Horror fans love blood and they love Neve Campbell. The American Red Cross decided to combine Horror, blood and Neve to produce a fun Public Service Announcement with an important message.

Because a subject is serious doesn’t mean the message has to be boring, I’m sure this enjoyable PSA had better results than most campaigns. It really captures the attention and sticks in the mind. I love it.

American Red Cross: A Bloody Nightmare TV Commercial Ad August 2022

Video Credit: Best TV Commercial Ads From World

Blurb from the Video YouTube page:
Blood donation saves lives, but the summer months are typically very challenging for blood collection. Known for her starring role in one of the most successful horror movie franchises in history, BBDO New York partnered with Neve Campbell.

With her help, the team created a humorous and entertaining PSA campaign that leans into typical horror movie tropes and the very predictable ways that horror movie characters tend to die. BBDO called the PSA ‘A Bloody Nightmare’, not because of the scenes that we’re showing, but because there’s a blood shortage and not enough people are donating blood.

High schools and colleges, which account for about 25% of blood drives, are closed and many regular donors are busy travelling throughout the summer. This leads to severe blood shortages in July and August, and the pandemic has only made things worse.

To help break through and attract first-time donors, we needed to do something different. One of the most exciting things about the summer is all the new movie releases. Everyone gets excited about them, especially when it comes to horror movies. And people in horror movies make lots of bad decisions, usually leading to lots of wasted blood. So we saw an opportunity. A fact that is underscored by the important message our PSA delivers; 50% of Americans like watching blood spilled in movies, but only 3% actually donate it. Blood isn’t just for movies, it saves lives.

To help get our message across in social media, BBDO New York also created static posts and an Instagram filter that predicts the cliché horror movie death that awaits you, encouraging you to not waste your blood by dying in a predictable horror movie way, and to donate your blood instead.

© Colin Lawson Books

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