Brazil has very few organ donors per capita. We needed to generate a public debate on the issue and, hopefully, increase the number of donors. The strategy was to bring the matter of organs donation into people’s daily lives and stir with their emotions. The Brazilian Association of Organs Transplants is a non-profitable organization, so the campaign should be efficient even with no budget. Therefore, we used the Facebook as 'fire starter' –posting is totally free –, and created an idea that had the power to go viral and spread along other mediums by itself, with no media costs.

People are not shocked by the burying of organs that could save lives. But they are by the burying of a luxury car. To change that, we asked a very famous and eccentric Brazilian billionaire, Chiquinho Scarpa, to post on his Facebook page that he would bury his half a million Dollars Bentley in the yard of his mansion, inspired by the pharaos. In the burial event, broadcast live, the Organs Donation campaign was revealed. While a 5% national increase in organs donation would be satisfactory, the campaign increased organs donations by 31.5% in just 1 month.

Organs donations increased by 31.5% in just 1 month as a response to the campaign. More than 172 Million people were impacted on social networks alone, through only 6 cost-free Facebook posts. It generated 22 Million Dollars of earned media with all of the spontaneous coverage on TV (live broadcast included), radio, newspapers, magazines and Internet portals, with ZERO investments in media. The production cost was only 6,000 Dollars – that’s the total cost of the whole campaign. It ranked number 1 in Brazil on Trending Topics and number 2 in the world.

Besides increasing the organs donation by 31.5% in just 1 month, the issue had never before had so much publicity and debate in Brazil. It impacted more than 172 Million people on social networks alone and generated 22 Million Dollars of earned media with ZERO media investments. The idea is powerful because it is based on a truth: people are not shocked by the burying of organs that could save lives, but they are by the burying of a luxury car. It stirs people’s emotions, making them stop and reflect on this reversal of values.