The first lollipop that can save lives.

Design and campaign for Life Lolli

How do you motivate young people to donate stem cells? Very simple: With a new product that makes taking action part of today's digital culture! Our campaign achieved measurable results in the battle against leukemia.

This is how people donate today!

An inter-agency campaign with proven success

For children and adults with leukemia, a stem cell transfusion is the only chance of a cure. But finding suitable donors is extremely difficult. In collaboration with the agencies of the BBDO network we created the "Life Lolli" – a lollipop whose stem is a cotton swab that delivers a DNA sample. The results: extended reach, more engagement – and above all orders for more than 50,000 tissue-typing sets. That means we even beat leukemia: Whereas a new diagnosis is reported every 15 minutes, new donors registered with the Bone Marrow Donation Center of Düsseldorf University Clinic every seven minutes during the campaign period.

Donate with a smile

An inviting look without trepidation

Stem cell donation, leukemia, hospital – these are not the kind of words you want to use when you're trying to motivate people to take action. So our design avoids strong associations with medical topics. From the logo to the overall campaign, we remain cheerful and colorful. After all, it should be fun to do a good deed!

“The younger generation is socially engaged. The only challenge is that you can't appeal to them with the fund-raising activities their grandparents responded to. You have to invite them to be part of something really big.”

One heart, countless likes

The influencer packs

We developed the packaging, which in addition to the lollipop itself contained a badge and the necessary paperwork, discreetly hidden in a side pocket. This made the Life Lolli fun as well as useful, and influencers were glad to add their contributions to the campaign, thereby extending its reach.

Overtaking cancer, convincing the judges

The success of the Life Lolli is quantifiable in hard numbers. The campaign reached more than 200 million people, generating more than 100 media reports and 628,000 social media engagements. But above all, it broke all records for the number of tissue-typing sets ordered. And brought down the average age of donors significantly. This success was also rewarded in numerous create competitions, including the Cannes Lions, D&AD and the Effie Grand Prix.

Meet the team