ENDING HIV THE POWER OF PREVENTION

The team's biggest challenge was how to model candid, educational, non-judgmental, destigmatizing, non-awkward conversations about sex, condoms, STIs, and HIV. Focus groups with teens and young adults informed us that creating authentic, relatable messaging required a shift away from traditional public health messaging and resources and toward a mix of factual accuracy, humor, and teen-friendly language—without minimizing the seriousness of the issues. Teens wanted peer-to-peer language and preferred videos and quizzes to reading copy. To reach distinct target audiences, including LGBTQ+ youth, young Black and Hispanic MSM, and Black women, we tailored messaging and visuals to each community.

Our campaigns were simple yet groundbreaking, with real, judgment-free conversations—full of humor, authenticity, and vulnerability—to dismantle decades of stigma around STIs and HIV. Flipping the traditional public health communication styles with GenZ slang and a youth culture tone sparked conversations about sex and STIs in a way teens couldn’t ignore. Our TikTok-inspired videos, interactive quizzes, and flip cards drove engagement and empowered the audience to learn, set boundaries, and take ownership of protecting their sexual health.

Our “Prevention is Power” messaging was built to work with the existing messaging framework of “TALK. TEST. TREAT.,” which modeled how to have awkward conversations, the importance of testing, prevention (including PrEP), and getting treatment for STIs and HIV.

We brought together multiple campaign elements—including a teen landing page, videos, radio spots, quizzes, social media, and digital ads—into a cohesive campaign with consistent, sex-positive, destigmatizing messaging. Our approach crossed conventional boundaries by blending education with entertainment to engage teens with shorter attention spans and a tendency to tune out authoritative messaging. By normalizing authentic conversation and leveraging real stories, the work transcended the objective of raising awareness to create genuine behavior shifts around testing and prevention. This breakthrough thinking helped to write a new story that replaced fear and misinformation with positivity and empowerment to show teens that taking care of their sexual health was accessible, relatable, and actionable.