Powered by Plasma

We Need More Plasma 

Throughout 2019, we heard from the Primary Immunodeficiency community that there was a need to help raise awareness for plasma donation. The process and need for plasma donation can be a complicated subject. It differs from blood donation and needs additional manufacturing before it can get to the patient. To further complicate the discussion, plasma treats rare and chronic diseases that the average person has never or will never hear about. 

As supply adjusts and pressure on the market for plasma eases, it is important that we continue to advocate. More and more uses for plasma continue to be researched and as scientists find more ways to help people with plasma proteins, the need will continue to become greater. The United States currently supplies upwards of 90%+ of the global plasma supply. To put that in perspective, plasma is 2% of the U.S. GDP, more than Boeing planes, and those are not cheap. 

Powered by Plasma

Lisa and I thought long and hard about what our first big national campaign should look like.  Should it be related to PI, or maybe we need to find another issue to talk about. As we thought more and more about it, we saw the opportunity to help amplify the voice of our community around the need for more plasma. That is where the idea for Powered by Plasma came to fruition. 

See, everyone is powered by plasma, it is an essential part of the human body. It immediately helps link each of us together, whether or not you have heard about Primary Immunodeficiency, or even understand what it is. Additionally, there are already amazing organizations out there helping to raise awareness for PI the disease. Now, the next step was to figure out how to get that message out to the PI community and then to amplify it to everyone else. 

The Design

If you look at our design for Powered by Plasma, it is very intentional. We wanted something that was stylish but had an additional underlying meaning. The font and light blue color all link back to the Immune Competence brand. The Y symbol is an antibody to represent the protein that PI patients get from plasma medicines. Additionally, all of our products are only available in black and white, to help remind medical professionals to think zebra and not just treat the symptoms, it could be a primary immunodeficiency. 

Finally, it is important that this design and message for Powered by Plasma help to show the need for plasma donation and not get used in other ways, therefore we are excited to share we have trademarked the design and wording to ensure that we continue to raise awareness for plasma donation and the needs for the PI community. 

How can you help? 

We have created a new online store on our website www.immunecompetence.org/poweredbyplasma with different shirts, hats, hoodies, and other fun stuff to help you advocate for the need for plasma donation. All proceeds go to Immune Competence and will help support our Powered by Plasma campaign. Additionally, we hope you will share your story on social media and let people know what plasma donors mean to you with the #poweredbyplasma.  We will be sharing some of those stories on our social media pages. We also have a new cover photo that is shareable as well as created a Facebook frame for your profile photo.

We hope you are proud to share that you are Powered by Plasma and we look forward to your feedback, ideas, and stories throughout the campaign.