Be The Match: Ava + Bo

Ava’s back! And she brought a friend this time! In this newest video in the Ava + Bo series, we are introduced to Ava’s friend, Jayden, who had to battle Graft-Versus-Host-Disease during his transplant recovery. Ava interviews Jayden to find out what was involved in the process of diagnosing and recovering from GVHD.

It’s been a joy working with Be The Match again and being able to tell a new story from a different perspective on bone marrow transplant. Check out the original campaign below!

What is a Bone Marrow Transplant

Introducing: Ava + Bo

Every now and then, you get an opportunity to work on a project that has everything you want in it. When Be The Match came to us with the request to develop long-format educational videos with original characters for children to understand the bone marrow process, we knew we’d hit the jackpot.

We all know every dream project comes with its challenges. How do you explain an intense medical procedure to children aged 5-12? How do you write, design, animate, and finish over 11 minutes of content in 6.5 months, in English and en Español? Well, you get to work, and that’s exactly what we did at Gasket.

From the Be The Match team we learned about the transplant process, we made sure all information was talked about correctly, and we designed the sets to be technically accurate down to the oxygen valves and rubber glove boxes. We developed our main character Ava as someone the kids could relate to, be comforted by, and learn from since she too had gone through a bone marrow transplant. We gave her a faithful companion Bo, who when she went through her sickness never left her side. And to talk about the medical portion we developed a motion graphics section to lessen the scariness of such a procedure.

Ava has more stories to tell, so stay tuned for more from her and Bo in the coming months.

March 2022 update: We’re not the only ones who loved how this project turned out! AdFed seemed to think it was pretty good too! Ava and Bo won a Golden Pin for Best Webisode series at The Show!