Using the momentum of the documentary “American Symphony”, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and NMDP partnered to launch the “American Symphony: Become a Lifesaver” campaign. The objective of the campaign was to raise awareness of blood stem cell and bone marrow transplants as a treatment option for people with a blood cancers and blood disorders, with a call to action (CTA) to encourage audiences to make a life-saving impact, either by joining the registry (emphasizing the need for young, diverse donors), giving a monetary gift to NMDP to help with patient assistance grants, becoming a volunteer or advocate, or by spreading the word (including sharing on social media).
Each year, thousands of patients are diagnosed with blood cancers like leukemia, and blood disorders like sickle cell disease. Often, blood stem cell or marrow transplants are the best way to give these patients hope and a chance at life. 70% of patients who need a transplant do not have a fully matched donor in their family – they turn to the NMDP Registry to find an unrelated donor. There are far too few young and ethnically diverse marrow or blood stem cell donors. It is critical that more young, ethnically diverse people join the registry. Most patients find donors who share their ethnic background, because matching is based on genetics and is related to our ethnicity.
The Netflix documentary, “American Symphony,” follows musician Jon Batiste and his wife, author Suleika Jaouad, as Jon prepares a composition for Carnegie Hall and Suleika is faced with the return of her leukemia and a second bone marrow transplant in the care of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. While Suleika was able to find a family member who was a match, the documentary premiere was an opportunity to shine a light on the need for more diverse donors on the registry to help save lives.
The campaign launched formally on November 29, with a special film screening in New York City hosted by MSK & NMDP. The campaign was structured to run 100 days, timed to the typical isolation period for a patient after a bone marrow transplant. Over the course of the 100 days, both organizations collaborated to spread awareness via live activations, registration drives on college campuses, earned media, blog posts, paid display ads, paid social and owned social media posts. Creatively, this included the creation of a micro-site JoinTheSymphony.org, video, graphics and photography elements.
Our call-to-action to “Join the Symphony” was intended to engage a wide audience, including those who are eligible to join the registry. Since the eligibility criteria for being a blood stem donor can be limiting, we offered alternative opportunities to get involved, from giving a monetary gift to help with patient assistance grants, becoming a volunteer, or by spreading the word on social media or in the community. All with the intention of allowing people to get involved and spread the word about the need for more potential donors on the registry.
The campaign grabbed the attention and was shared by the “American Symphony” team, including Jon Batiste, Suleika Jaouad, director Matt Heinemann, as well as the production team Higher Ground, who joined in to amplify the campaign with social media assets from former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. With the support from these celebrity figures, we were able to increase our organic reach within the target age range for potential blood stem cell donors and gain earned media interest to support other patients searching for a match.
Overall, the campaign reached a global audience. On social media we saw 1.3MM organic impressions and more than 44,000 engagements across MSK and NMDP channels. Through paid social promotion, we reached 36 MM impressions on Youtube, with 10MM video completions and 16MM impressions on Meta & TikTok. With paid OTT on Hulu, Tubi and Pluto, we reached 2.5MM impressions and an additional 2.5MM impressions with mobile display banners. Through earned media, we achieved 409 placements nationally, assessed at 369MM potential reach. These posts drove more than 175,000 visits to the JoinTheSymphony.org micro-site.
Offline, 13 transplant center community and college campuses held live drives to add potential donors to the blood stem cell registry and screened the American Symphony documentary to build awareness of the need for young, diverse donors.
Most importantly, this campaign will save lives. 2,513 potential donors were added to the NMDP Registry and more than 5 patient assistance grants were fully funded to support out-of-pocket expenses for transplant.
