Organ Donation Campaign Turns Virtual 'Game Overs' Into Donations

Although the number of donors has increased in the past 10 years, in Brazil alone over 66 thousand people are on the organs waiting list. And, in 2014, the number of transplants in the country fell 3,5% in the first semester, according to the Brazilian Organ Transplant Association (ABTO). In an attempt to increase this figure, DM9Sul, an agency of the Grupo ABC, developed a campaign focused inside the gaming world to stimulate organ donation. 

The Restart Project, which transformed online game’s “Game Over” into a new life for other players while sharing an organ donation message, had a technological platform which allowed any gaming developer to insert the organ donation campaign straight on their game. Once installed, the functionality was simple: when a gamer died, he was shown the message “You are dead, but you can still donate your organs. Be a donor and help someone else to have a new life in the game.” As in real life, a single donor can save many lives. The action was synchronized with Facebook and games were able to share it on their social networks.

“The idea was to engage people in a moment that they are sensible to the cause, precisely when they die virtually. The ease to communicate the donation through social networking made everything simpler. And it was that simplicity that made our action stronger”, states DM9Sul Communications Vice-President, Marco Aurélio Bezerra. “We believe that the unique creative format of the campaign has mobilized young people who, today, have unprecedented concept sharing powerthrough social, and other, medias. We cannot consider consolidating the organ donation culture without thinking about the young public, influent on theirfriends and colleagues, and also their own families”, states the municipal Health Secretary, Carlos Henrique Casartelli.

The Restart Project was developed DM9Sul especially for Porto Alegre Municipal Health Department, city located in the south of the country.