A Vampire Ad to Encourage Blood Drives

Fan of the "Twilight" series?  Or perhaps you prefer HBO’s "True Blood?"  How about the BBC America series "Being Human?" It seems vampires are everywhere – and the CW is the latest network to jump on the bandwagon.  They have a new series for the 2009-10 TV season titled "The Vampire Diaries," and as The New York Times reports, they are taking the ad campaign for the show to the next level. The campaign is featuring a series of blood drives, sponsored with the American Red Cross, which will take place on more than 230 high school and college campuses across the U.S.  The poster for the drive features the three stars of the show sprawled in a grassy field under the headline: "Starve a vampire. Donate blood."  Above the headline there is a picture of the Red Cross logo, and the words, "The need is constant.  The gratification is instant. Give blood"   The marketing team has also put together trinkets including dental floss labeled as "fang floss" and sunscreen called "sunscream" – instead of SPF it has VPF, Vampire Protection Factor, because “sun damage is the No. 1 killer of the undead.” The network is reaching out online with a widget where fans called "Vamp Yourself" which will be on aol.com and cwtv.com, and an online game called “Race Against the Dawn” which will be featured on mochimedia.com/games. The CW hopes the show will appeal to their audience of younger women who are already fans of the series "Gossip Girl," "Supernatural" and "One Tree Hill."  Only time will tell if the innovative marketing campaign will pay-off, or if viewers are simply vamped out.