Signing up for the stem cell registry just got a whole lot easier, and tastier, thanks to ‘Hero Gum,’ a bold new initiative from Gift of Life Marrow Registry, developed in collaboration with Labcorp and DOUBLEMINT.

Crafted by our team at adam&eveDDB New York, Hero Gum pairs a stick of gum with a scientifically validated method of DNA collection. By chewing for just five minutes, individuals provide a viable sample for HLA typing and can take the first step in saving a life.

As adam&eveDDB’s U.S. Chief Creative Officer Brynna Aylward said: “An innovation-based idea like this one takes years to realize, but it’s the kind you dream about as a creative – deceptively simple, genuinely useful, and impossible to ignore. The team took ordinary chewing gum and turned it into something that could save someone’s life. By making the process feel easy and even fun, we’re hoping to reach people who might never have thought about joining the bone marrow registry before.”

Read more about the work in Ad Age here.