VML: NHS Blood and Transplant’s Waiting to Live

There are not enough child organ donors in the UK because no parent wants to think about the possibility of their child's death.

In partnership with VML, NHS Blood and Transplant aimed to address this sensitive issue by introducing the Waiting to Live campaign. This initiative featured 233 handcrafted dolls, each representing a real child on the transplant waiting list. The campaign brought attention to the urgent need for child organ donors by sharing the real-life stories of these children.

The dolls were strategically placed in local medical waiting rooms around the UK, directly reaching the target audience. The campaign gained widespread attention, launching across TV, VOD, cinema, OOH, social media, and press. On the day of the launch alone, the campaign generated 263 pieces of coverage, including features in The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, and The Daily Mirror, reaching nearly 206 million people.

In the three months following the campaign launch, over 5,000 donor registrations were recorded.