Natasha, 40, of Mt Albert in Auckland, is among more than 6000 first-timers to sign up with the Blood Service since its campaign in August.
"I got a few emails, I think they were New World emails, and they had As and Os missing. I saw it in a few different places, which prompted me to do it. I thought it was quite a clever campaign."
The Herald was part of the campaign that involved dropping Os and As from online branding, logos and social media accounts to draw attention to the need for O-type and A-type blood donors.
Starting out with 48 partners, the NZ Blood Service campaign to encourage people to become first-time donors grew to include more than 80 companies.
The campaign ran in 21 countries and in New Zealand it focused on blood types A and O because they are the ones most in demand here.
Natasha, who studies craniosacral therapy, said that giving blood was "one of those things that had been floating around in the back of my mind that I should do".
When younger she was too light. Donors must be at least 50kg and Natasha now weighs 53kg. Pregnancy and breast feeding also barred her for some time.
The Blood Service national manager of marketing and communications, Asuka Burge, said having registered more than 6000 people to become donors since the campaign began was "a great result and pretty amazing, particularly when you consider these new donors have the potential to save up to 18,000 lives across New Zealand".
"The need for new donors is constant and while the campaign might be over, NZ Blood Service would like more New Zealanders to consider becoming blood donors.
"We set ourselves the ambitious goal of gaining 10,000 first-time donors. While there is some work to do to reach that figure, we are confident we will reach this milestone very soon."