American Red Cross
A Bloody Nightmare

Horror movies are full of people making terrible decisions and wasting tons of perfectly good blood, so we got the Scream Queen herself to remind everyone that they can put their blood to much better use.

BBDO NY
Director: Matt Spicer
Production: Division 7

“The hilarious satire sheds light on a recurring issue of blood shortages during the summer months.”

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Blood donations save lives, but a post-pandemic decline forced the American Red Cross to declare its first blood shortage crisis in over a decade.

The ARC urgently needed to drive blood donations among younger first-time donors. So, we turned to pop culture and realized that a lot of perfectly good blood is wasted in horror movies. We also discovered an interesting fact: 50% of Americans love to watch blood spilled in horror movies, but only 3% actually donate it. That got us thinking.

Known for her starring role in one of the most successful horror movie franchises in history, we partnered with Neve Campbell to create a funny PSA that leans into the very predictable ways that horror movie characters tend to die and waste perfectly good blood that could otherwise be donated to save lives.

Illustrated posters inspired by the horror genre brought to life something really scary: the fact that only 3% of Americans donate blood. Pie charts showing this tiny percentage were illustrated as typical horror movie scenes to drive the point home. These posters went up at blood donation centers all over the country leading up to Halloween.

While on social, we created a filter where you could find out your very predictable and bloody movie death.

The PSA compelled people to donate. As a result, reactivated donors increased by 10% and first-time donors increased by 6.2%, providing enough blood donations to help relieve the blood shortage crisis.