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June 3, 2005 | Contacts
NEW YORK, September 21, 2004 –The Advertising Council today joined with AABB, America’s Blood Centers and the American Red Cross to launch the blood banking community's first national, unbranded public education and awareness campaign. Geared towards young adults, the public service advertising (PSA) initiative is designed to raise awareness about the importance of and need for blood donation in order to foster a new generation of lifelong donors.
Each year, nearly five million Americans need a life saving blood transfusion and 38,000 units of blood are needed daily in this country. Critically low inventories nationwide frequently result in public appeals for donations. About 60 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only five percent does. Almost 20 percent of non-donors cite “never thought about it” as the main reason for not giving. Few people realize that blood has a shelf life of only 42 days or that eligible donors are allowed to give blood every two months (or 56 days). As additional donor restrictions are implemented and the population ages, the country could lose more and more willing donors, which could cause an even greater threat to our national blood supply.
This thought-provoking new campaign was developed to catch the attention of young adults, especially 17-24 year olds, to increase awareness of the need for regular blood donation and to set the foundation for lifelong donor behavior. Created pro bono by ad agency Euro RSCG Worldwide New York, the campaign includes television, radio, outdoor and Internet advertising and directs young adults to visit a new, comprehensive Web site, www.bloodsaves.com, where they can learn more about the need for a robust blood supply and obtain information and resources to help them donate blood in their community.
“The percentage of Americans that are eligible to donate blood, but don’t, is astounding. We need to move away from the culture of blood donation under crisis appeals because it is the blood that’s already on the shelves that helps save lives,” according to Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of The Advertising Council. “I am confident that this provocative, empowering advertising will show our nation’s young adults how easily they can save up to three lives and encourage them to become lifelong regular blood donors.”
Titled “Save the World,” the new campaign features young adults discussing the extreme lengths they have gone to try to make a difference in the world in an effort to show how donating blood is an easy way to positively and significantly make an impact. Each PSA concludes with the tagline, “Saving the world isn’t easy. Saving a life is. And just one pint of blood can save up to three lives.”
Per the Ad Council model, all of the PSAs are being distributed to more than 20,000 media outlets nationwide this week and will run and air in advertising time and space that is donated by the media.
“By working collaboratively and combining our resources, the blood community can significantly strengthen donor recruitment efforts,” said Karen Shoos Lipton, chief executive officer of AABB. “This new campaign has such potential to make blood donation more mainstream, more accepted, and more of a priority for young Americans.”
“We are proud to be a part of this ground-breaking campaign,” said ABC CEO Jim MacPherson. “The creative execution of these PSAs is something completely unlike previous work produced by the blood community. We are hopeful that the frankness of the campaign’s message will resonate with young people and rally a new generation of blood donors to donate – not just once – but regularly.”
“Some people say they haven’t donated blood because they weren’t aware of the need. This edgy, creative ad campaign will help build awareness of the vital importance of donating blood and offer young adults an easy, quick, and tangible way to make a life changing difference,” said Marsha J. Evans, president and CEO, American Red Cross.
"We know that young people today feel a certain futility in their ability to affect the world they live in, and we wanted to use that as a leverage point in advertising to show these young adults that giving blood is an easy way to make an incredibly important difference - saving lives," said Kevin Roddy, partner, executive creative director, Euro RSCG Worldwide New York.
The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization with a rich history of marshalling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has effected, and continues to effect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action, and saving lives. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit www.adcouncil.org.
Established in 1947, AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) is an international, not-for-profit association dedicated to the advancement of science and the practice of transfusion medicine and related biological therapies. The association is committed to improving health by developing and delivering standards, accreditation and educational programs and services that optimize patient and donor care and safety. AABB membership consists of approximately 1,800 institutions and 8,000 individuals, including physicians, scientists, administrators, medical technologists, nurses, researchers, blood donor recruiters and public relations personnel. Members are located in all 50 states and 80 countries.
Founded in 1962, America’s Blood Centers is North America’s largest network of non-profit, community blood centers. Seventy-six blood centers operate more than 600 collection sites in 45 U.S. states and Quebec, Canada, and provide nearly half of the United States, and nearly one-quarter of Canada’s volunteer donor blood supply. These centers serve more than 150 million people and provide blood products and services to more than 3,300 hospitals. ABC members are licensed and regulated by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
The American Red Cross provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply (collecting more than 6 million units a year from volunteer donors) to patients in 3,000 hospitals across the country through its national network. Every two seconds, someone in America needs blood. The Red Cross must collect blood donations each and every day to meet the needs of accident victims, cancer patients and children with blood disorders, and the organization works to accomplish this through its 36 Blood Services regions. Please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or log onto www.givelife.org to schedule an appointment to donate blood or to receive information about sponsoring a blood drive. Marsha J. Evans is the President and CEO of the American Red Cross.
Euro RSCG Worldwide New York is a unit of Euro RSCG Worldwide. The agency is based in New York, with offices and operating units in San Francisco, Berwyn (Pennsylvania), Westport and Wilton (Connecticut), Boston, Washington, D.C., Mineola (New York), and Amsterdam. The agency provides integrated marketing solutions for some of the world's most forward-thinking companies, including Intel Corporation, Nestlé, Reuters, Schering-Plough, VeriSign, and Volvo. Its clients are leaders in virtually all major categories, from fashion to financial services, technology to health sciences.
- Ellyn Fisher, The Ad Council, 212-984-1964
- Jennifer Garfinkel, AABB, 301-215-6557
- Sharon Pavlovsky, America’s Blood Centers, 202-654-2915
- Ryland Dodge, American Red Cross, 202-303-5492
- Owen Dougherty, Euro RSCG Worldwide New York,
212-886-2084
- Ad Agency Euro RSCG Worldwide New York
Develops Ground-breaking Multi-Media Campaign Pro Bono
Copyright 2005 Cascade Regional Blood Services
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