The Power of you

Rebranding Eye Donation Month


Client

Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA)

Overview

The Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) champions the restoration of sight through core services to its members that advance donation, transplantation, and research in their respective communities and globally.

In 2018, one component of supporting this mission was rebranding Eye Donation Month. Since 1983, when President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Eye Donor Month (NEDM), the eye bank community utilized NEDM to promote cornea donation and transplantation awareness; encourage individuals to register as eye, organ and tissue donors; share stories about donors and their families; and celebrate cornea recipients.

In 2018, EBAA renamed and rebranded NEDM to Eye Donation Month and moved the celebration from March to November.

Gavilan & Associates (G&A) built a strategic, multi-faceted marketing and communications campaign to introduce and gain interest in the new Eye Donation Month.

Implementation

The six-month integrated marketing campaign included:

  • Meeting with EBAA members to gain insight on the communication tools they need to promote Eye Donation Month.
  • A Call for Stories, where EBAA members submitted stories about individuals who had their sight restored due to a corneal transplant; who had donated their loved ones’ corneal tissue; who worked for an Eye Bank; or who were healthcare professionals involved in sight restoration.
  • Designing a new logo and brand identity.
  • Developing a campaign theme, “The Power of You,” which celebrates the individuals involved in sight restoration: donors; donor’s families; eye bank employees; corneal transplant surgeons; nurses; researchers and others.
  • A downloadable Marketing Toolkit for EBAA members to use in their own Eye Donation Month promotions. The kit included posters, ads, logos, social media banners, infographics, and more.
  • An Eye Donation Month video featuring a 19-year-old who had received a corneal transplant.
  • A downloadable Media Outreach Toolkit for EBAA members which included a fact sheet; media talking points; tips for media outreach; a customizable media advisory; a customizable email; Myths vs Facts About Eye Donation; and tips for contacting media in their own communities.
  • A dedicated landing page on EBAA’s website.
  • Two EBAA member webinars, one to introduce the campaign, the other to provide media outreach tips.
  • Ongoing social media

Results

The campaign generated:

  • 970 views of the Eye Donation Month Landing page
  • 640 downloads of marketing and media toolkit resources
  • 13 stories in online, print and broadcast outlets throughout the country reaching 11.7 million individuals
  • 1,172 views of the video
  • Nearly 200 webinar attendees

Facebook:

  • 52% increase in Engagement
  • 12% increase in Page Views
  • 34% increase in Likes –
  • 40% increase in Reach

Twitter:

  • 24,000 impressions
  • 81 retweets
  • 170 post likes