Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood—and across the country, more than half of the nation’s blood centers have a blood supply of two days or less, according to americasblood.org, while 31% have a day’s supply or less.
At the Hoxworth Blood Center, at the University of Cincinnati, the need to maintain the community blood supply is just as critical.
“There have been times when we’ve had to make an emergency appeal for specific blood types,” said Judy Ashton, a representative with Hoxworth Blood Center. “Our community always steps up to the plate and comes through to help save lives.”
She said the work they do directly benefits the local community. Hoxworth Blood Center is the only steward of the local blood supply, and the blood collected is used in more than 30 area hospitals in 18 counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.
“Your blood isn’t shipped across the United States—by donating with Hoxworth, you’re helping your neighbor who may be in need of a blood transfusion,” Ashton said. “That’s pretty impactful to know that you’re saving a life right here in our community.”
The Need Is Always There
While their blood supply is healthy, that can change on a moment’s notice as blood supplies often decline going into the holiday season. To avoid a shortage, the Hoxworth team is turning to the power of transit advertising to get their message out, inspired by other successful bus ads.
“I was driving to work one day, and I saw a LifeCenter bus, celebrating a big milestone anniversary, and the whole bus was wrapped,” she said. “I thought ‘my gosh, Hoxworth should do that’!”
Ashton said she understood the effectiveness of transit advertising after working with Adsposure on a previous campaign for a different organization.
“When the [Cincinnati Bell Connector] first launched, we did an ad on the streetcar and got a lot of good feedback,” she said. “The ad was very visible in the community. Everybody recognized our ad and it got people talking and it helped solidify our brand.”
Building Awareness with Transit Advertising
A campaign like this emphasizes the effectiveness of out-of-home advertising with Adsposure. While Hoxworth uses other forms of out-of-home advertising as a part of their campaign, bus ads take that message to eye level in a way people can’t skip or won’t blend into the background.
“You can’t help but not notice a billboard when you’re driving by, but I feel like the buses offer a better opportunity because they’re not always moving. You’re not always whizzing by,” Ashton said.
Adsposure wishes Hoxworth the best with their campaign to bring awareness to the critical need for blood donation. Anyone who is interested in donating blood is encouraged to visit www.hoxworth.org or call (513) 451-0910 to schedule a lifesaving donation.
If you would like to share in the success our clients are seeing with their transit advertising, reach out to our local offices all over the country and see how we can help you.
