The archive · Public & Social · Marketing decision · 2025
Life-Saving Receipt: grocery receipts carry vaccination alerts to Korea's migrant parents
When migrant parents buy baby goods, receipts print vaccination alerts in their language; 72% of previously unvaccinated children were vaccinated.
Chorogusan for Children (초록우산 어린이재단)
What it had to solve
In South Korea children under 12 get essential vaccinations free, but only 55.2% of migrant-background children complete them versus 96.4% of Korean children; a Korean-language medical system that is complex and hard to find leaves migrant families in a medical blind spot.
How it works
South Korea is becoming a multicultural society — over 5% of the population now has a migrant background — yet its medical system is built around the Korean language. All children under 12 are eligible for essential vaccinations free of charge, but only 55.2% of migrant-background children complete them, compared with 96.4% of Korean children; complex, hard-to-find information keeps migrant families in a medical blind spot.
Child-welfare organization Chorogusan for Children and agency DMINUSONE noticed that migrant families rarely leave their neighborhood and gather in local international grocery stores. So they made the store receipt a medium: a conditional receipt algorithm, installed on POS systems in stores in migrant-dense areas, prints a message in the parent's native language only when childcare products such as formula, diapers or lotion are purchased, plus a QR code linking to free vaccinations, medical interpretation services and counseling.
Launched in July 2025 with partners including Babybonjuk, Bebesup, the Korea Supermarkets Alliance and Incheon Metropolitan City, the campaign expanded nationwide to more than 1,000 institutions, including 40 Chorogusan offices and 68 partner organizations. At ADFEST 2026 the jury reported that the intervention led 72% of previously unvaccinated children to receive their vaccinations.
Why it lands
- It meets the audience where they already are — the neighborhood store — instead of asking them to find Korean-language health information.
- The conditional trigger, printing only when childcare products are bought, puts the message at the exact moment of need.
- Native-language receipts and QR codes remove the language and navigation barriers that created the blind spot.
- The medium is free media: an existing commercial touchpoint repurposed as a health channel, so it can scale to any store.
What it did
Launched July 2025 with partners including the Korea Supermarkets Alliance and Incheon Metropolitan City, it spread to more than 1,000 institutions; at ADFEST 2026 the jury reported 72% of previously unvaccinated children receiving vaccinations, and it won the Media Lotus Gold.
What you can take
Find the touchpoint an overlooked audience already uses daily and put the missing information there, in their language, at the moment of need — not in another channel they will not find.
Since then
The campaign ran through the 2025–2026 award season: ADFEST 2026 gave it the Media Lotus Gold, with the jury calling it 'Media Precision with a Heart', and it added Cannes Lions 2026 Media Silver Lions. Chorogusan, which in 2024 alone provided over KRW 10.3 billion in support to more than 9,000 migrant-background children, is using the receipt system as a template for reaching other information-isolated communities.
Sources
- ChorogUsan for children: The Life-Saving Receipt
- CHOROGUSAN and DMINUSONE launch 'The Life-Saving Receipt' to protect migrant children
- ADFEST winners Day 1: Grande triumphs for Ogilvy Singapore, dentsu, BLKJ Havas, DMINUSONE, Denhouse Sdn Bhd & Studio Eeksaurus Productions
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