HIV continues to be one of the most stigmatized conditions in the US, and it disproportionately affects communities of color – particularly cis women, trans women, gay men and queer men. We have HIV prevention options that are wildly successful but people aren’t accessing them due to stigma. With what we have available, we could stop transmission tomorrow -- but we can’t do that until attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions change. Historically, HIV prevention messaging has been segmented by gender, by race and by sexual orientation. This in itself has conveyed powerful biases about who we think gets HIV, why people get HIV, and how people see themselves. "Me In You, You In Me" is a national campaign that set out to change this by creating a prevention community where everyone has a place, everyone is welcome, and nothing is implied by advocating for one’s own or community health.

The campaign was led by a cast of six nationally known talent representing a variety of backgrounds, industries, ages, and other experiences – what they had in common was they had all in some way been seen as something other than how they saw themselves. They had been affected by bias and assumption. Each person was paired with someone else from the cast and they first spoke to each other anonymously by phone – asking questions including “how do you want to be loved,” “what makes you feel powerful,” and more, but never revealing their identity in the process. We then brought them to NYC and filmed them “seeing” each other for the first time. We simultaneously conducted four shoots in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Miami with iconic people from those cities to mirror the NYC experience and connect a universal national story with a deeply specific, local one.

MIYYIM was about reaching people where they live, work, and play. Our goal was to normalize the conversation around HIV prevention by showing up in spaces where it typically isn’t had, and weaving it into the fabric of daily experiences/interactions. We partnered with local businesses/community organizations in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas & Miami to host community dinners, drag shows, open mics, food drives and more – in the hopes of reaching those who are usually overlooked/ignored. The goal was to normalize prevention as a public health behavior in communities through repeated exposure to messaging/conversations in a variety of essential “public spaces” throughout their neighborhoods. Our target audiences were identified using epidemiological data on new infections segmented by demographics and overlaid on neighborhood maps that included transit, high traffic corridors and key areas of social/cultural exchange to identify which marketing mix to use in each city and who to partner with.

The campaign was launched using digital, social, and non-traditional out of home as our main channels. Our digital efforts primarily used talent social channels as well as very specifically targeted (by zip code based on epidemiological data) social ads. The non-traditional OOH came through partnerships with local business, organizations, and culture groups in each city. Our network of partners included church food drives, interfaith gatherings, wellness festivals, drag shows, dance parties, bathhouses, community dinners, art classes and more. We messaged the campaign through a combination of print materials and programming in partnership with the staff to help connect people to more information/services. In addition to those events, which occurred weekly, we had a major presence at most Black prides throughout the country. The campaign ran for approximately three months with the first 2 weeks focused on the national launch and the following 10 focused on the four target cities.

The campaign had over 730 million impressions, was covered in more than 60 articles, and hosted 65+ local events. The creative and the talent helped to drive very effective paid / nontraditional OOH results with 57% lower than industry average CPMs on our online paid advertising and 15% more efficient OOH conversations. The campaign also delivered a lot of value back to the brand including 10M in EMV, set engagement benchmarks for their social channels, drove over 30% of their website traffic during the campaign run and drove the majority of their share of voice during that time. During the time the campaign ran, it contributed to most of the brand's share of voice and set benchmarks for engagement on all their social channels. Finally, a follow-up survey demonstrated a significantly increased degree of awareness among consumers of both the topic (prevention) and the supporter of the campaign ViIV Healthcare.