roughly 3% of Americans who can donate blood do so. Post-covid, donation sites saw a staggering decline in Young adult donors at a time when blood was already in critical need.

 So I came up with the idea to create a campaign that gamified blood donations to encourage younger donors to get their blood back in the game.

The idea to gamify New York Blood Center's youth campaign felt like a natural step. Video games are a great way to connect to younger audiences by using pixelated nostalgia and a clear CTA to empower them to take action. 

In addition to writing the scripts for these videos, I also wrote lines for merch, social, and print and collaborated with our Senior Art Director and Creative Director to bring these to life.

We grew NYBC's presence across multiple high school and college campuses, creating wall clings, flyers, sidewalk decals, and door hangers, as well as hosting blood drives at campuses for the first time since the pandemic.

The result: over 1 million views on YouTube, a feature on AdWeek, and thousands of donation sign-ups, causing a 21% increase in donations from youth donors. It turns out that video games can be fun AND useful after all, Mom.

After A successful youth Campaign, it was time to focus on an evergreen campaign that spoke to everyone. I was Tasked to think of what would encourage new and returning donors to give blood, so I thought of what they could receive in return: 

Karma.

Blood donor campaigns often speak to the societal benefits of donating blood, and not the personal benefits one can get from doing so.

Let's face it, although blood can save lives, many people don't want to take the time to donate unless there is an incentive: a gift card, gameday tickets, a free meal, etc. But what if donors received something that could make their lives better, too, like karma? 

Small acts of kindness like holding a door or helping someone cross the street can slowly build good karma, helping us feel better about ourselves and the world around us. But donating a pint of blood and saving up to three lives can get you a pint of good karma in just an hour. And trust me, that's a lot.

I brought the idea of good karma to the table and after days of brainstorming, we collectively agreed to the idea of using claymation and music as a fun and catchy medium to get the message across. Using a 360º marketing campaign, I concepted activation ideas, wrote paid/organic social posts and OOH, and co-authored the TV/radio spot script with my CCO.

As an evergreen campaign, we kept content relevant throughout the year by creating seasonal posts and activations, including a Halloween activation I concepted called BloodFest where we partnered with NYC Rooftop Cinema to pair bloody movies with donating blood.