The British Transplant Games: Leeds 2022
Client
Transplant Games
Industry
Charity
Results
41.9 million
impressions delivered across the campaign
A Record 2,000 athletes
1,400 spectators and 919 donor run sign-ups
£2 million
boost to the Leeds local economy
How do we highlight the importance of organ donation and encourage participation with the British Transplant Games?
Running for over 40 years, The British Transplant Games are a celebration of life. The inclusive Games take place in different host cities every summer, with teams of transplant recipients coming together to compete in more than 25 sports. In addition to raising awareness about the need for more people to join the NHS Organ Donation Register and discuss their wishes with family members, the event encourages transplant recipients to lead active lifestyles, while thanking and celebrating donor families for their gift of life.
In 2022, it was the city of Leeds turn to host the 45th edition of the British Transplant Games. The Leeds event was predicted to be particularly uplifting, since the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic meant it would be the first time that the UK’s transplant community had gathered in such large numbers since 2019. This edition of the Games was also tasked with promoting the first ever limited-edition Yorkshire Organ Donor Card, which was designed to leave a legacy in Leeds long after the event.
Given our Managing Director’s personal transplant experience in July 2011, coupled with the fact that our offices are based in Leeds and our agency boasts links to both independent and large media companies, The Ark Media team felt inspired to approach the Transplant Games board and the organ donation team at St James Hospital Leeds to offer our support.
Leeds City Centre Street Hubs
A digital billboard
Objectives
The primary objectives were:
-To drive organ donor recipients, donor families and spectators to participate in the British Transplant Games
-Encourage people to sign up to the NHS Organ Donation Register
-To raise awareness of Leeds as the Host City as the 2022 edition
Strategy and Execution
Since the Games receive no central funding and all monies must be raised via the Local Organising Committee, our initial task was to devise an innovative strategy to approach key media owners and leverage free media space for this worthwhile cause, with the intention of delivering an impactful zero cost campaign to support both the transplant and Leeds communities.
The Ark Media’s marketing strategy for the Games was to launch a two-month campaign, targeting Leeds, Yorkshire and the wider community. To maximise the campaign’s success, the first stage focused on making sure that the Yorkshire and wider communities were familiar with the British Transplant Games brand. To drive awareness, we decided to cast a broad net to capture as many potential participants (athletes, spectators and volunteers) as possible. In the week prior to the Games and during the event, we adopted a more local approach by targeting key arterial routes around Leeds, sites close to venues where events were taking place and Leeds city centre.
Strategically utilising digital itinerary allowed various creatives to be used, meaning both the organ donation and transplant games messages could be promoted. In addition, we gained news coverage on Leeds Radio and in the Daily Express, in which our Managing Director shared his own transplant experience, along with the key messages about the campaign.
The Ark Media’s close relationships with various media owners resulted in leveraging a total of £150,000 worth of OOH media advertising space at zero cost.
The strategy included:
- Large digital out of Home billboards on arterial routes into and around major city centres
- Small format digital screens at motorway service stations, Leeds Bradford Airport and Leeds City Centre street hubs
Campaign Successes
We received fantastic feedback from Roger Burnley CBE (Chair of the British Transplant Games Leeds) who expressed his gratitude by commenting, “ I want to send you my personal heartfelt thanks for the absolutely awesome support which you have given us. To be frank, it has been a gamechanger, and we’re all so grateful- you have personally put the games on the map in a big way. I’m now being messaged by family and friends as they pass the digital boards in their cars!”
"The outcome was this was the best attended British Transplant Games ever."
Rounding off The Ark Media's platform for good with an added personal bonus, our Managing Director won a gold medal as a member of the Leeds transplant football team.
As a result of the success of the campaign we were awarded with the bronze award in the Local Advertising category at the Outdoor Media Awards 2023.
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