DoSomething.org, the largest organization for young people (6 million and counting!) and social change in the world, teamed up with Johnson & Johnson and Be The Match to help raise awareness for an important yet often overlooked health issue: racial disparities within donor registration. This campaign first started in 2013 by DoSomething.org and Be The Match, and has continued over the years with Johnson & Johnson coming onboard as a partner in 2017.
70% of cancer patients who need a lifesaving bone marrow transplant rely on a complete stranger for donation, but not everyone has an equal chance on finding a match. White patients have the highest chance of finding a match (77%) while black patients only have a 23% chance, the lowest of all racial groups. Not only that, but donations from people ages 18 to 44 are in the highest demand as they lead to the most successful transplants - our members (ages 13-25 years) are a perfect fit to fill a much-needed gap!
So, we created the campaign "Give a Spit About Cancer" in order to create more buzz, drive more bone marrow donor registrations, and tell a richer story about health disparities and racial injustice. To do this we amplified our campaign through member stories, integrations with influencers of color, and college activations.
Our 2018 campaign goals were:
- 50K campaign participants (signups)
- 100M impressions
Our primary goal with Give a Spit About Cancer was fueling bone marrow donation registrations by reaching out to our 6 million members.
We divided our campaign audience into two categories and goals:
- Anyone over 18 years old was asked to join the donor registry.
- Anyone younger than 18 years was asked to raise awareness of the registry to friends and family.
We then built a 360 degree marketing plan using the following tactics:
- Co-Branded Microsite. Our creative team designed a microsite to showcase the campaign, hosted on DoSomething.org home-page as a 'staff pick.' Our site receives 1.5MM monthly unique visitors.
- Email. Our co-branded email open rates exceed industry standards by 10X. We communicated this campaign with our email list of 2.5M young people.
- Mobile. We sent customized messages to our list of 4MM young people to activate them around this campaign.
- Interactive Quiz. We leveraged product and member insights to create a new quiz feature on the campaign page that allowed for members to dynamically learn more about racial disparities in the bone marrow registry. 77% of people completing the quiz were over 18.
- Social. We leveraged this campaign on DoSomething.org's channels with co-branded content and communications:
- Twitter. 800k followers including celebs & influencers.
- Facebook. 2.5 million fans with a monthly reach of 18 million.
- Snapchat. DS is the first organization to use it for social good & convert.
- Instagram. 108K followers who are highly engaged and very community driven.
- Member Stories. We kicked off our national campaign by spotlighting stories of actual members who participated in the Give a Spit 2017 campaign This provided an organic entry point into the conversation and immediately set the tone for the rest of the campaign.
- Kick-Off Event. We launched a poetry night and launch party to further amplify the issue on racial disparities in health care and bone marrow donations. In addition to an incredible and buzz-worthy event, 55% of attendees joined the bone marrow registry and 80% of those that joined were ethnically diverse.
- On-Campus Recruitment. We have a huge opportunity to drive awareness on college campuses. In the kits that we sent our college captains we included signage to put up around campus. The twist? All of the signs allude to how "your spit" can help fight racial injustice. Each sign included information on the campus registration drive and how to sign up for the national campaign through text.
- Diverse Campuses.This year we also focused on campuses with a more diverse student population, specifically HBCUs and community colleges.
DoSomething.org specifically chose Ayo & Teo to be the face of Give a Spit About Cancer because of their virality. We crafted a video concept that was built around what they are known for: dancing. We have seen this video be incredibly viral on YouTube, with their dance #SwabChallenge. Their video resulted in over 5 million impressions!
We've passed our 100M impressions goal with 186M impressions to date. We've also passed our 50K signups goal with over 87K signups!
The Major Numbers:
- 2018 Give a Spit Youtube:
- 123k views
- 1.3k likes
- Fun note: 2 fan accounts re-posted the video for an additional 25k views
- 2018 Give a Spit Facebook:
- 38k views
- 107 shares
- 74,663 reach
- 2017 Give a Spit Youtube:
- 2017 Give a Spit Facebook:
- 17k views
- 71 shares
- 62k reach
Additional Coverage:
- PSA Distribution & Digital Ads
- Vevo delivered the PSA as an interstitial video ad before hip-hop/R&B songs, garnering 2,000,000 impressions and $56,000 in media value.
- Rouge Media, who owns the Barnes & Noble's College Bookstore media, donated 34,650,203 impressions & over $37,000 in value.
- Channel One, the news network inside middle & high schools, reaching more than 6 million students in thousands of classrooms across the country, aired the PSA, resulting in 15,029,346 impressions and $31,000 in value.
Following this campaign, Johnson & Johnson, Be The Match and DoSomething.org will discuss continuing their partnership for another successful year of new registrations!
Video for Give a Spit About Cancer
