Waiting to Live

Wunderman Thompson UK and NHS Blood & Transplant create hundreds of dolls to represent the children waiting for the life-changing gift of an organ donor this Christmas

The new campaign brings to life the long wait for children on the organ donation register this Christmas, with hundreds of dolls appearing in hospitals and other prominent places across the UK.

While most children are eagerly awaiting a visit from Santa at Christmas, more than 230 children are waiting for something they want even more… a life-saving organ transplant that will help them to see many more Christmases.

Currently, there is a significant lack of child organ donors, resulting in children and their families waiting for a life-saving donation that tragically sometimes doesn’t come.

In 2021/22, just 52% of families who were approached about organ donation gave consent for their child’s organs to be donated. This represented just 40 organ donors under the age of 18. However, in cases where a child was already registered on the NHS Organ Donation Register, no family refused donation.

Now in a bid to raise vital awareness of the need for more child organ donors, integrated marketing agency Wunderman Thompson UK and NHS Blood & Transplant are launching a powerful campaign that will see the children transformed into handmade dolls placed in waiting rooms across the country. The dolls will launch a campaign to promote conversation around paediatric organ donation and encourage more parents to consider adding their child to the register.

The campaign, ‘Waiting to Live’, launches on 21st November with dolls representing children on the waiting list appearing across the country, including in waiting rooms for major transplant hubs like Great Ormond Street Hospital, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Evalina Children’s Hospital, among others.

With the backing of hospitals across the country, more than 230 dolls have been handmade by over 140 makers. Many of the dolls are based on real children on the waiting list. For instance, Ralph’s doll wears his favourite lightning bolt t-shirt and holds a car; Ava’s doll wears a bear suit for her love of bears whilst Pablo’s doll is dressed in a karate outfit in reference to his favourite hobby.

Each doll will be wearing a badge with QR codes that links through to www.waitingtolive.org. A dedicated campaign site, built by the Wunderman Thompson team, which allows people to listen to the stories of children who are waiting and sign their own children up for the NHS Organ Donor Register.

‘Waiting to Live’ builds on the ‘Consider This’ campaign launched in September, which used radio and press to make a powerful appeal on behalf of the parents of three-year-old Ralph, who is waiting for a multi-organ transplant. Katie, Ralph’s mother is an employee at Wunderman Thompson.

In the hero TV spot, a doll, representing Ralph, is shown sat alone in a waiting room while people pass by him. Other dolls are then shown sitting alone in other waiting rooms, while the ad reads ‘he is not alone’. We then return to Ralph, with the message: ‘You can help end the wait. Register yourself and your child as donors’. The soundtrack for the campaign was written and recorded exclusively for the campaign by Chloe Bruce-Gardyne.

The campaign will also run across cinema and out-of-home and will be supported by social and influencer activity.

The campaign has been led by Wunderman Thompson UK, supported by other WPP agencies including global communications agency, BCW, and media agency, Wavemaker.