EFAP Bordeaux students put their creativity at the service of plasma donation

At EFAP Bordeaux, learning happens through real-world experience. As part of their MBA in Strategic Communication & Marketing, students took on a major civic challenge: designing a communication campaign to encourage young people to donate plasma.

A campaign combining meaning, creativity, and learning

Training tomorrow’s communicators also means teaching them to use their talent to serve meaningful causes. In Bordeaux, students of the MBA in Strategic Communication & Marketing at EFAP had the opportunity to demonstrate this through a concrete project: designing an impactful communication campaign to promote plasma donation among young people. Supervised by their professors and supported by the French Blood Establishment (EFS) Nouvelle-Aquitaine, they put all their creativity to work to craft a strong, positive, and youth-driven message.

Why this campaign?

Every year, thousands of patients suffering from rare diseases, severe anemia, or immune disorders depend on plasma donations to live or receive treatment. Yet, the needs of the French Blood Establishment (EFS) remain far higher than the number of donations made—especially among 18–25-year-olds, who are still too few to take the leap. In this context, EFS Nouvelle-Aquitaine reached out to EFAP students to design a creative and impactful communication campaign capable of raising awareness among an entire generation about the importance of plasma donation.

The goal: to break stereotypes, make the subject more approachable, and show that plasma donation can become a simple, concrete, and rewarding civic act.

A creative battle at the heart of the Bordeaux campus

The project began in early 2025, when EFS challenged EFAP Bordeaux students: “How can we encourage young people to donate their plasma at the donation centers?”

During an intense four-day creative battle, more than a hundred students competed in teams, overflowing with ideas to find the right concept—one that would truly speak to their generation. Guided by their instructors and the campus teaching staff, they explored every approach: humor, emotion, social storytelling, video formats… before presenting their campaigns to a panel of professionals.

A bold, funny, and highly effective concept

The winning concept, created by six students from the MBA in Strategic Communication & Marketing, immediately won over the EFS jury.

The idea: break the codes of health communication by speaking to young people in their own language and with their own references.

The campaign features a series of visuals confronting young people with their everyday habits—often a little extreme or offbeat:

“You take rugby tackles every Saturday… but you’re scared to donate plasma?”

“You survived your end-of-year oral exam… but you’re scared to donate plasma?”

With this direct and relatable tone, the campaign successfully dispels fears and misconceptions without ever making anyone feel guilty.

From idea to reality: a real regional campaign

Impressed by the relevance of the concept, the French Blood Establishment decided to turn the student project into an actual campaign, launched in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region at the start of the 2025 academic year.

An ambitious multi-channel strategy:

Urban billboards in Bordeaux, Pau, and other cities across the region
Bordeaux tram wraps for two weeks
Posters in bars, campuses, and restaurants popular with young people
Social media presence (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook)
And even a partnership with Leboncoin, to reach young people where they already are.

The results came quickly: regional media praised the quality of the campaign and the relevance of the educational approach. Through this initiative, EFAP Bordeaux perfectly illustrates its mission: to train responsible communicators capable of creating campaigns that carry both meaning and impact.

EFAP Bordeaux: a communication school at the heart of local life

This project perfectly embodies the philosophy of EFAP Bordeaux: to train well-rounded, agile communicators who are aware of their impact. Here, pedagogy is based on learning by doing, collaboration with real stakeholders in the region, and hands-on experience at every stage of the program.

Engaging our students in a socially meaningful cause like plasma donation shows them that communication has real power. This campaign perfectly embodies the creativity and sense of responsibility that define the Bordeaux campus.

Guillemette Ballyot, Director of EFAP Bordeaux

Located in the heart of the city, the Bordeaux campus benefits from a vibrant ecosystem, supported by a rich cultural scene, innovative companies, and numerous institutional partners — an ideal environment to learn how to communicate with purpose and impact.

Want to learn more?

Dreaming of a career in communication, marketing, or media? At EFAP Bordeaux, a leading communication school in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, you’ll benefit from a career-oriented education, grounded in real-world industry experience and led by professionals.

Between innovative courses, hands-on projects, and corporate experiences, our programs prepare you for every communication career path: strategy, content creation, public relations, influence, events, digital marketing, and more.

📍 Discover our communication programs in Bordeaux and join a school where creativity, commitment, and open-mindedness are at the heart of every journey.

Discover the EFAP Bordeaux programs

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