London bus wrap campaign to drive vital blood donations this winter

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has this week launched an urgent out-of-home advertising campaign across London, designed to inspire blood donation and raise awareness of the critical need for blood donors during the challenging winter months.

Over the next crucial 6 weeks in the run up to the busy festive period, there are over 60,000 appointments still to be filled in donor centres across England, with over 27,000 (43%) of these appointments in London.

This campaign appeals directly to Londoners; aiming to encourage existing donors to book an appointment, and inspire those who haven't donated before, particularly young and Black heritage audiences, to sign up and book in for their first donation.

London is a key target area for NHS Blood and Transplant, due to a high number of potential donors, especially those of Black heritage, urgently needed to help treat a growing number of patients with sickle cell reliant on regular blood transfusions to stay alive.

Planned and bought by Posterscope and OmniGOV, the campaign features three fully wrapped double-decker buses and 185 bus Supersides, delivering eye-catching creative across high-footfall London routes.

Creative executions by Liveposter and NHS Blood and Transplant’s in-house creative services team, focus on the lifesaving impact of blood donation, with contextual messaging such as "Save up to 3 lives in 1 hour", "Every 90 seconds, London hospitals need a unit of blood" and "London, it's in your blood to save lives."

The campaign goes live this week, with the bus wraps running for 4 weeks and Supersides for 2 weeks throughout London.

Helen Duggan, Assistant Director of Marketing and Creative Services at NHS Blood and Transplant, says:

"Blood is needed every single day to help patients in London and across the country. At the moment, we urgently need more donors who have O negative blood, which is used in emergency situations, and more donors of Black heritage to treat people with Sickle Cell.

This campaign delivers an urgent, unmissable message to the streets of London, encouraging our generous community to book an appointment to give blood. Whether you've given blood before or are booking for the first time, we want to hear from you. In just one hour you can save and improve 3 lives this winter."

How you can help

The campaign comes at a time when NHS Blood and Transplant are particularly appealing for more donors with O negative, B negative and RO blood to come forward and help boost stocks.

O negative is known as the 'universal' blood type, which can be used for all patients in emergencies, and B negative is particularly rare, found in just 2% of the population.

To book an appointment to donate this winter, visit our website or download the NHS Give Blood app.