Sydney Swans launch Round 42 with Lifeblood in M+C Saatchi campaign

The Sydney Swans and Australian Red Cross Lifeblood have partnered with M+C Saatchi to transform the AFL's Round 24 into "Round 42", launching a campaign designed to raise awareness of Australia's ongoing need for blood donors by linking the 42-day shelf life of donated blood to the club's iconic Bloods identity.

At the centre of the campaign is the "42 Day Guernsey", a life-sized Sydney Swans jumper filled with blood-coloured liquid that will slowly drain over 42 days at the club's Moore Park headquarters. The visual countdown is intended to highlight how quickly blood supplies expire, with Lifeblood research showing almost 95% of Australians do not know how long donated blood lasts.

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A campaign built around behaviour change

The integrated campaign spans owned, earned and paid media, with out-of-home and digital out-of-home creative evolving throughout the countdown to show the guernsey gradually emptying.

The initiative will culminate when the Swans host North Melbourne at the SCG in late August, with Round 24 rebranded as "Round 42". Match day will feature stadium branding, LED takeovers, a guard of honour and donor recognition moments before the guernsey is symbolically refilled to represent Australia's ongoing need for regular donations.

Sydney Swans CEO Matthew Pavlich said the campaign used the club's platform to encourage supporters to take action.

“Our match days at the SCG bring people together and this is a fantastic opportunity for our players, members and fans to rally behind something that can make a genuine difference beyond football.”

“Round 42 is about encouraging the AFL community to give back, because it’s the small, consistent acts of generosity that help save lives.”

Lifeblood Chief Marketing Officer Jeremy Weiss said the campaign connected the Swans' brand with an overlooked fact about blood donation.

"Our partnership with the Sydney Swans has always been about using the power of sport to inspire action, and Round 42 takes that to another level. We’ve worked closely with M+C Saatchi to find a simple way to connect the Swans' iconic Bloods identity with the 42-day shelf life of donated blood, creating an idea that's impossible to ignore."

"It's the kind of creative thinking that helps turn awareness into action, and we hope it encourages more Australians to become regular blood donors."

Creativity with a countdown

M+C Saatchi Creative Director Kieran Moroney said the concept came from a simple insight about the lifespan of donated blood.

"Sometimes the hardest-hitting insights are the ones staring you in the face. For this Lifeblood campaign, we looked to the life of blood itself and found the simple truth at the heart of the idea. From there, 42 Days of Blood was born: a partnership, a sculpture, a public countdown and a new AFL event, all working together to create an unmissable reminder of what’s at stake."

M+C Saatchi AUNZ CEO Dani Bassil said the partnership demonstrated how creativity could drive meaningful outcomes.

"The best partnerships create ideas that have impact beyond the campaign itself. Round 42 brings together the Sydney Swans' platform, Lifeblood's mission and our shared ambition to inspire action, showing how creativity can help drive meaningful behaviour change."

The campaign launched on 15 July with a media event that M+C Saatchi said generated coverage reaching more than 15 million people within its first 24 hours, alongside the rollout of out-of-home advertising across Sydney and Melbourne.