The Singapore Red Cross continues its youth-centric blood donation campaign with the launch of the Red Cross Connection mobile app and a design competition for its eighth and final “hero” as part of its “Release the Hero Within You” campaign.

The new app will complement the previously launched microsite (http://redcrossconnection.sg/) to make information about blood donation more accessible for young people in Singapore. The Singapore Red Cross aims to increase the number of blood donors, aged 16 to 25, from 32 per cent to 35 per cent of total donor population by next year.

Stepping up the digital outreach: Red Cross Connection mobile app

When blood stock levels are low, calls for blood donation are made via traditional media, social media, websites, telephone calls and text messages. The new Red Cross Connection mobile application will add another platform to alert blood donors of emergency low stock levels in real time and prompt them to donate. Available for iPhone and Android users, the app will enhance the user experience and simplify blood donation by including information on blood drives and locations of the blood banks at users’ fingertips.

Another eminent feature is the augmented reality function which is only activated once the user donates blood. Blood donors who visit the blood banks will receive a sticker which they can scan with their app to activate an augmented reality function featuring Starblaze, the first Red Cross Life Force team hero.

Touted as the world’s first crowdsourcing app for blood donation, the mobile app will also harness the power of social media to encourage users to share the lifesaving act of donating blood with their friends through Facebook. Users will be able to track and post their donations and the number of lives they have saved whenever they “check-in” to a blood bank to donate blood, as well as see the number of blood donations made by their peers.

“It is important to instill the habit of regular blood donation from a young age. We hope to promote a regular blood donation culture among the youths and encourage them to be strong advocates of blood donation among their peers and family members. The Red Cross Connection app is an engaging platform for young blood donors to connect with each other, share information and motivate others in the community to participate in blood donation exercises,” said Mr Benjamin William, Secretary General of the Singapore Red Cross.

Youth designer for 8th hero

To celebrate the act of regular blood donation, and motivate more youths to step forward and start saving lives, the “Release the Hero Within You” campaign was launched in June this year. As part of the campaign, eight specially designed heroes with unique personalities will be unveiled. These heroes make up the Red Cross Life Force Team.

The heroes were curated from the results of a poll of close to 300 youths to find out the physical and mental attributes that resonate most with them. To date, seven heroes have been unveiled and displayed in blood banks and on the Singapore Red Cross Facebook Page. There are also plans to consolidate all heroes into a collection of exclusive bookmarks. Singapore Red Cross is now calling for youths to design the eighth and final hero.

“Not only are we creating content in the form of the heroes, mobile app and the microsite to engage youths, we want the youths to be part of the cause. We want to emphasize that blood donors are heroes who save lives. We have therefore specially designed the members of the Red Cross Life Force Team so that they can identify themselves with the characters. Essentially, the “Release the Hero Within You” campaign is a campaign for youths, by youths,” concluded Mr William.

The design of the final hero, named Cobalt, will be determined through a youth design competition. Participants aged between 16 and 25 are invited to design a hero based on the given description of his personality. The winning designer, selected by a panel of judges from the Singapore Red Cross, will walk away with an iPad Mini (16GB). There will also be a people’s choice awards, where the top designs will be open for voting on the Facebook Page. The designer with the most number of votes will win a Lenovo IdeaTab A3000.

Submissions for designs are now open, and will close on 31st January 2014. More details on the competition can be found on the Singapore Red Cross Facebook Page under the “Design a Superhero and Win!” tab (www.facebook.com/sgredcross).

Cobalt’s Personality

Logical, reserved and individualistic, Cobalt lives almost entirely in a world of abstract thoughts and ideas.

He is impatient with those less dedicated to knowledge than himself and because of this, can be hard to get to know well. Those who dohowever are amazed by how driven he is to turn his theories into clearunderstandings for the good of all.

Cobalt believes anyone is capable of being a hero if they put their mind to it.

To download the app, please scan the following QR codes:

Apple App Store

Android Play Store

Issued on 16 December 2013