Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Bloody Good Types: Why our letters were missing

By Martin Johnston
NZME. regionals·
12 Aug, 2016 04:41 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The target of the New Zealand Missing Type campaign is to sign up 10,000 eligible people to become donors.

The target of the New Zealand Missing Type campaign is to sign up 10,000 eligible people to become donors.

The letters O and A went missing from the Wanganui Chronicle's online masthead and signage from other leading brands around the world in a life-saving bid for blood.

Medical blood collection agencies in 21 countries, including New Zealand, yesterday latched on to a highly successful marketing campaign, called Missing Type, which had its first run in Britain last year.

Global megabrands such as McDonald's, Google, Coca-Cola and Microsoft were among businesses which removed the letters from their websites, Twitter handles and signage to help promote the UK National Health Service's appeal for new blood donors.

More than 30,000 people registered to donate.

The NZ Blood Service received commitments from numerous brands, including Anchor, Pak'nSave, New World and NZME - publisher of the Wanganui Chronicle, Wanganui Midweek and New Zealand Herald - to omit the letters yesterday, kicking off the seven-day campaign.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But as part of the top secret move, the brands provided no explanation until this morning, confusing many readers and consumers.

In New Zealand, A and O went into hiding and unlike the UK, B remained on duty.

"We're not going 'B'," said Blood Service chief executive Sam Cliffe.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The UK have a higher percentage who are B+. Our real need is As and Os."

In New Zealand, 85 per cent of people are A or O, meaning their kind of blood is in greatest demand.

Fewer than four per cent of eligible Kiwis donate blood. The Blood Service has around 110,000 blood donors on its database and about 42,000 people a year receive blood products. Every year around 28,000 drop off the donor registry.

The target of the New Zealand Missing Type campaign is to sign up 10,000 eligible people to become donors.

"We also want to look at getting young donors," said Mr Cliffe.

"If we get them at high school or school-leaving age, often they stay life-long."

The number of active donors has decreased from 128,412 in the 2011 financial year, to 109,158 last year, according to the service's annual report.

Read more:
• Emily's plight highlights need for blood donors

In part this reflects changes in the way blood products are used, but that does not eliminate the need for new donors to join up.

Mr Cliffe said fewer whole-blood donors were needed, but rapidly rising demand for products made from plasma - a component of blood comprising mainly water, plus proteins, hormones and clotting factors - meant more plasma-only donors were needed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

To become a plasma-only donor, which carries additional eligibility criteria, new donors must first give a unit of whole blood.

Last year more than 59,000kg of plasma, up from 49,000kg in 2011, was sent to a laboratory in Melbourne for processing into blood products for use in New Zealand.

The NZ Blood Service produced some 112,000 units of red blood cells last year, down from 138,000 in 2011.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

‘Everyone went silent’: Whanganui Youth MP speaks in Parliament

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Opinion

Shelley Loader: How we can all get a share of the apples

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

11 Jul 06:00 PM

Former members are 'more than welcome' to return, RSA Welfare Trust president says.

‘Everyone went silent’: Whanganui Youth MP speaks in Parliament

‘Everyone went silent’: Whanganui Youth MP speaks in Parliament

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Major Joanna Margaret Paul exhibition opens

Major Joanna Margaret Paul exhibition opens

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Shelley Loader: How we can all get a share of the apples

Shelley Loader: How we can all get a share of the apples

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP