#myfirstblood

We developed a campaign in which we used the game League of Legends to make a link to Sanquin. In collaboration with Riot Games, publisher, Sanquin translated the First Blood moment to the first time someone gives blood in real life #MyfirstBlood.

With a relatively small budget, Sanquin has been able to reach the hard-to-reach millennial, hit and mobilize their blood test. With the campaign we have dominated the news in a certain period. In regular media and in gamers media, national and international attention was given to us. In social, we also started the discussion about giving blood and doing something for society. This difficult to reach target group of young men also indicated during the campaign that they wanted to do something for society. If we had traditionally campaigned, we would not or hardly addressed this group.As a result of our campaign, we not only ensured the growth of new donors (5,000 in the period from 20/08/18 to 31/12/18), but also that for the first time the proportions of new donors instead of 75% women / 25 % man shifted to 25% woman and 75% male. And if you are a question in the BNNVARA National 2018 Test you have scored an impact.

If you are looking for young men <35, who are difficult to reach, it seemed wise to see where these men are and what their common interest is. The link to the game world and to the League of Legends game was for that reason a logical connection. Besides the range (a overrepresentation of male players 18-35 years), but also because one of the most important actions in the game is called 'First Blood'. 'First Blood' is the first moment in the game where one of the players destroys his opponent. A Dutch stream was also set up during the EC Final of League of Legends. In this stream Dutch viewers could enjoy the Final with Dutch commentary. This is the first time in the history of gaming and esports that a social partner is linked in such a way to a major international final tournament. By every 'First Blood' in the game a visual came into the picture ('a first blood could save lives'). In this game we made people aware of giving blood and seduced them via a free ingame skin to register.

Blood bank Sanquin a not-for-profit organization, is always looking for new donors. At the moment, there are about 320,000. The average donor is 43 years old, and about 75% of that is female. Blood can only last for a week, which is why many donors are needed. In addition to the new influx of blood, the composition of the donor stock also requires attention. Sanquin is dealing with aging, but also the low proportion of men. Blood is blood no matter how young / old you are, but men are allowed to give blood more often, and are more stable in blood counts.The problem with this group is that it is a hard-to-reach audience for Sanquin, but also for other brands. The most important question in finding new, young, male donors was: how can Sanquin address and recruit this group in a more targeted way. Without having money available for mass media and developing a smart campaign that also generates PR.