This Chewing Gum Can Save a Life

No blood work or swabs required

Chew on this. Five minutes of chewing Hero Gum can potentially save a life. The collab from adam&eveDDB New York, Labcorp, Doublemint and Gift of Life makes DNA collection a breeze. (We know a place that’s loaded with gum and DNA.)

The campaign took two years to complete and it launches at scale on Aug. 1 at Citi Field during the Mets vs. Giants game. Hundreds of kits will be given to fans. An animated video from Unsaid Studio will run on the stadium Jumbotron:

Every three minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with blood cancer. This campaign makes joining the stem cell registry easier and without the need for blood work or a cheek swab.

The initiative hopes to target a younger, diverse audience, as only 30 percent of patients find a match in their family. Seventy percent rely on donor registries.

A :60 below highlights how the kit works:

“Hero Gum is an idea that’s been close to our hearts for over two years. Many of us on the team personally know someone who’s been affected by blood cancer, and that connection drove every part of the process,” says Mussashi Shintaku, CD at adam&eveDDB. “From day one, we set out to turn something as simple and familiar as chewing gum into a powerful, life-saving act. Time only made the idea stronger, with more major brands coming on board along the way. Bringing it to life with Gift of Life has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my career.”

Labcorp performs testing for the registry and found that cheek cells left on chewed gum can identify HLA tissue markers. Those are used to match donors to patients battling leukemia and lymphoma among other diseases.

Kits will be distributed at high-traffic events, college campuses, community centers and online.