Created a multi-dimensional campaign to penetrate deep into African American youth culture to convey an urgent and pressing message: HIV/AIDS is still here, it is still a potentially fatal disease and it is absolutely preventable. Developed a community building effort around this message centered around an awareness, community and resource based blog.
The Kaiser Foundation asked us to create a multi-determined campaign to penetrate deep into African American youth culture to convey an urgent and pressing message: HIV/AIDS is still here, it is still a potentially fatal disease and it is absolutely preventable.
The Solution: Speak in a Relevant Language
We decided to appeal to the deep reservoir of courage and determination that resides in the African American population. We crafted a slogan: “GREATER THAN” and associated the “GREATER THAN” mathematical symbol, the sideways V, with the ubiquitous urban hand gesture: the sideways peace sign. We developed a series of declarations to rally this community: Now > Never, Love > Hate, Commitment > Indifference.
We developed a community building effort around this message centered around greaterthan.org – an awareness, community and resource based blog. The site is designed to provide easy access to information about HIV/AIDS, for example users can enter their zip-code and find their nearest testing center. We also created a Facebook fan page, a print and outdoor campaign, and a radio campaign. All our efforts: the website, the outdoor campaign, and the videos, all employ the same bold and easily identifiable visual style. The end result is a coherent and focused effort to cut through the noise and reach an audience that needs to understand the risks they face and the action they can take to protect themselves.
