organ donation; overcome a range of barriers to signing up – from fear to inertia; and increase the number of people actually signing up.
PR achievements were: securing 179 articles across the week, including 18 national media hits; reaching 48 per cent of the UK population; and, critically, prompting over 11,000 people to join the register.
Judges’ comments
This took a different angle to the traditional approach to organ donation. The tactics put in place worked well and achieved results demonstrating a change in behaviour.
Testimonials and Judges’ comments
Senior marketing officer: Transplant Week 2011 saw a marked increase in media coverage and, ultimately, in sign-ups to the Organ Donor Register. The extent of national coverage was no doubt a huge driver in securing the volume of sign-ups and there was a real buzz to the week – both at the events and online, as well-known faces like Sarah Brown and Krishnan Guru- Murthy helped get people tweeting about organ donation.
