NHS Blood and Transplant Joins Forces with Heart Radio for Organ Donation Week 2023

NHS Blood and Transplant has partnered with Heart, the UK’s biggest commercial radio brand, to highlight the importance of organ donation and encourage people to confirm their support for donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

With more than 7000 people in the UK currently awaiting a transplant, the week-long partnership launches today and runs throughout Organ Donation Week 2023 (18-24th September) with the aim of increasing organ registration by highlighting how an easy two-minute action has the power to save up to nine lives.

Shifting the focus from the eponymous heart to other vital organs such as the kidney, liver, lungs, pancreas and corneas, the partnership will also highlight how other much-needed organs have the power to save lives.

To relay this sentiment, Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden will champion a different organ each day, with bespoke branding and via the presenters who will explain that ‘This Organ Donation Week, we’re not just Heart. We’re supporting all the other organs that can be donated.’ In addition, listeners will hear stories from organ donors and the recipients of their loved one’s organs.

Across the whole Heart network, there will also be special ads championing individual vital organs - further emphasising how all organ donation has the power to save lives.

As part of the partnership, Heart presenter Anna Whitehouse has recorded a bonus episode of her podcast, interviewing Eunice Booker whose daughter was able to give the gift of life to six others after a car accident took hers aged just 26. Together, Anna and Eunice discuss the practicalities and importance of confirming your support for donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register. The episode will be available on Global Player from 19th September.

Social and online content on Heart’s channels and on the NHS Blood and Transplant social accounts will amplify on-air content encouraging people to use #OrganDonationWeek to announce that they’ve confirmed their decision to donate on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

The campaign was creatively devised by Havas London and produced and executed by Global, the Media & Entertainment Group, with creative running across radio, social, online and outdoor.

Anthony Clarkson, director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, says, “This Organ Donation Week we’re urging everyone to confirm their support for organ donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register. Families will still always be consulted before organ donation goes ahead and we know that 9 out of 10 families will agree to support organ donation if their loved one has confirmed their decision to donate in this way.

“It is fantastic to come together and work with the team at Heart to spread our message out to the millions of people tuning in to the station every day. The more people who make their decision known on the NHS Organ Donor Register, the more families we hope will support that decision and the more lives will be saved.”

Vicki Maguire, chief creative officer at Havas London said, “We’re disrupting the daily lives of nearly five million people to draw their attention to organ donation. For one week only it's not just heart they're listening to, it’s a heartfelt ask to confirm their support for donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register. Please do it. On a personal level, I know how much this means.’’

Heart Breakfast’s Jamie Theakston said, “It’s a massive week for us on the show and we’re so proud to be supporting NHS Organ Donation Week. What’s fantastic is that we’re seeing and meeting people whose lives have been fundamentally changed thanks to organ donation, and thanks to people doing something that’s really quite straightforward - confirming their decision to donate at organdonation.nhs.uk. It’s the best thing we can encourage our listeners to do, and they’ll never know the amount of joy they can bring - it’s absolutely remarkable.”

The campaign follows on from ‘Giving Types’, a creative platform launched by Havas London during National Blood Week with NHS Blood and Transplant. Designed to address the urgent need for more blood donors the campaign sat across TV, VOD, OOH, Social and Radio – including Global’s Heart. Since its launch, the campaign has seen huge success, with NHS Blood and Transplant noting a 582% increase in registrations.