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How Lifeblood used DOOH to drive donations

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Industry

Healthcare

Objective

While one in three Australians need blood in their lifetime, only one in thirty donate. For Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, our task was to transform broad public support into immediate donations at the moments when supply was low.

Results

By fusing technology, creativity and purpose, the "Blood Supply" campaign redefined what DOOH can achieve in public health. This data-powered, dynamic campaign built awareness, inspired action and drove measurable behaviour change when every drop counted.

Key Product

Dynamic creative

www.lifeblood.com.au/

Creating immediate impact

Lifeblood had already launched a national dashboard to visualise blood supply levels by type, state and territory. The next step was to bring this live data into the real world, making it visible, urgent and actionable for everyday Australians. 

Partnering with Vistar Media, Lifeblood developed a programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) campaign that directly integrated with Lifeblood's Blood Supply Levels API. When supply for a particular blood type dropped to "Low" or "Very Low," the system automatically activated hyper-localised ads in the relevant state. Once levels recovered, the ads paused, ensuring efficiency and zero wastage. 

OOH became the bridge between intent and action, reaching Australians in daily routines near donor centres, while other media channels reinforced the urgency across broader touchpoints.

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Dynamic creative that responds in to need

Vistar's Creative Studio engineered a dynamic creative system that adapted automatically to live changes in supply. Each ad included: 

  • The specific blood type in shortage
  • The current supply level
  • A state-based call to action (e.g., "Stop the Drop VIC")
  • A simple direction to search "Blood Supply" and book a donation

The creative design prioritised clarity, trust and speed of comprehension. A bold, high­contrast layout ensured passers-by could absorb the message instantly, while Lifeblood's branding provided immediate recognition. 

Placement was equally precise. Using Vistar's DSP, ads only appeared during donor centre opening hours and within a close radius of locations where people could act immediately. The OOH campaign, executed with oOh!media, spanned high-traffic panels across rail, retail, office buildings and street environments nationwide. 

This seamless automation enabled the campaign to operate as a "living system" - evolving daily to reflect real supply needs, removing friction between seeing the message and taking action. 

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Driving action when it mattered most

Footfall and brand lift studies were conducted to measure the impact of the campaign across various metrics. The exceptional results demonstrated how pDOOH worked as a vital driver within Lifeblood’s omnichannel strategy.

Exposure to the campaign directly increased visits to donor centres, confirmed through a Lifesight footfall study. Respondents in brand lift studies also showed higher levels of awareness, consideration and intent to donate, particularly among younger audiences who are often harder to reach.

In addition, Lifeblood’s own data confirmed a clear rise in visits to the “Blood Supply” webpage during the campaign period, further proving the role DOOH played in amplifying the organisation’s call to action.

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