Leveraging Pop-Culture Savvy and Unparalleled Reach, Cross-Platform Media Campaigns Are Changing Behavior and Saving Lives

By David Stearns

Radharani Mitra, the creative director of the BBC World Service Trust in India, was confident her new national educational campaign would transform condoms from a social taboo to a normal aspect of healthy sex lives.

The cross-platform campaign drove home its message through online, television and radio ads featuring a sassy talking parrot, an icon of Indian folklore that connotes the values of dialogue and intelligence. BBC WST also turned to a particularly innovative platform: mobile phone ringtones.

The ringtone they developed, which repeatedly sings "Condom! Condom!" tested well among the intended targets. But it wasn't until interview requests started rolling in from as far away as Colombia and Canada that Mitra realized she was really on to something. The ringtone has become an international sensation almost overnight, logging more than two million online hits since its August launch.

"I was very confident of the power of the idea, but I didn't think it would catch on this way," says Mitra. "I was very sure that it was innovative and that nobody had done it, but I never imagined it would become such a global hit. That has exceeded our expectations. Ringtones have really become personal statements that a specially-created condom ring tone seemed just the right way of combining a health message in a fun way."

"Condom! Condom!" is one of the latest examples of how harnessing the creative power of media can effectively convey awareness about the dangers of HIV and drive real behavior change on an enormous scale. And do it all while being entertaining.

Increasingly too, business is looking to media partnerships where competencies are identified, then blended, to integrate across platforms and share costs, while compounding impact like never before.

Mental Vaccination

Across the planet, leading media companies are leveraging their most precious asset-an open line of communication with viewers-to reach millions with life-saving messages.

"If education is currently the only vaccine available to us, then the global media industry has in its hands the means to deliver that vaccine," says Bill Roedy, vice chair of MTV Networks, president of MTV Networks International and a member of the Coalition's Corporate Advisory Board. "If we harness our immense communications power, with all the creativity and innovation at our disposal, the impact will be felt far and wide."

Media companies possess the unparalleled ability and powerful platforms to talk to vast numbers of people- certainly more than any government agency, public health organization or grassroots service provider- and they match that with the capacity to make the messages actually stick.

The media are tapped into the public consciousness, with an expert capacity to craft messages that are entertaining- even "cool"-and resonate with their audiences. Companies create those messages and bring them to their audiences through public service announcements (PSAs), feature films, soap operas, news reporting, celebrity advocacy and even a simple mobile phone ringtone.

"The media industry is in an exceptional position to make a decisive difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS," says Carl Folta, executive vice president of communications for Viacom. "We can reach people in the course of their daily lives, at home, at play, with their families. And we have an unrivaled ability to help shape the perceptions, dialogue, and-in some cases- even the actions of our audiences."

Viacom's BET Networks and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's Rap-it-Up, MTV International's Staying Alive and MTV's It's Your (Sex) Life help to break the silence, stigma and fear that enables the spread of HIV. What's more, they do it using platforms that are already popular with the initiatives' target audience.

"We are in a unique position to educate and empower our employees and our audiences to protect themselves against infection-we have the means and the power to do something dramatic," says Folta. "The same young people who are at the highest risk to contract HIV/AIDS are watching networks like MTV, VH1, BET, and Nickelodeon. They relate to our programming, so we have a particular responsibility to inform our audiences about HIV and AIDS."

As the network behind critically-acclaimed broadcasts such as "And the Band Played On," "The Blood in Yingzhou District," "Pandemic: Facing AIDS," and "Angels in America," HBO has been a leader in leveraging its core competence-producing compelling and entertaining film and television programs-against HIV/AIDS. "HBO is in the business of telling stories, and we're at our best when we explore those stories that are often ignored," says HBO Co-President Richard Plepler. "The case of HIV/AIDS is a perfect example. When we began looking at this issue in 1987 no one was giving real time and energy to explaining the implications of this plague. The movies and documentaries which we've made are our small contributions to elevating the national conversation. The challenge, of course, is to do it in a way that is accessible. If we do our job well, that allows us to have a real impact."

HBO was also a key partner in the Emmy-winning "Get Tested" PSA campaign in the United States, which featured celebrities Queen Latifah and Jamie Foxx as well as stars from the National Basketball Association. The PSAs were produced in partnership with the Coalition, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the NBA, and resulted in thousands of online HIV testing referrals.

