Ending HIV’s 2025 Campaign
Our latest campaign for ACON’s Ending HIV was a bold tribute to four decades of HIV prevention. The campaign ran from the 10th of February until the 23rd of March, timed to be in line with Mardi Gras, given the increased activity and events for LGBTQ+ audiences during this period in Sydney. “Then and Now” is all about celebrating the progress towards ending HIV transmission, while acknowledging the resilience of those who have lived through the epidemic’s evolution.
At the centre of the campaign is the importance of knowledge, and its power in reducing HIV stigma and ending HIV transmission. It seeks to provide a contemporary understanding about what it means to be living with HIV, as well as preventing and testing for HIV.
A key indicator of success for us was driving action after engaging with the campaign. That could be taking the time to learn more about HIV, or it could be initiating a conversation with their doctor about PrEP or an HIV and STI test.
We continue to emphasise our advertising spend on Greater Western Sydney, with 40% of our media spend being directed to this area, while still maintaining a strong presence across the rest of NSW.
The creative
As part of the campaign, we made the decision to champion five key messages: tackling stigma, promoting PrEP, encouraging condom use, reinforcing the importance of testing, and advocating for effective HIV treatment. All of this is integral to achieving our goal of zero transmissions.
For the concept and rollout of the campaign, we partnered with creative agency Frost Collective who have been working with ACON for over a decade. Visuals inspired by the 1980s connect the past with the present, with the artwork provided by a queer artist based on Gadigal land, Kris Andrew Small. These visuals (as seen below) were used across outdoor advertising spaces such as billboards and cross-track panels, buses, and street posters.
The messaging and artwork was focus tested to community members from a wide range of ages, postcodes, cultural backgrounds, and countries of birth.
The campaign collateral was used across all key events at Mardi Gras, including Fair Day, the parade, and After Party. It will be continued to be utilised across major LGBTQ+ regional events throughout the year throughout New South Wales (NSW).
In addition to this artwork, the videos accompanying the campaign utilise a modern TikTok style approach overlayed on archival footage from the 80s and 90s which we sourced from the ABC, ACON’s archive, as well as the Department of Health and Aged Care. The below video was used for cinema and YouTube advertising, featuring the voice of Matty Mills, a proud Kamilaroi man and member of the LGBTQ+ community.
You can also watch the five videos that we used across social media channels using the links below, each featuring a different member of our communities.
Knowledge – Matty Mills
Testing – Mohan Kumar
PrEP – Nic Steepe
Treatment – Garry Wotherspoon
Condoms – Dyan Tai
Iterations of the campaign
The campaign creative was adapted for our First Nations communities, utilising key colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags as well as tweaking some of the phrases we used across different placements. This was used for outdoor advertising in suburbs that have higher populations of First Nations people, as well as distributed to Aboriginal Medical Services right across NSW. It will be continued to be used at key First Nations events over the coming months.
To engage priority migrant groups in NSW, we also translated parts of the campaign into simplified Chinese, Thai, and Spanish. These were primarily used digitally for in-language advertising, with key content across the Ending HIV website also available in these three additional languages.
In collaboration with our ACON Westie team, we also used tailored creative for our digital ads running in Greater Western Sydney (GWS).
Outcome of the campaign
Following the campaign, we conducted an evaluation of the survey with GBMSM participants from across NSW. 93% of respondents felt that the advertisements effectively communicated the messages, with 87% of respondents finding them engaging. Importantly, 40% of respondents immediately “took action” after seeing the ad, be it to learn more about HIV, seeking an HIV and STI test, or leading to a conversation with partners, friends, or a healthcare professional.
Overall, we concluded that the campaign was successful in reaching its target audience with strong recall, and most finding it engaging and effective.
For more information, please feel free to reach out to Jonathan Weiss at ACON.