The Rewearable Dress
Santa Casa de São Paulo
Issue 44 | September 2017
Agency
Y&R Brazil
Creative Team
Creative Vice President Rafael Pitanguy Creative Director Victor Sant'Anna, Felipe Pavani, Rafael Pitanguy Head of Art Felipe Pavani Creatives Marina Erthal, Mariana Villela, Fabio Tedeschi
Production Team
Producer Thais Gordon, Natália Vasconcelos RTVC Nicole Godoy, Camila Naito, Anderson Rocha e Caroline Reis Art Buyer Monica Beretta, Stephanie Wang Illustrator Rodolfo Martins
Other Credits
Client Services Vivianne Brafmann, Heloísa Guimarães Client Approval José Carlos Villela
Date
May 2017
Background
The hospital of Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Sao Paulo had seen a drop of 35% in the numbers of blood donors.
When separated into different components, such as concentrated red blood cells, platelets, fresh, frozen and cryoprecipitated plasma, one donation could help save as many as seven people suffering from different conditions.
To raise awareness of the situation and raise donor levels, Y&R Brazil enlisted the help of seven influencers.
Idea
In the course of one week, the seven celebrities all posted images of themselves – wearing the same red dress.
It began with Mariana Rios posting her 'look of the day' on Instagram. Hours later, the actress Fernanda Souza posted a photo in which she was wearing the same dress.
That alone caused a ripple of interest.
The next day TV host Vera Viel appeared on her show, in the same dress. Next, famous TV personality Sabrina Sato popped up in the dress. Then Thaila Ayala, Ana Siebert and blogger Fabiana Justus.
Their fans all noticed and began to talk about it online. Even the media picked up on the story.
Finally, it was revealed that this had been no coincidence.
Each of the seven posted the message: "It wasn't by chance. All 7 of us wore the same dress to direct the spotlight to an important thing: one blood donation can save approximately seven lives. Do your part. Give blood".
The dress itself, created specially for the campaign, was then mass-produced with 100% of all profits going to Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo.
Results
In the many thousands of comments that resulted, 75% said they would be giving blood. 20% said they were going to get more information.
The PR was worth $2.3 million in media value and more than 20 million people got to hear the story.
Numbers of blood donors increased 34% in the month.
Seven celebs, one dress, one cause
Our Thoughts
Being a bloke, I don't really understand why women hate to be seen wearing the same dress. But they do and it is also the stuff of the fashion pages and gossip columns. Tapping into this neurosis and understanding exactly how social media works is how the campaign got strong results.
Find your influencers, get them to say or do something out of the ordinary, wait for the wave of WTFs then reveal your purpose.
If only it was that easy! Well done Y&R for pulling it off.