Target audiences aren't just entertainment consumers, they're also news consumers. Each year, the Reuters Foundation helps to improve global coverage of the disease through a special course for several hundred journalists who receive basic skills training along with classes about the pandemic and its surrounding issues. Reuters Foundation effectively equips an army of newly-minted journalists with the tools required to provide accurate and objective reporting-while writing compelling stories that will be read by millions.

And Discovery Communications' Global Education Partnership harnesses the power of television in the fight against HIV/AIDS by providing schools and community centers in underserved areas with television equipment, teacher training and audience-driven video programs, produced in collaboration with target communities.

After careful research, Discovery Communications found that impact was greatest when people understood the science of HIV/AIDS. The company then did what it does best-it found innovative ways to turn immunology into an entertaining drama.

By collaborating coherently across sectors, communications companies are maximizing the impact of each partner's competence while reducing the financial burden for each company.

Compounding Impact through Coherent Partnerships

Launching the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI) in 2004, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, "If there is one thing we have learned in the two decades of this epidemic, it is that in the world of AIDS, silence is death. As broadcasters, you bring the disease out of the shadows and get people talking about it in an open, informed way."

One of GMAI's biggest successes is the Russian Media Partnership to Combat HIV/AIDS (RMP), a Coalition-led partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation that unites leading media companies in response to Russia's surging HIV/AIDS epidemic. Current RMP member companies include CTC Media, Independent Media, Sonoma Magazines, News Outdoor Russia and Prof Media.

Through the RMP model, these companies have been able to spread costs without sacrificing impact.
Collectively they have contributed more than $30 million in TV and radio time as well as print and outdoor advertising space for StopAIDS material since 2005, reaching 85 percent of the Russian population according to a recent independent survey.

Sixty-four percent of respondents in the same survey were able to recognize at least one of the PSAs. Perhaps the greatest endorsement of the media partnership approach: One-in-four people exposed to StopAIDS materials-an estimated 30 million Russians-took action to learn more about HIV/AIDS.

The effectiveness and cost-efficiency of the Russia media campaign inspired the launch of a similarly ambitious partnership in China.

In November, the Coalition, in partnership with UNAIDS, GMAI, UNDP, the ILO, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Chinese Ministry of Health and Center for Disease Control, launched the China AIDS Media Partnership (CHAMP), a multi-year awareness campaign aimed at preventing the further spread of HIV/AIDS and eliminating stigma and discrimination against people living with the disease.

CHAMP is integrating business expertise-in consumer market research, design, government relations, news coverage and media production-for a total package that is both coherent and cost-effective. By bringing together the numerous pieces to work in synergy, the CHAMP model is poised for deeper impact than any one company could achieve alone.

The CHAMP strategy is built around a comprehensive consumer market survey conducted by Renmin University, with technical support from the Coalition, UNAIDS and Ogilvy Public Relations. The survey revealed a troubling disconnect between people's awareness of the current HIV/AIDS situation in China and their own vulnerability.

While more than 52 percent of respondents said they regard the present HIV/AIDS situation as "relatively serious," fewer than six percent assumed they were at risk. Nearly half the respondents in six cities thought they could contract HIV from a mosquito bite. Two in three said they were unwilling to live in the same household as an HIV-positive person.

The first phase of CHAMP features two PSAs that specifically address the significant knowledge gaps identified in the survey. CHAMP partners are contributing free air time during some of their most valuable programming. The PSAs have already aired more than 15,000 times throughout China, reaching up to 670 million people.

The PSAs are being produced by several media companies, including MTV China, BBMAO, Beijing HealthTV Marketing Corporation, Chang Ai Media Project and Phoenix New Media, in partnership with Anglo American, Coca Cola (China) Beverages Ltd. and General Motors. Baidu, Inc., the largest internet search engine in China, recently joined CHAMP to help deliver HIV-prevention messages to millions of Chinese internet users.

"The bottom line is that this would not happen without the private sector," says UNAIDS China Senior HIV Advisor Peter Lunding. "They offer a huge amount of technical and professional expertise which is extremely useful to us, and which we do not have."

Your Ringtone Might Save a Life

In 2002, the BBC World Service Trust, India's National AIDS Control Organization, the national television service (Doordarshan) and All India Radio, worked with the U.K.'s Department for International Development (DFID) to launch the first-ever integrated mass media campaign aimed at increasing HIV/AIDS awareness across India. Perhaps even more ambitious, the campaign would be entertaining too.

