The NHS encourages us to become donors plus...four more award-winning blood donation campaigns.

Giving Types | NHS Blood & Transplant | Havas London | 2023

NHS Blood and Transplant has launched a new creative platform during National Blood Week to encourage more people, especially those of Black heritage, to become life-saving blood donors. The campaign emphasizes the urgent need for Black donors who are more likely to have rare blood types required for sickle cell patients and others with blood disorders. Developed by Havas London and supported by Red Havas,  at the heart of the campaign is a 30-second film led by British actor, rapper, and comedian Michael Dapaah. As he walks down a busy British high street, Michael encourages new blood donors, addressing the question, "Am I the giving type?" The film showcases individuals who give back in various ways, highlighting that NHS Blood and Transplant needs donors of all types. It concludes with Michael speaking to the camera while waiting in line at a donor center to donate blood.

And here are four more...

#Stopmithani | HDFC Bank |Leo Burnett | 2018

Challenge and guilt trip Indians into giving blood to prevent a prolific and heroic blood donor from falling ill. HDFC’s annual blood donation drive needed to be kicked up a gear as the response was tepid. Understanding that people rarely donate blood for an intangible stranger, but would donate it for someone they care about, Mr Mithani was born. Mithani is a record blood donor. But at 65, it wasn’t safe for him to continue. Mithani was turned into a national treasure, with the warning from the doctors hanging over him. But if Mithani wasn’t going to donate blood, who would? Martyr Mithani said he would stop if 100,000 people did instead. The campaign asks the audience to step up and to take the responsibility away from Mithani in order to protect his health. 350,000 donors signed up in one day because they cared about Mithani and wanted to take on his burden.

Blood Beacon | Taipei Blood Center | Wunderman Thompson | 2019

Turn unused idle background app on a smartphone into an alert to encourage blood donations. Despite Taiwan’s blood donation rate being the highest globally, there are still shortages of certain blood types. Plus, there was no easy way to alert people to shortages in blood groups that would connect willing donors to donation centers. To combat this, Wunderman Thompson utilized the fact Taiwan had the second-highest smartphone penetration rate globally. The Blood Beacon was integrated into the 2 million-user-strong Parkinglot app. As users checked the app for parking spaces, they could see real-time data on blood inventories. When blood supplies dwindled, the app’s location pin would flip upside down and announce the blood type needed. By turning the idle background app on a smartphone into an alert system to encourage people to donate blood, blood donation quickened – and lives were saved.

The World's Biggest Asshole | The Martin Agency | 2017

Reveal that even the world's biggest asshole was a blood donor! Young millennial males are vital to the organ donor registry but they don’t think about death much and tune out to conventional campaigns. Enter Coleman F. Sweeney, The World’s Biggest Asshole. He acts like a jerk his entire life but he’s a hero in death because he donates all his organs. The reaction to this ad was a double whammy. Most realised this dirtbag did something decent that they hadn’t, so they signed up. While others saw themselves as ‘assholes’ too and this also triggered a response!

And it's not just us who needs blood donations...

I'm Dognor Campaign |Hyundai | 2020

Challenge Koreans to see that dogs need blood donations
Dogs are much-loved members of families the world over, and like any family member, you’d be devasted if they needed life-saving treatment. What’s not often thought about is the fact that dogs can need blood transfusions to save their lives too. When the ethical issues of Korea’s specifically bred ‘blood dogs’ was raised, Hyundai looked for ways to help raise awareness amongst its customers, many of whom had potential willing doggy donators snoozing on the backseat. They created a moving dog hospital that enabled more dogs to easily donate blood. By challenging people to be aware of the plight, and removing barriers to donation, they increased blood donations by 1250%.