Romanian Red Cross Highjacks Journalists’ Microphones for Blood Donation Campaign

Responding to a long-term blood shortage crisis in Romania, the Red Cross and McCann Bucharest have launched a new campaign to encourage the population to donate blood constantly: they created microphone flags branded with a call for blood and distributed them to all national TV Stations. 

Romanians rally to donate blood only when the news stations report tragedies in their breaking news. For one day, the transfusion centres are over capacity, but then empty for months after. Given the lack of education in this area, Romania ranks last in the EU, with fewer than 2% registered donors. Sadly, no matter if there is a tragedy or not, someone needs blood every 3 seconds.

To combat this issue, Romanian Red Cross put blood donation on the news constantly. Journalists from all main TV stations held the new microphone in their hand at all times, when reporting any news, from politics to sports or fashion. 

PRO TV, the leading local TV station were the first to join, followed by all main TV stations: from public, commercial, religious to sport, they all rallied in one of the biggest media mobilizations seen in recent years. Blood donation went from an often forgotten cause to achieving breaking news presence every day. 

To make the call for donors even more visible, TV stations are currently airing a public service announcement sending people to transfusion centres every day. Anyone facing a blood shortage in their country can implement this solution. The campaign KIT is available for download here.