The partnership brought together Doordarshan and All India Radio's airtime with BBC WST's resources and technical and project management expertise. The result was a comprehensive campaign encompassing television and radio PSAs, an interactive drama and a reality program. It ended up reaching 250 million people.

One bold component of the campaign was an interactive thriller featuring an HIV-positive detective called "Jasoos Vijay." Some 70 million people watched the program between September 2005 and September 2006, following the action-packed adventures of the heartthrob detective as he solved crimes and shed light on HIV/AIDS myths. During its run, the program was one of India's top 20 most viewed programs.

But aside from being good entertainment, the show had impact. Evaluations indicated that the number of "Jasoos Vijay" viewers aware that HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sex jumped from 16 to 29 percent after watching the show. Another program, the award-winning reality show "Haath se Haath Milaa," leveraged the star power of popular Bollywood celebrities to educate an estimated 50 million more people about HIV/AIDS.

Following its successful media partnership, BBC WST kicked off a two-year, cross-platform project to encourage more widespread use of condoms, of which the "Condom! Condom!" mobile phone campaign is a part. Encouraging condom use is no easy task in a country with such an enormous population and deep-seated sexual taboos.

"Condoms were associated with family planning, but with the rising incidence of HIV and other STDs, they acquired very negative baggage," says Mitra. "Condom became quite a dirty word, associated with immorality and disease. It was our challenge to have people view them as health products again.

"Our research of attitudes, behaviors and knowledge indicated that we had to get men to talk about condoms and sex. People who talk openly with their sexual partners and about their habits amongst their peers are more likely to be consistent condom users."

The first phase of the condom campaign launched on World AIDS Day 2007 with the theme "jo bola wohi sikander" "the one who talks is a winner." The pioneering campaign, co-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, uses television, radio, cinema, print and outdoor visuals. The first PSA posed a riddle- "It's a sign of manhood... but it's not a moustache." People were asked to call in with their answer, with the added incentive that some winners would receive mobile phones with free minutes.

"We were told that we could expect about 100,000 calls participating in the contest, but we ended up with 400,000 calls in 21 days," says Mitra. "It just knocked the breath out of everybody."

The campaign ultimately reached about 100 million people in a month, with 70 percent of people viewing the ads subsequently talking about condoms, which was the primary objective.

The evolved message of the ringtone phase of the campaign is "jo samjha wohi sikander"-"the one who understands is a winner"-conveying that condom users are smart, and that condoms are sensible. The message is clear; the challenge lies in delivering it in a compelling and effective way. "When you're talking about developing social communications, often you get stuck on just the messages," says Mitra. "They're not just sitting around waiting to absorb the messages that you're giving them. There are so many other trials and tribulations happening in people's lives. You have to translate the message and make it extremely relevant, infuse it with an insight relevant to them."

Composed by Rupert Fernandes and featuring Vijay Prakash, the catchy ringtone sticks in your head-in a good way. With two million downloads and counting, "Condom! Condom!" has graduated from being a merely relevant social message to a resounding new addition to the global zeitgeist.

Mass media companies like BBC, HBO and Viacom are adept at cutting through our planetary information overload, creating messages that connect with people.

"Most important is to identify issues and communicate in a way that will resonate with our audiences," says Folta of Viacom. "We need to be constantly mindful of staying relevant and living inside our audiences' heads. We work closely with research and creative development to keep informed about the issues that our audiences care most about, and communicate messages in a way that will provide the most impact.

"Our company is focused on communicating to many of the audiences that are, unfortunately, at the highest risk of infection," he adds. "However, we see a real opportunity to effect substantial change. HIV/AIDS is a fully preventable disease. We have the best tools at our disposal to communicate to young people all over the world."

• Educating 670 Million: View the China partnership’s most recent PSA
• Spurring 30 Million to Act: View one of the Russia Media Partnership’s PSAs
• Emmy-winning PSA: View the Testing411 ad featuring Queen Latifah
• Catchy Tune: Download BBC World Service Trust’s “Condom, Condom” ringtone
• Global Coordination: Visit the Global Media AIDS Initiative site
• Staying Alive: Learn more about MTV’s youth-targeted campaign
• Smart and Fun: Learn more about Discovery’s audience-driven programs