NHS Blood and Transplant recently recruited 100,000 new donors in 100 days! A campaign launched by the blood center located in England and North Wales ended as a success on Valentine’s Day for the blood center with the recruitment of 119,907 new donors. The campaign was launched to bring in young donors, as the blood center started to see a big decline in young donors donating in 2012. The success of the campaign will help ensure there is blood on the shelves when needed.
Needing 1,000 new donors every day to replace donors that are no longer able to donate, this campaign brought in more young donors, primarily those between the ages of 17 – 24, who account for 40% of the new donors that donate each year at NHS.
With the support of celebrities, the campaign went viral with thank yous and marketing support to encourage new donors to step up and donate! Using Facebook to help promote the event, donors shared their stories and photos of being one of the 100,000! In addition, new donors received limited-edition ‘Blood Sister’ and ‘Blood Brother’ t-shirts that were designed by Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway.
With the success of this campaign, how can you implement a similar campaign for your blood center?