TORONTO: Based on the tremendous success of Canadian Blood Services’ most recent new donor recruitment campaign, Northern Lights Direct Response Television has created a second direct response television (DRTV) campaign for the charitable organization.

The new campaign promotes Operation LifeBlood, Canadian Blood Services’ registry for new donors, specifically targeting “intenders” – people who have expressed the intention to give blood, but have not done so. “We need to recruit 80,000 new donors this year to keep up with the growing demand for blood and blood products,” says Jeff Moat, National Director of Marketing for Canadian Blood Services. “We know there are a lot of good intentions out there about donating blood. Our goal is to translate those good intentions into action through Operation LifeBlood.”

Operation LifeBlood is a new concept in the blood industry. “Prospects” are driven to a web site where they can learn more about blood donation and its impact. They are warmed to the cause and, when they are ready, asked to make a pledge to donate in the near future. “A new program like this requires a strong call to action. That’s why we have chosen Northern Lights and DRTV,” Moat says.

Northern Lights has created 60- and 120-second DRTV commercials and a 30-second PSA to drive traffic to LifeBlood.ca. Northern Lights will also manage media for the new campaign.
 
“We are extremely pleased with the results of the first DRTV campaign Northern Lights produced for us, and we want to build on that success,” says Moat. “The previous campaign exceeded our expectations in terms of new donor acquisitions and helped raise awareness about Canadian Blood Services. We expect the new campaign to perform equally well.”

Ian French, President and Executive Creative Director of Northern Lights, says teamwork has been the key to success. “The team at Canadian Blood Services are savvy marketers with an excellent understanding of direct marketing. They give us the information and tools we need to create effective commercials. We’re very excited to be working on Operation LifeBlood,” says French.

The campaign is currently on air in Alberta.

Northern Lights Direct Response Television is a leading brand-based DRTV agency in North America, providing strategy, media buying, creative and production services. Clients include ING DIRECT, BMG Columbia House, Bell, Manulife Financial, TD Bank Financial Group, Sports Illustrated, DIRECTV, Scholastic and Yves Rocher.

Canadian Blood Services is a national, not-for-profit charitable organization that manages the blood supply in all provinces and territories outside of Quebec and oversees the country’s Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry. A dedicated team of about 4,600 staff and 17,000 volunteers enable us to operate 41 permanent collection sites and more than 19,000 donor clinics annually. Canadian Blood Services is a non-governmental organization, however the Provincial and Territorial Ministers of Health provide operational funding, and the federal government, through Health Canada, is responsible for regulating the blood system. For more information, please visit www.blood.ca.

For further information:

Ian French , President and Executive Creative Director, Northern Lights Direct Response Television
Phone: (416) 593-6104 x 223. Email: ian@nldrtv.com. Website: www.nldrtv.com.

Ron Vezina , Director, Media Relations and External Communications, Canadian Blood Services
Phone: (613) 739-2044. Email: ron.vezina@bloodservices.ca. Website: www.blood.ca.