Organs donations increased by 31.5% in just 1 month. More than 172 million people impacted on social networks alone, through only 6 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 – that’s the total cost of the whole campaign. It ranked number 1 in Brazil on Trending Topics and number 2 in the world.

The Brazilian Association of Organs Transplants (ABTO) is a non-profitable organization. The challenge was to develop an idea that was efficient even with no budget. We chose Facebook as the “fire starter” – posting is totally free. Right after the famous eccentric billionaire Chiquinho Scarpa posted that he would bury his US$500,000 Bentley in the yard of his mansion, it was literally everywhere. Scarpa became Brazil’s number 1 villain. People were revolted. The national media took the bait and strongly criticized Scarpa’s decision on every TV channel, radio station, newspaper, magazine and internet portal in the country, making a $22m integrated campaign for ABTO for free. In the burial event, with the media broadcasting live, the organs donation campaign was revealed, achieving results way beyond the expected. Posters, prints and radio spots followed, all aired for free with the newly gained support from the media.

Brazil has very few organ donors per capita. We needed to generate a public debate and, hopefully, increase the number of donors. The insight 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. 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 $500,000 Bentley in the yard of his mansion, inspired by the pharaohs. In the burial event, with the media broadcasting live to the whole country, the Organs Donation campaign was revealed. Organs donations increased by 31.5% in just 1 month. More than 172 million people were impacted on social networks alone. And it generated $22m of earned media with ZERO media investments.