2015 Winners & Shortlists

NEW BREED OF BEGGARS

BrandDONNER SANG COMPTER (DSC)
Product/ServiceBLOOD DONATION
EntrantDRIVE DENTSU Beirut, LEBANON
CategoryUse of promotional stunts/live advertising/live shows/concerts & festivals
Entrant Company DRIVE DENTSU Beirut, LEBANON
Advertising Agency DRIVE DENTSU Beirut, LEBANON
Production Company CLANDESTINO FILMS Beirut, LEBANON

The Brief

In Lebanon, the government doesn’t take responsibility in providing blood to hospitals. Therefore, if a patient in need can’t provide blood in return, he won’t have access to any hospital blood reserves, leaving him with no other choice than desperately asking his relatives and friends for urgent contribution. In light of this very challenging situation, DSC’s mission is to address the lack of a government-endorsed process by creating a database of potential blood donors to answer the largest possible number of demands. This mission was set alongside an ambitious objective of recruiting 10,000 new donors with a zero dollars budget.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Based on the insight that ‘asking for blood contributions feels like begging’ and on the fact that street beggars are found at every major intersection in Beirut, we organized a stunt of undercover volunteers knocking on cars windows to beg… for blood. This was to remind people of what Lebanese families go through when a loved one is in need of blood, highlighting the absurdity of having to beg for it to save a life. We filmed the stunt with hidden cameras and posted it online in order to create a buzz and maximize our reach.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The stunt went viral overnight, with more than 15,000 views in just 2 days and just as many in the days that followed. It generated great conversations on social media and was also covered by major newspapers, radio stations, sites and blogs. It even aired on prime time news on 3 major TV local stations and DSC representatives were invited to talk about it in their morning shows. DSC’s phone didn’t stop ringing and donor subscriptions went up by 250%, which goes to show what you can do with a small piece of paper and a lot of good will.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The campaign line “Hess aa dammak” (literally means “feel on your blood”) is a popular Lebanese expression commonly used to address someone who doesn’t seem to care in order to provoke his reaction. The harsh tonality of the campaign’s line was selected to shake the status quo. We decided to bank on the viral potential of the stunt, originally devised with this objective in mind. Thus, exclusive medium we opted for was social media - mainly Facebook and YouTube - knowing that people in need of blood traditionally consult such platforms to try their luck with friends or total strangers.

Credits

Name Company Role
Christian Djermakian Drive Dentsu Cco
Alain Shoucair Drive Dentsu Regional Executive Creative Director
Marc Abou Jaoude Drive Dentsu Associate Creative Director
Michel Dani Drive Dentsu Head Of Art
André Chammas Clandestino Films Director
Ray Barakat Clandestino Films Executive Producer