NEW YORK – Since 1994, the AME Awards have honored the world’s best in advertising and marketing effectiveness. This year’s edition honored Philippine agency Dentsu Jayme Syfu for two of its campaigns.
The ‘#staynegatHIVe’ campaign earned a Gold Medallion for Social Benefit under the Civic/Social Education Category, and a Silver Medallion for Use of Medium under the Social Media Category. Meanwhile, Unilever’s Breeze ‘Good experiment’ was given a Bronze medallion for Social Benefit.
In just six years, HIV cases in the Philippines grew by a whopping 1038%, leading the World Health Organization to identify it as having the fastest growing AIDS epidemic in the world. The problem: people weren’t getting themselves tested. So in 2015, Love Yourself, a small non-profit organization which offers free testing, sought to get this message across. How? Though majority of Filipinos ignored HIV, there was one thing people couldn’t ignore online: TYPOS.
Dentsu Jayme Syfu and Love Yourself partnered and launched a campaign in Rappler.com, the country’s most popular news site known for its accuracy in news and grammar. With a simple script, the most popular articles and sites were infected. An “H” was added to any word with the letters “IV,” or a “V” to any letter sequence of “HI” creating typos reading “HIV.” As readers scrolled to comment about the typos, the message hit them – HIV could be part of anyone’s story.
In less than a week, the campaign garnered over 50 million impressions and $500,000 in earned media. Most importantly, Love Yourself reported a 60% rise in the number of people tested, making 2015 the year with the highest testing rate in its history. #staynegatHIVe helped spread the word, not the virus.
In the case of Breeze, Dentsu Jayme Syfu dealt with Filipino perceptions of a dirty child as being naughty and disobedient. The challenge was to make Filipino moms understand the brand’s global message of “Dirt is Good.” For them, their children are a reflection of a kind of mother they are. In the laundry context, a dirty child is a reflection of “bad mothering” and means more time and effort in doing the laundry.
Breeze and the agency created a social experiment where kids will be exposed to a situation of “being good and helpful” but while they dirty their clothes. Unsuspecting moms got the shock of their lives at the sight of their children who were almost totally covered with mud and grease. But the intense anger and frustration were later replaced with hugs, kisses, and pride as these kids proved how the dirt on their shirt is in fact, their own unique badge of goodness.
With this effort, moms were able to see dirt and their kids in a different way. From their initial negative reactions, to pride and joy– upon realizing that they brought up good, helpful kids.
After all, it is easier to wash away the dirt than to bring up good-hearted kids.
