You have to be a great person to become an organ donor, right? That’s the idea that The Martin Agency has turned on its head for Donate Life, with the brilliantly black comedy story of Coleman F. Sweeney, aka The World’s Biggest Asshole.
The agency’s left of centre idea grabs attention. The story holds it. That it’s crude is likely to get it shared. The message, that anyone – even an asshole, can be an organ donor, is heartfelt. The ad is entertaining, shareable…funny. Poignant. And different.
Its main aim is to get millennial men to tick the organ donor box. The number doing so has been declining for the last several years. About 22 people die every die in the US while waiting for an organ donation.
In life, Sweeney is unrelentingly obnoxious. At the laundromat, he empties other people’s laundry onto the floor, then steals the lacy undies. He poos in the women’s toilet at nightclubs. He gives cigarettes to children and harasses elderly people walking slowly across the road.
But, “even an asshole can save a life.” When he has a brain aneurism while arguing over a $3 diner bill, a waitress discovers on his driver’s licence that he is an organ donor. In death, Sweeney saves the lives or quality of life to a father of two, a teacher, a war veteran…and even the old lady next door whose dog he terrorised during his life.
The Martin Agency first got involved with Donate Life through managing director, account management, Chris Mumford, who developed a relationship with the organisation after his brother died in 2008. He had had a massive heart attack and spent a few months on an artificial heart before he received a heart transplant. He died unexpectedly after that, but Mumford and his family had been given an extra six months with him.
The film is running online supported by OOH, which includes a mural.
Actor, Thomas Jane played Sweeney. The voiceover is by Will Arnett
Credits:
Agency: The Martin Agency
Chief creative officer: Joe Alexander
Copywriters: Wade Alger, David Vogeleer, Brig White & Miranda Morgan
Designer: Will Godwin
Senior digital producer: Jill McGrath
Broadcast producer: Steve Humble
Managing director, account management: Chris Mumford
Account director: Audyn O’Rourke
Production Company: Furlined
Director: Speck + Gordon
President/executive producer: Diane McArter
Senior executive producer: David Thorne
Executive producer: Jay Wakefield
Line producer: Greg Schultz
DoP: Jeff Cutter
Editing: Cut & Run
Colour & VFX: The Mill
Sound design: Lime Studios
Music: Duotone
