CLIENT: AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC)
PR AGENCY: Public Communications Inc.
TIMEFRAME: January-March 2004
Following years of complacency, stories about HIV/AIDS are now back in the media spotlight. There are several reasons for the change: the increasingly risky behavior among
certain groups, often fueled by the widespread availability of sex-enhancing drugs, as well as more effective therapies that have rendered HIV/AIDS a more manageable disease.
The various trends gave the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), the largest grant-making organization for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention in the Midwest, the impetus
to launch a PR and ad campaign designed to counteract such potentially devastating behavior.
By 2003, an estimated 30,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in the metropolitan Chicago area and yet interest was waning, and public funding and private giving was
decreasing, according to David Munar, AFC's associate director.
"We were seeing an increase in high-risk behavior in some groups and a sense that the crisis was over," he says. "We weren't exactly sure why. We knew there was a resurgence
in high-risk behavior in some gay men after the availability of retro viral therapies, which made HIV/AIDS more manageable. A lot of it came down to public-health-emergency
fatigue--you can only be in emergency mode for so long--and the messages don't resonate as much as they used to." Plus, there was a younger population who had never experienced
their peers dying from the disease, and they felt immune.
It was around that time that the AFC was approached by the Chicago Creative Partnership ad agency with the idea of doing a pro bono print and poster campaign.
"This was the first major print ad campaign we'd ever done," Munar says, adding that the organization traditionally does more policymaking and fundraising work. "Prior to
this, we'd done a PSA that won a local Emmy, but we hadn't done a larger social-marketing campaign."
The aim was to attack complacency head on. "Our biggest concern was to initiate more public dialogue about AIDS," Munar says, "so we spent a lot of time working with the ad
agency and with PR company Public Communications Inc. (PCI) thinking up different ways of tackling the issue."
The result was "AIDS: A Tragic Trend," a series of moody, highly stylized print ads that, on first glance, appeared to promote designer fashions. But instead of displaying
the usual brand-name products, there was a single word: AIDS.
The ads have the tagline "When will it go out of style?" while the body text describes AIDS as a "tragic trend." The ad goes on to encourages readers to do several things:
learn their HIV status, protect themselves, and volunteer or donate to the prevention effort. New York City-based fashion photographer Nicola Majocchi, whose clients include
Nike, Perry Ellis, and Versace, donated his time, as did the models who appear in the ads and the printers who produced the posters.
AFC had worked with PCI for about 10 years. "These ads were really integrated into the community in a way the AFC hadn't done before," says Jill Allread, principal, PCI. "Our
job was to get media attention about the ad campaign and to raise the AFC's visibility in Chicago and Illinois with potential donors, and then nationally."
Allread then contacted Lewis Lazare, the advertising correspondent for the Chicago Sun Times, who was convinced to write a column about the ads. "In this way, the
awareness was raised about the campaign," Allread says. "People would read the story or hear about it and then see [ads] to help explain what the ads were about. Because if you've
seen the ads, they're somewhat subtle."
Although the campaign focused primarily on the local Chicago press, some national online media, including Adweek, picked up the story. But the biggest coup came when
Ebony devoted five pages to the subject in its July 2004 "Health & Fitness" section. "We took the story of AIDS and related how the largest segment of the population
being affected is African-American women," Allread says.
Munar adds: "It's a very provocative ad campaign that, at first glance, is sexy and inviting, with a twist. Instead of Calvin Klein or another fashion label, it reads,
'AIDS.' It's a fantastic concept that takes a spin off of fashion advertising."
Testing showed the concept resonated with the target groups. "We had reservations whether it was the right message or tagline," Munar says. "We were concerned that people
would say, 'too late. It's already gone out of style.' But those sampled thought it a fresh approach, and it was especially inviting for young people. It was the 'aha' moment
between them being drawn into the sexy images and then figuring out what the ad was for."
The campaign ran from January through March of 2004 in bus shelters; as transit ads; as posters in bar bathrooms; at the Allstate Arena, a Chicago sports stadium; as
well as on the AFC Web site. "We wanted to change attitudes and steer behavior," Munar says. "For us, part of the message we were communicating through PR is why we even need to
do this campaign 23 years into the epidemic, and what's different and unique about our approach from other campaigns tried in other cities."
Munar concedes it's difficult to measure the effectiveness of such efforts. "We were pleased with the product and got good feedback," he says. "But it's mostly about raising
awareness and making people think more about HIV/AIDS issues, their own risky behavior and whether they should seek testing."
Feedback via an online survey--though unscientific--was positive. "It was mostly anecdotal," Munar says. "People thought the campaign refreshing and provocative, and we got
lots of requests for posters." Munar, meanwhile, is trying to raise funds for another campaign, and he aims to have display windows in Marshall Field's and other high-end
fashion retailers.
Contacts: David Munar, 312.922.2322, [email protected]; Jill Allread, 312.558.1770