Kidney patients often get tattoos to commemorate a transplant. We took tattoos and used them to create awareness. First, we created videos that talked about kidney disease and helped mobilize the NKF’s social audience to share their stories and tattoos.

Then the country’s top tattoo artists came together with patients to create Scars & Ink videos, that told their stories while getting inked.

Live tattoos were broadcast from the New York Historical Society’s “Tattooed New York” exhibition and Three Kings Studios. Our microsite shared all our content, a tattoo flash sheet, and a database of tattoo parlors for visitors.

Finally, our Inkstream took SXSW on a kidney health journey with temporary tattoos designed by Tommy Helm (plus a chance to win a real tattoo), tech tattoos and smart water bottles that could track hydration. Attendees also left messages on our graffiti wall and shared their kidney love at #HeartYourKidneys.

Prior to National Kidney Month, we collected stories of kidney love and commemoration on social media, then, on March 1st, a microsite launched with those stories, kidney health resources, and 3 campaign videos.

Five videos of patient tattoo sessions were then published on social and the microsite, culminating in a Facebook Live of the inking of actor Adam David Thompson at Three Kings in Brooklyn.

On National Kidney Day, March 8th, we hosted a live tattooing of a kidney donor at the New York Historical Society in conjunction with their exhibit, Tattooed New York, and Inked Magazine. Then we activated at SXSW - providing temporary tattoos designed by Tommy Helm and tech tattoos and smart water bottles that monitored hydration.

Not a one-off approach, the microsite continues to publish content, including shared stories and resources, while the temporary tattoos will live on as awareness mechanisms throughout the year-round regional Kidney Walks.

On National Kidney Day, #HeartYourKidneys was the top mention on Thunderclap with a social reach of 900K. The campaign was covered in each of the 50 states, with over 2700 articles and airtime on local and national television channels. Combining traditional, earned, and social media, our total audience reach was estimated at 140 million. Our campaign and Scars & Ink videos received over 233,000 total views.

Compared to an average month on social media, mentions of NKF quintupled, follower growth doubled, and posts saw a 20% increase in engagement - showing that the campaign hit home with the NKF community and expanded audience reach across platforms so that more people than ever were showing kidney love.