The KMSZ (Bone Marrow Donation Centre) is the biggest German university donation register that recruits stem cell donations via blood or bone marrow. Through a simple disruptive idea, we found a way to get young people interested in this serious medical topic & to convince them to donate their DNA to the national registry to help blood cancer patients to survive.

Every 15 minutes someone in Germany is diagnosed with blood cancer. Globally, over 100.000 cases are reported every year. Often a stem cell donation is their only chance for survival. For some, the chances to find a viable match are as low as winning the lottery.

In Germany, tissue typing is a very well-known way to help patients with blood cancer find a compatible tissue donor to potentially save their life. There are many organizations providing this service & a high level of awareness for the topic. The average donor is over 35 years old, but young donors between 18-30 years old are statistically the best candidates due to their better health and physical condition. (Source: KMSZ donation register 2019, DKMS: "Warum junge Spender so wichtig sind", 2017)

These donors have as much as five times the likelihood of positive matches compared to other age segments. The challenge, however, is that their willingness to donate is 48 % above the average of other age groups, but only 18 % are registered as donors. (Source: IGM, study: "Was ist das für eine Generation", 2016, p. 20 ff.)

The typical tool for a DNA test is a simple swab. That’s where we saw a new way to disrupt the category that could resonate with young people and make them want to take action. By making the DNA test more playful, fun, and even delicious, we could attract an audience that had never even considered a stem cell donation before. We created the first lolly that can save lives - the "Life Lolli". A heart shaped lollipop that provides a tasty way to collect your DNA, and an irresistible opportunity for the selfie-generation to share their good deed with the world.

The idea was launched on World Children’s Cancer Day (15.02.19) thanks to the charitable help of over 100 key German influencers including gamers, musicians, comedians, fashion icons, celebrities and sports stars. Each influencer made a post/video of the "Life Lolli" on their tongue with the corresponding #lifelolli campaign hashtag. These posts drove traffic to lifelolli.com where people can order a "Life Lolli" for free. Not only can people donate their DNA to the national register, but they can also donate their picture to social media and invite their followers to get involved. This launched the #lifelolli movement – a social media mechanism that generates continual reach without any media spend.

And most importantly of all, the effectiveness of this campaign has a very high probability of saving 18 cancer patients lives. (Source: KMSZ, internal evaluation, April 2019 – March 2021)