National Blood Donor Week + The Power of Happy Endings
National Blood Donor Week is all about celebrating people who show up and give of themselves. Typically, this time of year is a big donorship push for Canadian Blood Services that focuses on donors, but this time, we flipped the script to platform gratitude and stories from recipients. Our In Their Own Words campaign shifts the spotlight onto the impact and gratitude donors make happen—from the perspective of people whose lives were saved. Telling these stories was made possible by the compassion and consideration of our team, serving as a reminder that there are no soft skills: authenticity and emotions drive action, and we harnessed that power in this campaign.
The power of gratitude on National Blood Donor Week
As humans with busy lives, we’re really good at spotting what we need to fix, but we don’t always notice the small moments of positivity we bring into the world every day. Sometimes, we need a simple, heartfelt "thank you" to cut through the noise.
Most blood and plasma donors see donating as just another errand on their list. You do it because it’s the right thing to do. You’re in and out in an hour, and that’s the last you hear of your blood. It’s easy to forget that your donation saves, and changes lives of real people.
In our previous work with real recipients in Canadian Blood Services’ 2023 holiday campaign, the same theme kept coming up: recipients had a big thank you to give to donors. Interview after interview, they expressed wishing they could thank their donors personally.
With the privilege to hear these stories firsthand, we knew how powerful and moving they were. Seeing the real faces behind these donations feels nothing short of magical. We were confident that donors would feel the same way if we could capture the deep connectedness of blood and plasma donation, we could inspire and reinvigorate donors in a sense of purpose.
Finding the heart of a national multi-channel campaign
A key insight we’ve gained working with not-for-profits like Canadian Blood Services and The Ottawa Cancer Foundation is that sometimes the big picture is too big for us to see ourselves in it. People understand from a macro perspective that blood products play a vital role in our healthcare and that somebody should do something about it. On the other hand, the small moments make things personal and move us to act.
With this in mind, we really sweated the small stuff when it came to our campaign participants. Every story was carefully nurtured from the start to ensure that the recipients were comfortable and prepared, for their sake and for the sake of the final product.
Keeping in mind that the subjects of these ads are not actors and are retelling extremely challenging moments of their lives, we kicked off the process with pre-interviews to familiarize them with our questions and what to expect. On shoot day, we greeted participants and introduced them to everyone on set, starting out with hair and make-up, capturing their stories for radio next, then capturing still photos and leaving their on-cameras for the very last. We didn’t want scripts or “perfect” answers, we wanted authenticity. With the carefully considered rollout of the day, and the kindness of every person involved in production, we were able to create an environment where they could be their authentic selves and tell their authentic stories.
Engaging donors and inspiring action
By offering real recipients the opportunity to share their stories in their own words, we deepened and redefined donor appreciation. It’s not just a feel-good celebration, appreciation means sitting with and truly witnessing the gravity of what their donations accomplish. By focusing on the emotional impact on real recipients, we gave existing donors a reason to feel proud. Their blood donations aren’t just numbers; they’re happy endings, second chances, and new beginnings. And for those who haven’t donated yet, these stories lit a fire, showing them that their small act could make a massive difference.