Life is an amazing journey and the way we talk in marketing changes with the things that impact our lives. I recently lost my dad, and it’s made me look at things with a new lens.

My dad was an organ donor. My family’s tragedy became another family’s triumph. But more people need to become organ and tissue donors. The issue is a tough one. To become an organ donor you have to have to deal with the reality that you will die. But you can take comfort that you could help others live.

There are many ways to go about creating an emotional response to your work. One is by creating a tension between things that make us uncomfortable, like someone staring you down, almost scolding you with their eyes for not taking action. That can be dialed up and dialed down. 

There are so many ways to grab attention. I hope more people become organ and tissue donors, to save others’ lives. While I miss my dad terribly, I know that he helped many others continue to be with their families.

Nicholas Climer is managing partner and executive creative director at Rapp.

See also: How a cancer nonprofit is using Comic Con in bid for new donors


Campaign: Paper Heart
Organization: Governo de Goiás
Agency: Box Comunicação

This ad by Box Comunicação for Brazil’s Governo de Goiás does a great job of making a tragic point. While simple in its execution, it quickly makes the visual connection between things we do every day, tapping into the emotions we feel around waste. This is a soft poke at emotions. 


Campaign: Lungs
Organization: Argentinian Foundation of Liver Transplant (FATH)
Agency: DDB Argentina

The foundation, along with DDB Argentina, took another approach. While still using trash as a way to make the ad impactful, they took it to a much darker place. 


Campaign: Gun
Organization: Hospital São Carlos
Agency: Bolero

Bolero created an ad that is a kick square in the gut. Combining organs and a gun make a very twisted and uncomfortable visual. It’s almost too much to look at, but it’s also very effective in making its point.


Campaign: Young Woman
Organization: France ADOT
Agency: BBDO

Another approach to awareness is tugging on the heart strings, creating a more uplifting or lighter place to be like the soft voice in the room holding your hand as you consider this scary thing. BBDO for France ADOT  has captured the emotion of the recipient of a transplant. The ghost of the donor is being embraced. 


Campaign: Live Twice
Organization: Mexican Transplant Association
Agency: Publicis

This campaign flipped the common story about giving someone else life by showing how a person with completely different life can save another. This execution feels very stock photo-like. It does not read as fast as some of the others here, but it creates a nice visual tension.


Campaign: Black Woman and Skinhead
Organization: Life Transplant Foundation
Agency: Change

Change created an ad that is intriguing but the tension it’s creating could backfire. The combination of these two different figures is a really great way to show that we are all the same inside. However, it also creates an awareness that the life-saving organ donation could save the life of someone full of hate and racism. It could make people not want to donate after seeing this.