Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities represent a huge, yet untapped, market that is set to explode.  Action On Blood enables commercial brands, statutory agencies and not-for-profit organisations to get insight into these communities and engage better with them.  Essentially, we bridge the gap between BAME communities and organisations that wish to engage with them.

Whilst we encourage brands aligning themselves with the social issues we and our life-saving heroes support, we only work with those that make a genuine, positive contribution.

Our demographics: Ethnic minority consumers

Wielding increasingly larger spending power, they possess great economic muscle and are big spenders.

In America, black buying power is said to be at over $1.1 trillion, with African American households earning $75,000 or more per year being a fast-growing segment.

The black American population is currently 40 million, 13% of the U.S. population. 

These figures do not include the sizeable contributions from America’s Latino, Asian or other ethnic minorities.

In the UK, the spending power of Britain’s black community (11% of the population) is now worth an estimated £300 billion. 

The community is particularly attractive as it is young and upwardly mobile. 

About half of the BAME population is under the age of 12, whereas half of the white population is under 40.  

The collective buying power of ethnic minorities in the West, shows that they will have more influence going forward than ever before. 

Yet mainstream media and advertisers still largely ignore ethnic minorities, with startling under-representation in media spend.

In the UK, only one in 20 adverts in 2011 featured someone from an ethnic background.  African Americans account for only 1.4% share of targeted US advertising and brand activation spending.

The canny brands and marketers that have recognised the importance of these markets, have begun to invest in research and campaigns to understand and influence their spending patterns.

Brands must understand that the ethnic minority experience is different from the mainstream, reflecting differences in their perspective, beliefs and behaviours.  The brands that want their business must speak to them in ways that resonate culturally and experientially

Research from Nielsen “shows that Black consumer choices have a ‘cool factor’ that has created a halo effect, influencing not just consumers of colour but the mainstream as well”. Cheryl Grace, Senior Vice President of U.S. Strategic Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement at Nielsen said: “These figures show that investment by multinational conglomerates in R&D to develop products and marketing that appeal to diverse consumers is, indeed, paying off handsomely.”

Our demographics: Socially-conscious consumers

Sponsor or host an adventure

Providing life-saving adventures for our heroes requires skilled staff, equipment and consumables, and specialist marketing.  We work with a range of statutory, corporate and third-sector organisations to host and/or fund these activities and make them as widely accessible as possible.

If you are an organisation that would like to partner with us to host and/or fund adventures in your local community, you can sponsor a series of events (typically four to eight) a year. This is a great way to boost your brand recognition amongst your target communities.
We will work with you to find the health issues, demographics and event type to suit your strategy and budget.  You can get as little or as much involved in running your events as you like.  Many of our partners use our adventures as a platform for their staff to give back to the community. Studies have shown that getting involved in charitable activity has a positive impact on staff morale, attitudes to company and productivity.

• Host adventures: As a host you will recruit participants for the event (usually a blood or stem cell registration drive) from your employees, students, customers and other stakeholders, publicise the event internally and register attendees. We will support you every step of the way and provide the medical aspects of the event.  We will bring equipment and supplies to your premises, set everything up and take everything down at the end.
• Fund adventures: As a funder, we will be responsible for organising all aspects of the events; from marketing, delivering the event in the local community, and getting attendee feedback. Your company logo will be on all event collateral (e.g. t-shirts, banners, signage, newsletters, print and web ads, radio spots, tweets, Facebook posts, press releases, invites, landing pages and email campaigns).

Clients we have worked with include:

Etta Atlantic Memorial Hospital, JNCI Limited, South African Women’s Club (SAWC), British Women’s Group (BWG), Lagos Accueil, Vama Wave Foundation, Tabata Club, Poker Club

Commission a public health project

There are many health issues impacting minority communities that go beyond blood, organ or stem cell donation.  We work with a range of statutory, public health, commercial healthcare providers and third-sector organisations to create and deliver activities across a wide range of health and wellbeing issues.  From sexual and reproductive health promotion amongst inner-city youth, to projects tackling gender violence in refugee camps, autism awareness in sub-Saharan Africa, and end-of-life care for Asian seniors.

If you have a project idea or a problem that you would like to partner with us to tackle, you can commission a bespoke project.  Our experience delivering public health programmes in developed and developing countries will help you achieve the targets you are looking for. For large projects, we are happy to collaborate with other organisations.

We have a charitable sister company, Adventures In Compassionate Commerce, that is registered as a non-profit organisation, with no profits going to shareholders. Please note, however, that this is not the same as a being a registered charity (under UK law) or having 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status (under USA law).

Clients we have worked with include:

Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, NHS Blood & Transplant, Maternal & Childcare Centre, Eti-Osa

Reward our heroes with gifts or discounts

Recruiting and mobilising ordinary individuals to save and improve the lives of others without any financial remuneration is challenging. In many countries, previous political strategies, under-funded health systems, inequalities and discrimination and inadequate infrastructure make it hard to build cultures of voluntary donation. To motivate our volunteer heroes, we like to reward them for their life-saving and impact-driven activities.

If you would like to provide voluntary blood, organ and stem cell donors and other health advocates with promotions that reflect their lifestyles and purchasing behaviour, you can become a reward partner. This is a great opportunity for your organisation to generate positive PR, attract new customers and boost frequency and value of customer transactions. Examples of gifts include t-shirts, event tickets, VIP access to clubs and events, gift cards for shopping, discounts at cinemas, restaurants, and petrol stations, free mobile phone credits and lower insurance premiums.

Clients we have worked with include:

Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, Emma Dabiri (BBC TV presenter & Author, ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’), Euracare Multi-Specialist HospitalOsa