The British Transplant Games - Leeds: A Celebration of Life

The British Transplant Games Case Study

Promoting Organ Donation and Active Lifestyles

Client Overview

Client

British Transplant Games and St James Hospital Leeds

Industry

Charity

Services

Marketing & Media

Brief

In 2022, it was the city of Leeds turn to host the 45^th edition of the British Transplant Games and the Ark was inspired to help. A celebration of life, this inclusive Games raises awareness about the need for more people to join the NHS Organ Donation Register and discuss their wishes with family members. It also encourages transplant recipients to lead active lifestyles, thanking and celebrating donor families for their gift of life.

Solution

Since the Games receive no central funding, our initial task was to devise an innovative strategy to approach key media owners and leverage free media space for this worthwhile cause to deliver an impactful zero-cost campaign. To maximise the campaign’s success, the first stage of our marketing strategy focused on ensuring 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 before 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.

Results

The Ark’s close relationships with various media owners resulted in leveraging a total of £150,000 worth of OOH media advertising space at zero cost, achieving over 419,776,400 impressions and driving over 2,000 athletes, 1,400 donor run participants and 919 supporters to sign up and participate in the Games.

We received fantastic feedback from Roger Burnley CBE (Chair of the British Transplant Games Leeds) who expressed his gratitude by commenting,