How Geometry Global Took the Red Out of TV to Drive Blood Donations

Geometry Global Bucharest today reveals its impactful and effective ‘The RGB News’ campaign to the world, an activation that collaborated with a major broadcaster and used the TV screen to illustrate a simple but life-changing point.

‘The RGB News’ is a social mobilization campaign that tackles the issue of blood supply shortages in Romania by driving people to donate at their local centres. Romania sits at the bottom of the European league table when it comes to blood donations. Low and inconsistent donations mean that hospitals often find themselves with insufficient blood supplies.

This pro bono campaign was devised by Geometry Global in collaboration with Observator, the leading prime-time news programme on Antena 1, one of Romania’s leading TV channels. It revolves around a powerful message that was adopted not only by Observator but also gained a number of celebrity supporters to the cause. The aim of Geometry Global’s communication strategy was to show people what life would be like without red.

‘Donate Red’ was the key message in this innovative week-long campaign in which, for three minutes every day, the red component was removed from the TV screen’s RGB colour grid while Observator broadcast news relating to the topic. The mainstream TV news activity was supported by a robust and effective Facebook campaign which, applying the same message, removed the colour red from the user’s profile picture and directed them to their nearest blood donation centre.

The campaign met with a phenomenal response and impressive results to match: blood donations rose by 100% in the capital and 50% throughout the rest of the country. 14 million Romanians were reached within four weeks and the government increased its budget for blood donations by 300%.

Andrea Berceleanu, TV news presenter for Antena, said: “My rare blood type, O negative, makes me acutely aware of the of the need for generosity and also concern for those in need. Why leave until tomorrow what we can do today?”

Mihai Fetcu, Creative Director at Geometry Global Bucharest, added: “Together with Observator’s team, we aimed to communicate two simple ideas: to make people aware of the shortage of blood supplies by removing the colour red from the TV screen, and to design a supporting app that drives people to act. With the help of the news, we were able to create a powerful campaign with direct results: more red, more life for Romania, more donors.”