Saving a life by sharing a video
In October 2017, Lotte Mertens, our 32-year-old colleague, was at her wits' end. She developed acute meningitis overnight. Fortunately, she woke up after 8 days of coma. But with failing kidneys. This affected her life 24/7. From someone who was full of life, she changed into someone who on some days barely made it from her bed to the couch. A kidney transplant could give Lotte her life back. But the waiting lists are terribly long and there was no match within her family. Her last chance: placing an appeal on social media.
Due to the long waiting lists, many patients turn to this medium as a last straw. But what could Lotte do to stand out in the avalanche of daily videos that are poured over social media? And even more, to accomplish something that seems almost impossible, finding someone selfless enough to donate a kidney to a complete stranger.
Together with Lotte and Roel Welling from Wefilm, we started thinking about which message would have the most impact to be shared. Eventually a video was created in which Lotte explained that she was looking for a kidney donor. In the film she called for her appeal to be shared in the hope of finding her needle in the haystack. That one selfless person. That worked. And how! Within 1 day, her call went viral. What made her message so powerful was the fact that she asked something very small of those around her. She didn't ask for a kidney. No, you already helped Lotte by sharing her video in the hope of finding that one person who wants to donate. Just share and you already helped her. You can't refuse something like that if you might be saving someone's life?! What also helped was that Lotte contacted her own friends, family and acquaintances via Instagram and Facebook. It was a personal question to an acquaintance. In the same way, she tried to reach everyone she knew and those people (including us) shared it with our network. This way the message spread in a personal and natural way. And for those people who did not know her but wanted to give them a feeling of who Lotte is, the website was created www.lottezoekteennier.nl made. With information about her situation, who she is and her life before and after that fatal day in October 2017.
The video ultimately reached 3,192,279 million people via Facebook, received more than 70,000 likes on Instagram and was shared more than 60,000 times. This online reach was continually boosted by the interviews we managed to arrange with, among others, RTL Late Night, LindaNieuws and Viva. Regional media in Brabant also delved en masse into the story of 'their' Lotte from Den Bosch. More than 500 people let Lotte know that they were open to donating their kidney. The loving responses were overwhelming.
Lotte eventually found that needle in the haystack. That was Anneloes. She announced via Instagram that she had already been physically approved to donate and that Lotte wanted to help. They turned out to be a match. And just after Christmas, Lotte received her biggest Christmas present. The transplant was successful and Lotte got her life back. Thanks to Anneloes.
Lotte was so grateful that she had found Anneloes. She also wished this happiness for other kidney patients. Many people do not know that you can live well with 1 kidney and that you can donate while you are alive. Lotte also wanted to thank everyone who shared, liked and commented on her video. She was so overwhelmed by the sea of sweet comments and offers. How could she thank all those people? That is why we, together with Lotte, Anneloes and Roel van Wefilm, looked at how we could convey this to the general public.
This time Lotte again made a video in which she thanked everyone for sharing the video and all the sweet offers from people who were open to donating. And in it she explained that she had found her match and what this meant to her. Anneloes also talked about her considerations for donating to Lotte. The video ended with a call to share the film to make people aware of the possibility of donating while alive.
We approached the media who had previously paid attention to her first video and asked if they were interested in the outcome of Lotte's appeal. And in her new mission to gain more awareness among the general public about living donations. Once again the video reached a large audience and media such as Lindanieuws, Viva and Koffietijd shared her story. The result: even more people who wanted to donate while alive, many kidney patients who contacted us for tips on starting their own online campaign to find a kidney donor and Lotte and Anneloes who sat down with the Kidney Foundation to see how this could be done. kidney patients can be helped with this.
As an agency, we have been able to set up many socially impactful campaigns. But this one, where we were able to help our own colleague, which gave Lotte her life back, has a special place among all the beautiful things we get to do every day.
