We leveraged the scale and influence of UNILAD’s media platform to turn awareness into action, using hard-hitting content to rally our target audience around a little-known cause by persuading them to be part of a ‘world first’ stunt. Our stunt, The Illegal Blood Bank, acted as the hook that started conversations with consumers, media and policy changers. A lasting step forward for equality in blood donation, that resulted in a landmark UK law change.

1 in 4 of us will depend on donated blood in order to stay alive. Yet millions of pints cannot be collected due to an outdated, discriminatory law that puts a blanket ban on all sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating.

UNILAD’s brand goal is to share brave ideas by shining a light on little known issues. The platform has a broad audience, reaching 60% of Facebook users, with very diverse views. Our brief was to get this audience talking to each other with an idea that championed a fairer, more equal society.

Our objective was to raise awareness of blood donation discrimination in order to increase public pressure for change, with an ultimate goal of changing UK Blood Donation legistlation.

1 in 4 of us will depend on donated blood in order to stay alive. Yet millions of pints cannot be collected due to an outdated, discriminatory law.

In the UK, any man who has had sex with another man in the past three months is banned from donating blood.

Studying legislation from around the world and speaking to blood donation and policy experts uncovered a boundary-pushing solution, that not only would make blood donation a fair and equal process for all but would also make the entire blood supply safer.

Individualised risk assessment.

We opened The Illegal Blood Bank, the world’s first blood bank for gay and bisexual men: proof of concept for our proposed new process.

In one day, we collected enough blood to save 78 lives.

We tested the blood to the same standards as the UK’s health service, and 100% of it was safe to use.

Our audience: UNILAD’s very broad, mainstream user base, and policy-changers in the UK’s Health Service.

We needed to go beyond shining a light on the issue – we needed to bring a solution to the table, so that our awareness-driving campaign might drive real action.

Short-form video content across UNILAD’s ecosystem drove awareness among the audience, sparking conversation and driving action. We broadened participation by ensuring that those who couldn’t donate on the day could get involved by pledging a pint online or showing support by sharing #BloodWithoutBias.

Donors, the brand and the media shared their experience online, and the donated blood was then used in an out of home activation that was designed to make the government take notice.

Our creative idea was proof of concept for our proposed new screening process: impactful enough to start a conversation, but also feasible for the UK’s health service to rollout nationally.

The Illegal Blood Bank was open for donations for one day in a secret London location. It acted as a proof-of-concept for the proposed new ‘individualised risk assessment’ questionnaire that screens all donors equally.

We collected and used real human blood in every element of our execution.

Donors were recruited using hard-hitting content across UNILAD’s social channels, encouraging gay and bi men to donate a real pint of their own blood in protest.

Those who couldn’t donate on the day pledged a pint online, and allies to the cause showed their support by signing our Change.org petition and using #BloodWithoutBias across social media.

Then, on the day of the official opening of the country’s new parliament, we displayed physical pints of real blood in bespoke special adshels around Westminster and across London, in a shocking and sombre guerrilla installation, to make a statement that the government couldn’t ignore.

We raised awareness to increase pressure for change:

· Content visibility: 10.9m impressions and 900k video views.

· Detailed headline coverage on BBC and ITV news.

· Coverage across Daily Mail, Metro and Jeremy Vine Show.

· Awareness of ‘blood donation discrimination’: 81% exposed vs 65% control

· 62% of those who saw our content were ‘Extremely in favour’ of changing the policy, vs 46% control.

We sparked action:

· 5000+ pints pledged.

· Prompted an NHS response to investigate ‘individualised risk assessment’.

· On 14th December 2020, the UK government changed their policy, in a landmark law change. This individualised risk-based blood donation policy is the most forward-thinking policy for gay and bisexual men in the world.

The campaign has built UNILAD’s equity as a meaningful, provocative publisher. This has enabled broader and better conversations with brands, by showing how UNILAD can rally their community around a cause.