The Campaign

In order to proliferate the understanding of organ transplant operation for parents, we performed an “organ transplant operation for toys.” We used toys that are no longer played to perform a transplant on broken toys to fix them. By not just simply fixing the broken part, but performing a transplant to the broken area, the task of “transplant” itself became visible. Moreover, by making the transplanted toys cute and evident as they are, we aimed that the people would recognize about the transplant, and made the toys as living manifestation of something important that keeps on living after changing its appearance. We designed the process to have mutuality, letting the recipient appreciate the transplant, but also reward the donor's act of giving, and communicate the meaning of being a donor through a thank you letter sent from the recipient.

Execution

We launched the website on December 28th, 2015. Since then, we have gathered recepient toys and donor toys, and operated numerous transplant operations for toys, and conveyed the meaning of organ transplant to the people. The transplanted toys were displayed online, which were then used for PR, and resulted in gaining public attention from various media world wide. Moreover, through this attention, we have had Japanese celebrities, such as top Olympic athelete, musician, politician, and actresses to join the cause, approve and endorse our campaign. Companies, too, joined and expanded the message of this campaign even further.

The project has appeared on 1000+ media, worldwide, such as ABC, Channel8, Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Mashable, Engadget, and Wired. Moreover, Japanese celebrities uch as top Olympic athelete, musician, politician, and actresses approved the campaign, and even had volunteers around the globe, requesting to collaborate with us. According to a research conducted by the Japan Organ Transplant Network, the number of people declared willing to offer their organs for transplant has increased 130% since the launch of the project. Moreover, the number of organ donor (after cardiac arrest) has increased 137% compared to the previous year. According to an agency research, after the launch of the campaign, the recognition of organ donor card increased by 19%. And people actually stating their will for the usage of their organs for transplant have increased by 9%. People who have spoken about the topic with their families have increased by 8%.

The Situation

This campaign successfully engaged the media and celebrity and translated the social value of organ transplant into a simple yet striking message. Through that success, this campaign changed the social basis and enabled people to talk about organ transplant positively. Previously, in Japan, death-provoking organ transplant was a topic to be avoided. However, through this campaign, the project enabled the topic to be more approchable to parents and children. The actual number of people willing to donate have increased, and realized tangible change. The campaign relying heavily on the use of PR, this project is relevant for PR.

The Strategy

Although the fact that agreed consent is required for organ transplant has certain recognition, there are only 12.6% of people who have explicitly stated about what should be done with their organs, and the challenge was to let the people discuss and make them declare whether they want to be a donor or not. Since being an organ donor in real life would be a very rare experience, if not impossible, by utilizing the toys as a motif, we aimed this process to be a "pseudo organ transplant experience" and communicate the meaning of organ transplant. The project clarified the meaning of organ transplant equally to be visible for those who donated, and those who received the transplanted toys. Moreover, by making the toys as means of donation, the financial obstacle was made relatively low.