Only 1% of South Africans are organ donors.

In a society driven by consumerism, fashion and popular culture have become more important than human life. But what if fashion could actually save lives? Rather than fighting consumerism, we used it to our advantage.

We created The Exchange. The world’s first fashion boutique where you can’t buy anything with money but only with the currency of life – your organs.

As an initiative for The Organ Donor Foundation, we opened a pop-up store in a popular Cape Town mall.

Filled with clothes and accessories by SA’s most fashionable designers, shoppers could only pay by registering as an organ donor. We made the process easier with a simple sign-up app that we created. Each registration was turned into a pledge and shared to the donor’s social networks through Facebook Connect.

This unique shopping experience was also socialized through Twitter, Instagram and the Organ Donor Facebook page.

With zero media budget, we had to rely on the provocative nature of the idea to drive earned media. The notion of exchanging organs for fashion soon appeared across magazines, blogs, radio and television – making it a huge awareness and recruitment campaign.

By using PR and free media to raise awareness, Facebook fan engagement grew by 628% and after spending less that $4000 on the entire campaign, we gained $1,5 million in earned media and generated 98 million earned media impressions.

In the first month, the store sold out of all the items – potentially saving almost 6000 future lives.

Our objective was to use PR and other free media to raise awareness of the Organ Donor Foundation and drive donor registrations by demonstrating the impact that one person can make. To achieve this, we decided to use consumerism to our advantage and make donor registration part of popular culture.

The ultimate goal was to save lives.

Despite ZERO media budget, news of The Exchange spread fast, making it a huge awareness and recruitment campaign.

Awareness of the Organ Donor Foundation increased dramatically and Facebook fan engagement grew by 628%.

The Exchange was featured extensively across local and international media, driving even more people to the store. After spending less than $4000 on the entire project, we gained $1,5 million in earned media and generated 98 million earned media impressions.

Most importantly, in the first month, the store sold out of all the items – potentially saving almost 6000 future lives.

With each donor potentially saving 7 lives, each item came with a powerful price tag. Everything in the store served as a constant reminder of The Exchange’s core purpose – to save lives.

Packaging, reminiscent of an ‘organs in transit’ bag, reinforced our messaging outside of the store.

Shoppers could only pay by registering as a donor. We made the process easier with a simple sign-up app that we created. Each registration was turned into a pledge and shared to the donor’s social networks through Facebook Connect.

This unique shopping experience was also socialized through Twitter, Instagram and the Organ Donor Facebook page.

PR and word-of-mouth amplified awareness of The Exchange and within 4 weeks, the store had sold out of all items, potentially saving almost 6000 future lives – demonstrating the power of consumerism, and how it can save lives

The Organ Donor Foundation of South Africa is desperate for donors.

The decision to become a donor isn’t easy and the process of becoming one is even more difficult. Not only does it involve a conversation about your death, but the registration process is complicated and not accessible to most South Africans.

As the Organ Donor Foundation has no marketing budget, earned media was the only way to drive awareness.

To harness the power of consumerism, we opened the pop-up store in a high traffic area of Cavendish Square Shopping Mall - home to Cape Town’s fashionistas. We filled it with clothes and accessories donated by some of South Africa’s most fashionable designers, ensuring it became popular, fast.

We used the idea of swapping organs for fashion to fuel a PR campaign that would help raise awareness. To highlight the impact that one person can have, we created a visual identity that was a startling mix of fashion and medicine. This was carried out through all elements from in-store posters and packaging, to furniture and changing rooms.

Shoppers could only pay by registering as an organ donor.