2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Héma-Québec urgently needs to increase plasma donations, to ensure the self-sufficiency threshold necessary for a safe supply to the population, at the very heart of their mandate.

Each year, Héma-Québec distributes nearly 500,000 units of medication to hospitals. Quebecers are the world's biggest consumers of immunoglobulin, and demand is booming.

This component of plasma is irreplaceable in the manufacture of antibodies for immunosuppressed people and those suffering from certain cancers.

So, every year, Quebec needs twice as many plasma samples to meet demand.

Barely 3% of the population of donating age give blood each year, and an even smaller percentage of them donate plasma. Plasma donors are generally recruited by Héma-Québec teams at fixed donation centers. Informed of the need and challenged by the issue, some then embark on what is known as a "plasma
donor career".

To achieve their ambitious goals, Héma-Québec needed to find new ways of recruiting committed donors, increasing the number of appointments outside of their usual donor pool.

Society is filled with overachievers whose identities are shaped by a relentless drive to succeed in every aspect of their lives, an approach that gives them a deep sense of pride.

Become a plasma donor, shine socially and show off the power of saving lives.

For Héma-Québec, the brand targeted a highly qualified audience who would not only donate plasma, but identify themselves as donors, sharing their health and becoming a megaphone, highlighting the importance of plasma: overachievers. Extremely busy, active professionals that move in a closed circle, their attention more fragmented than most of the population. In 2024, the people can be found on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is the platform par excellence where achievements are proudly displayed in exchange for network validation. The ideal place to conduct an influencer strategy that would resonate with these overachievers more than a conventional advertising campaign, usually favored by Charities.

Taking advantage of the ideal context of "new years’ resolutions", they harnessed the power of the professional social network's algorithm for the cause by hijacking it. Playing on the type of new job postings highly favored by LinkedIn's algorithm and well known to the platform's users, they created a new
type of position.

A position like no other, one that commands respect and admiration: plasma donor. You could surprise your network with a posting like this: "I'm pleased to announce that I'm a plasma donor at Héma-Québec". To announce the good news, the brand recruited influential figures from the business community who matched the profile they were looking for.

The brand informed them, engaged them and turned them into spark plugs for the initiative, highlighting with sincerity and vulnerability, the intensity of this transformative experience. They were their recruits. They became the brand’s recruiters. And the theory proved right.

This new career opportunity, bragged about to the business community, instantly attracted attention
and respect.

The LinkedIn influencer strategy to recruit committed donors has paid off. The initiative contributed to a 45 % increase in plasma donation appointments in Quebec in just one week, totalling 2,322 appointments and 710 new donors recruited compared to previous weeks.

The recruitment campaign generated 200,000 organic impressions on LinkedIn, and an engagement rate 2 times higher than the norm for the "NPO" category on LinkedIn. Results that take on a special dimension when only a tiny budget was spent to support the initiative. The initiative marks the beginning of a new era for Héma-Québec: strategies aimed at changing individual and collective behaviors to save lives.

Credits

Alex Bernier, Executive Creative Director, Sid Lee
Julie Desrochers, Creative Director, Sid Lee
Justine Bouchard, Art Director, Sid Lee
Léa Dubé, Copywriter, Sid Lee
Alex Lachapelle, Copywriter, Sid Lee
Billie Doré, Producer, Sid Lee
Hugo Beaupré, Director and Editor, Sid Lee
Mélanie Bazinet, Executive Producer, Sid Lee
Claire Pouly, Group Account Director, Sid Lee
Laura Willig, Account Director, Sid Lee
Sandrine Roussin, Account Coordinator, Sid Lee
Geraldine Tixier, VP Strategy, Sid Lee
Nicolas Picard, Strategist SR, Sid Lee
Geneviève Lebrun, Vice President, Customer Experience and Communications, Héma-Québec
Catherine Viau, Director of Marketing Strategy and Branding, Héma-Québec
Audrey Faucher, Senior Manager, Marketing – Plasma Donation, Héma-Québec
Christina Smith, Product Marketing Coordinator – Plasma Donation, Héma-Québec
Mounia Serhrouchni Youssefi, Senior Digital Marketing Advisor, Héma-Québec
Marc-Antoine Turcotte, Social Media Manager, Héma-Québec
Marie Stuart-Morency, PR and Influence Marketing Coordinator, Sid Lee
Laeticia Harty, PR and Influence Marketing Account Director, Sid Lee
Pauline Lazarus, Media Relations Chief, Sid Lee
Digital Media Director: Stéphanie Bouchard
Digital Strategist: Marion Belrepayre
360 Media Strategist: Isabelle Pelletier
Production Company: Sid Lee
Sound Studio: Cult Nation
PR Agency: Sid PR (Montreal)
Media Agency: Tam-Tam\TBWA