The Illegal Blood Bank is a stunt that turns a complex and controversial topic into a simple and hard hitting execution, which drove mainstream coverage. It was created in order to inform and influence the public policy agenda, while driving brand equity, using an awareness driving idea designed to create pressure for change that ultimately led to 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 Yet millions of pints cannot be collected due to an outdated, discriminatory law that puts a blanket ban on all sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating.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 come up with a creative idea that would get this audience talking and champion 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.

UNILAD uses its editorial power to shed a light on provocative issues, by sharing brave ideas.

We partnered with FreedomToDonate to create a visceral, awareness driving campaign using real human blood donated by gay and bisexual men, that pressurised the government to change the law.

We opened The Illegal Blood Bank: the world’s first blood bank for gay and bisexual men. This hard hitting, provocative, yet simple activation was designed with headlines in mind.

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

Then we used it to make a statement the government couldn’t ignore. On the first day of work for the UK’s new government, we exhibited the real human blood in adshels outside parliament and across London. Our message was simple: This blood is on the Government’s hands, but the other 5000 pints pledged online don’t have to be.

UNILAD is a media platform with a hugely broad audience. It reaches 60% of Facebook users, with very diverse views.

Blood donation discrimination is an extremely complicated medical issue, so we focused on one clear insight that would appeal to everyone: life-saving blood is going to waste due to an outdated and discriminatory law.

Our PR strategy was to:

· Drive in-depth earned media coverage across broadcast and national press, with a simple and hard-hitting stunt: The Illegal Blood Bank.

· Educate all age groups on the discrimination and out-dated legislation around blood donation of MSM men.

· Create an integrated campaign consisting of earned media and a social awareness strategy on owned channels to drive blood donations and sign ups.

· Use case studies showing the real people behind the story to inspire people to donate.

· Take the story to the people and organisations that have impact.

We targeted broadcast, national, lifestyle, LGBTQ+ and trade press to widen our reach.

We hosted pre-briefing sessions with press to discuss the topic and answer their questions.

We opened The Illegal Blood Bank: the world’s first blood bank for gay and bisexual men.

We gave press the opportunity to attend, to see the donations happening in real time and speak face to face with donors.

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

Then we used it to make a statement the government couldn’t ignore. On the first day of work for the UK’s new government, we exhibited the real human blood in adshels outside parliament and across London. Our message was simple: This blood is on the Government’s hands, but the other 5000 pints pledged online don’t have to be.

Media outputs:

· 57 pieces of on-message press coverage across all vertical targets

“A damning act of defiance against backwards blood donation laws” - PinkNews

“This brave campaign shines a light on an outdated law” - PR Week

· Detailed headline coverage on BBC and ITV news in a primetime weekend slot.

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

· Content visibility: 10.9m impressions and 900k video views across UNILAD’s channels alone.

Target audience outcomes:

· On launch day, conversation about blood donation on social increased by 140%.

· Among those exposed to our launch video, awareness of ‘blood donation discrimination’: 81% exposed vs 65% control.

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

We sparked action:

· 5000+ pints pledged.

· 61,000 Change.org petition signatures supporting the proposed change in policy.

· The campaign prompted an NHS response, committing to investigate ‘individualised risk assessment’.

We successfully piloted a new, safer screening process for blood donation:

· We implemented and piloted a process that can feasibly be rolled out.

· In one day, utilising ‘individualised risk assessment’, UNILAD collected enough blood to save 78 lives.

· All the blood was 100% safe to use.

We achieved our ultimate goal:

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