Two Inverness Chamber members, Marr Communications and DP Digital Media, have teamed up to create an organ donation awareness campaign for NHS Highland.
Scotland has an opt-out system, but donor numbers are falling as the number of families consenting to donation is rising.
The multi-media campaign, with a strapline ‘Hope out of Tragedy’, launches today, and aims to get people talking about organ donation with their families, colleagues, sports teams, and networks, and also registering their wishes online.
“This has probably been one of the best projects I’ve ever worked on”, remarked Nicky from Marr Communications, with Ian from DP Digital Media adding, “It’s not often, working in comms, that you get the chance to potentially save lives.”
The campaign focuses on the lived experiences of Highlanders whose lives have been touched by organ donation in the most powerful ways.
Nicky Marr from Marr Communications has decades of writing and broadcast experience, interviewing individuals and helping them to tell the most personal of stories, and these will be shared both on the dedicated website that has been set up for Highland Organ Donation and through the campaign’s media partners Highland News and Media. There are even ads on the back of Stagecoach busses.
Ian Forsyth and his team at DP Digital Media have decades of experience in filming those conversations and turning them into captivating short films, social media clips, and a tug-on-the-heartstrings TV ad.
Marr and Forsyth have worked together for many years, on projects as diverse as tourism and nuclear energy, whisky and the care sector. The combined number of years they have working in the media is, frankly, quite shocking.
But perhaps the most powerful weapon in the duo’s armoury for sharing this powerful life-saving message, is the power of their combined professional networks.
Nicky explains; “We needed to squeeze every ounce of value from every penny of our campaign budget, so as well as creating an imaginative campaign, we have asked the members of Inverness Chamber of Commerce to share our message with their staff, customers, service users, and their own networks.”
Here, Ian picks up the story, “And the Chamber network has been invaluable for us. Highland Council have agreed to share the organ donation campaign with every single one of their 10,000 employees, and UHI, HIE, and Highlife Highland have come on board too.”
“Almost everyone we have asked has agreed to help,” adds Nicky, “including pub and hotel groups like The Kingsmills, Highland Coast Hotels, and CRU Holdings. Reaching their staff or putting a poster with a QR code on the back of a pub door, is a great way to help share the message. And when we contact fellow Chamber members, we’re always knocking at an open door.”
If you would like to help create Hope out of Tragedy, here’s a link to the Highland Organ Donation Website.