The National Rubro-Negro Blood Campaign kicks off on August 15th in São Paulo. The goal is to encourage the club's fans to support blood banks across the country. The initiative, supported by the Ministry of Health, is the result of a Marketing Department initiative in partnership with the National Embassies, a project of the Planning Department that organizes official club representations in various locations throughout the country and around the world.

The new campaign took shape through the merger of two similar existing initiatives. At different times, the club's Marketing Department encouraged donations at the Rio de Janeiro blood center, while Embassies promoted the same in some Brazilian states.

The donation period runs from August 15th to 21st. "We want to encourage Flamengo fans to donate blood during the same period. The chosen periods were February and August, the most critical months for blood banks throughout Brazil," explains Ricardo Hinrichsen, Flamengo's Executive Director of Marketing.

The FlaSampa embassy is launching the campaign, encouraging donations in São Paulo to be concentrated on the first day of the campaign, Saturday the 15th. The closing ceremony will take place on August 21st in Rio de Janeiro, with the participation of Flamengo's organized fan groups.

In other states, the day will be chosen through the blood banks and, in some cases, with the support of local Embassies. "Embassies interested in participating in the project should contact the club to support the project," explains Rodrigo Fortuna, director of FlaSampa.

Blood centers in several states have already confirmed their participation. The addresses for blood donations are available on the hotsite http://mkt.flamengo.com.br/hotsite/sanguerubronegro/. The hotsite provides important information, such as who can donate and how to donate, as well as an interaction area: donors can submit photos and videos and participate through the campaign's Orkut and Twitter communities.