Leveraging behavioural economics to help men overcome their hidden fears of giving blood
An aging population and blood donation shortage in the UK means both younger and male donors are vital in having enough blood to maintain regular supplies. 400 new donors are needed every day to replace those who can no longer donate.
Knowing that people are more likely to do something if “people we like and people like us” do it too, we created the ITV2 Blood Squad - an ever-growing team of young people and celebrities seen to be donating blood with no fear or ill effect. With a modest budget we focused on the sociable and sharable, leveraging two key youth channels: cinema and social. We tapped into social occasions around cinema at Halloween and created sharable content for social showing relatable talent giving blood, encouraging others to do the same.
The campaign drove enough sign ups to the donor register, to help the NHSBT meet its required quota for over a month, giving the potential to save over 60,000 lives. Better still, 49% aged 17-34 who signed up were men (vs. 33% average), a key sub-group needed for current blood shortages.