Case study

Awareness to Action for Blood Cancer Awareness Month

DKMS is the world’s largest stem cell registry. They help to match stem cell donors with patients with blood cancer and blood disorders. Every 14 minutes in the UK someone is diagnosed with blood cancer.

The brief

As part of Blood Cancer Awareness Month, DKMS wanted to create a campaign that connected its out-of-home (OOH) activity with meaningful face-to-face engagement. The objective was to maximise awareness in key locations, move people from awareness to consideration, and ultimately encourage more young people aged 16-25 to register as potential stem cell donors.

The challenge was to take a powerful awareness message and turn it into action by creating memorable interactions that would inspire registrations and help grow the potential donor database.

Awareness to Action for Blood Cancer Awareness Month gallery image

The Solution

To bridge the gap between awareness and action, Gottabe! Marketing delivered an experiential activation designed to capture attention, spark conversations and encourage immediate sign-ups.

At the heart of the campaign was an interactive photo booth experience, giving visitors a fun and engaging reason to stop, interact with the stand and leave with a personalised keepsake. The experience created a memorable connection with the campaign, encouraging participants to learn more about stem cell donation and the life-saving impact it can have.

To maximise engagement and authenticity, we worked closely with local volunteer communities, who played a key role in educating visitors and supporting on-the-spot donor registrations.

The activation took place in two high-footfall retail destinations:

– Liverpool ONE
– Birmingham Bullring

By combining an attention-grabbing interactive experience (Photobooth) with knowledgeable volunteers and direct registration opportunities, the campaign successfully transformed awareness into meaningful action.

Results

The activation delivered significant reach and engagement across both locations, successfully connecting with the target audience and driving new donor registrations.

– Successfully aligned OOH awareness activity with face-to-face engagement to drive conversion.
– Increased visibility and consideration among the core 16-25 target audience.
– Created memorable interactions that encouraged participants to take positive action and join the donor register.

Through a combination of experiential engagement, strategic location selection, and community involvement, the campaign helped DKMS expand its donor database and recruit hundreds of potential new lifesavers during Blood Cancer Awareness Month.

Over 300,000 people reached.

360 new potential stem cell donors registered.

47% of people who registered were under 25.