How NHSBT's data-led strategy boosted blood donation bookings

Our objective was therefore to increase donation appointment bookings by aligning paid media spend with NHSBT’s current availability.

Last year, we proved the potential of using NHSBT’s data to power Meta, our most cost-effective driver of registrations. By categorizing donor centers into high, medium, and low availability buckets, we transformed a previously manual, quarterly process into a daily, data-led activation.

But with Online Video (OLV) and Digital Audio (DA) playing an increasingly important role in inspiring and educating audiences on the need for more donors, we asked ourselves “why stop there?”

Media and Creative Execution

Already running a tightly optimized and effective OLV and DA strategy—leveraging complex targeting to reach altruistic audiences most warm to donation—we knew we were reaching the right audiences at scale, in the right places. But we needed to make these messages more relevant.

And data-led design held the key.

During the test period, NHSBT launched new creative for their 'Giving Type' campaign produced by Havas. The new creative—‘Be There’—included a video depicting a road traffic collision featuring real-life paramedics and four radio adverts using the voices and stories of real patients who rely on lifesaving donations. The creative reminded audiences that when you donate blood, you don't know who it will help. You just know you'll be there when it's needed most.

Using video and audio, this insight-driven creative approach improved our storytelling ability; helping to inspire key audiences with the modern image of what it means to be a blood donor, and to educate them on the different treatments and therapies derived from blood and blood component donations.

Backed by data automation, we amplified the urgency of the message at the right moment—when audiences could most meaningfully respond by booking their appointment to donate.

Results (Outcomes and Effectiveness)

To measure the success of expanding our ‘Next Best Action’ marketing automation strategy into Online Video and Digital Audio, we ran a Causal Impact Analysis through Annalect at OMG. The objective was clear: quantify the incremental impact of channel expansion beyond Meta and understand whether this would drive more appointment bookings.

The methodology compared test donor centers (where ‘Next Best Action’ expansion occurred) with control centers running business-as-usual programmatic strategies. Using Bayesian modeling, Annalect built a counterfactual to predict what would have happened without intervention, allowing us to isolate the true impact of our strategy.

This innovative new way of automating blood donation advertising drove incredible results across both campaign outputs and real-life outcomes.

• Campaign Outputs:
  • Within YouTube, test regions delivered a significantly lower CPM of £3.26 compared to £6.59 in control regions, alongside a markedly higher click-through rate of 0.31% versus 0.13%, demonstrating both cost efficiency and stronger audience engagement.
• Campaign Outcomes:
  • But most importantly, we saw a statistically significant 2% uplift in bookings in test centers compared to the predicted baseline. When scaled out across their media plan, this could drive up to 24,000 additional bookings per year.
  • And with each blood donation appointment potentially saving up to three adult lives, this innovation could lead to 72,000 more lives saved every year. A powerful demonstration of how data-led marketing can drive real-world impact.

Rebekah Lomax, head of marketing – Planning & Evaluation: “Every day, thousands of amazing people give blood. Around 50,000 appointments need filling each week to supply the NHS, but availability can vary. By turning data into action, we used media for good—influencing the right people at the right time helping to save and improve lives.”

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