Abu Dhabi Biobank, a leading healthcare entity in the UAE capital and the region’s largest hybrid cord blood bank, has revealed the impact and incredible success of a powerful campaign titled ‘Preserve Life’s First Gift’.
The context behind the campaign: In the UAE, only 2 to 3 per cent of parents choose to preserve a newborn baby’s cord blood out of approximately 95,000 – 100,000 births that occur annually. What many are unaware of is the potential loss.
Cord blood – present in a baby’s umbilical cord and placenta after birth – is rich in hematopoietic stem cells and can support the treatment of more than 80 extremely serious diseases, as approved by the FDA , including through stem cell therapies that can cure thalassemia, leukemia, sickle cell anaemia and other blood cancers. In short, donated cord blood can save lives.
To create awareness about this life-saving measure, the Abu Dhabi Biobank – formed by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) and M42 – launched the Preserve Life’s First Gift campaign to reframe cord blood preservation from a clinical afterthought into a powerful act of community participation, purpose-built for UAE to build preventive, precision-led healthcare.
At its core, the campaign addressed a clear challenge: while cord blood is a proven, life-saving resource for treating blood disorders and supporting advanced research, awareness about it remains low globally. The solution that Abu Dhabi Biobank found was to position cord blood as the newborn baby’s “first gift”, which can be preserved for their own use or donated to save someone else’s life.
Rollout of the life-saving Abu Dhabi Biobank campaign
The mass awareness campaign was rolled out across out-of-home billboard placements, cinema ads in partnership with VOX Cinemas for above-the-line (ATL) marketing, and branded giveaways in female washrooms and the breastfeeding areas at VOX cinemas.
Targeting for Abu Dhabi and Al Ain residents, the ideation, curation and copywriting of the campaign was led in-house by Abu Dhabi Biobank, under supervision of M42 Group Marketing and Communications. The implementation and media buying was handled by Media Strike.
The campaign also also took into consideration search behaviour and digital consumption trends, which indicate that while intent exists at key life moments, overall category awareness and brand salience remain limited.
Since decision-making in this category is driven by trust, credibility, and perceived long-term value, which cannot be built through transactional messaging alone, the campaign also included on-site conversions. This included increased visibility at partner hospitals; conducting continuous medical education (CMEs) with key opinion leaders (KOLs) such as obstetrician and gynecologists; antenatal classes for pregnant women to drive conversations; and community events such as the Festival of Health by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC) and DoH.
Additionally, the campaign also included an expert educational social media series led by the Head of Cord Blood Bank, as well as testimonial films capturing voices of real mothers who have trusted Abu Dhabi Biobank – both of which drove engagement across onsite activations.
The conversation revolved around cord blood banking as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for each newborn. it explained cord blood banking as a specialised and relatively low-awareness category with long consideration cycles.
It raised awareness, created a need and build interest not only to raise participation levels of expectant families with cord blood banking preservation, but also create wider institutional and societal movement towards a healthier future.
From a brand and public health perspective, the campaign also signalled Abu Dhabi Biobank’s evolution from a research infrastructure into a movement-builder. By engaging expectant parents at a deeply emotional life moment, the initiative strengthened trust, encouraged long-term participation in biomedical research, and reinforced Abu Dhabi’s position as a global leader in data-driven, ethically grounded healthcare innovation.
In marketing terms, Preserve Life’s First Gift wasn’t just an awareness drive; it was a values-led platform that connected science, citizenship and the future of medicine in a way that felt both personal and purposeful.
Success and impact of the campaign
Abu Dhabi Biobank initiated the campaign on 17 November 2025, which is also celebrated as World Cord Blood Day – a momentous observance. As of mid-January 2026, the campaign was still running in cinemas and across OOH in Abu Dhabi landmark locations.
The awareness and brand salience campaign garnered more than 500 million impressions, with opportunity to see (OTS) factor between four to eight for MUPIs and megacoms.
In terms of brand recall, the campaign witness 30 to 40 per cent, given its unique nature and Abu Dhabi being a family-oriented location with high percentage of locals. The campaign also received organic PR as part of the UAE’s Eid Al Etihad programme.
Additionally, the Abu Dhabi Biobank website witnessed a whopping 20 per cent growth in unique visitors after the campaign, and a 25 per cent uplift in website sessions, with 90 per cent of visitors from the UAE, followed by India, UK and the US.
Calls and inbound enquiries increased 55 per cent, including enquiries via calls, WhatsApp, email and website registration forms. Abu Dhabi Biobank confirmed that it has also witnessed a stark increase in general awareness even within the hospitals. Previously, two in every 10 expectant couples were aware of cord blood banking and now this has improved to 70 per cent with knowledge of both cord blood banking and the different options available to them.
In terms of social media, the campaign drew in 3 million impressions and more than 3,000 followers. The campaign’s hero video garnered more than 13,000 views with a click-through rate of 3.3 per cent. Overall engagement rate between November and December was 10.3 per cent, up significantly from the overall engagement rate of 3 per cent seen from April through December.
The brand’s Instagram channel, which is performing as a top-of-funnel discovery channel rather than a follower-led platform, delivered approximately 162,000 total views in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025.
The campaign also generated approximately 4,000 leads, with 60 per cent of them marketing qualified at a cost per qualified lead (CPQL) of AED 30, which is notable given the need of excessive category creation before demand capture and the need for education to precede conversion in low-awareness niche healthcare services such as cord blood banking.
All in all, the campaign humanised a highly scientific process, aligning with Abu Dhabi’s broader ambition to embed research participation into everyday life and to build one of the world’s most diverse and representative bio-resources.
CREDITS:
Client: Abu Dhabi Biobank
Ideation, curation and copywriting: Abu Dhabi Biobank in-house team
Campaign supervision: M42 Group Marketing and Communications.
Implementation and media buying: Media Strike.
