Canadian Blood Services Re-Brands Bone Marrow Cause To Address Critical Shortage Of Ethnic Registrants

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 25 Oct 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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There is a critical shortage of ethnic Canadians registered to donate their stem cells and marrow for patients in Canada. Finding an unrelated match is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Knowing that fewer than 30 per cent of patients will find a compatible donor from a family member and 70 per cent rely on the generosity of strangers for a stem cell transplant, Canadian Blood Services has embarked on a journey to help raise awareness about the need for stem cell donors. An important part of that work is a re-brand that launches this week, transitioning the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry to OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network.

Through extensive research by Ipsos Reid, Canadian Blood Services realized that growing OneMatch with more ethnic registrants required a major repositioning of the brand. The previous bone marrow registry identity had very low public recall, and felt very institutional. Also, with the addition of umbilical cord blood banking to the not-for-profit's business lines in the near future, the program had to position itself as offering much more than stem cells collected from bone marrow only. "If we are to succeed in inspiring Canadians to register and potentially save a life, they need to know who we are, what we're about and how to join," said Beverly Campbell, Director of OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network at Canadian Blood Services.

When it comes to stem cells, a patient in need of a transplant must rely on finding a perfect match - the "one match" that can save their life. Because ethnic representation on OneMatch is low, ethnic patients are at a major disadvantage in finding their match.

The new brand launching this week was developed by Shikatani Brand Design and will be brought to life with a direct response television (DRTV) campaign developed in collaboration with DDB Canada and OMD Media, Canadian Blood Services' agencies of record.

"Volunteering your stem cells to someone in need is a very rewarding experience, but also a very serious commitment," says Campbell. "If you are identified as a match, that's because a patient in need has been through every other treatment option, and is counting on you. We want to make sure that people who join are comfortable with, and will honour their commitment. People's lives depend on it."

The development of the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network name was based on extensive qualitative and quantitative research. The new name OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network scored best with respect to being most appropriate and appealing and would cause Canadians to seek more information about the organization.

At any given time, hundreds of Canadians are depending on Canadian Blood Services to find them a matching stem cell donor. For these patients, a stem cell transplant may be the last and best hope for recovery from a serious illness, such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma and diseases such as aplastic anemia, immune dysfunctions and genetic disorders.

But ethnicity makes a difference for patients and Canadian Blood Services' re-vamped and user-friendly network aims to help inspire more ethnically diverse donors to register. The markers used to match donors to patients occur with different frequencies in different ethnic groups. For this reason, a person's best chance of finding a matching donor is within his or her own ethnic group. The change could not come soon enough - the current network has 220,000 committed donors - 85 per cent of which are Caucasian.

"We must close the ethnic gap on the network," said Jeff Moat, Director of Marketing at Canadian Blood Services. "We need to inspire more ethnic Canadians to join the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network to help people in their communities, and to even the odds for all patients looking for a match for a stem cell transplant."

Canadian Blood Services' stem cell program has seen several success in the past that have helped realize today's new network. In 2006 the then program received accreditation through the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) --- one of only seven in the world!

To join OneMatch, you must be aged 17 to 50, healthy, and willing to donate stem cells to anyone in need. Registering is quick and easy. To register online visit http://www.onematch.ca today - you could be the one match that saves someone's life.

Canadian Blood Services

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