I Did It
Just before New Year 2011 CHAPS launched a three month campaign encouraging gay and bisexual men to talk about HIV testing in the hope of making it easier for others to test. The ‘I Did It’ campaign provides a space where men can share the positive consequences of testing. The campaign includes outdoor advertising, gay press ads and banner ads on popular gay internet sites.
The aim of the campaign
The CHAPS partnership have identified 10 behavioural choices men can make to reduce the likelihood that they will pass on or pick up HIV. Testing for infections, including HIV, before a new sexual partner is one of these. Partners expressed the wish to see a campaign that got men talking about these behaviours and an online insight gathering exercise early in 2010 identified HIV testing as a topic suitable for such a campaign.
CHAPS was keen to demonstrate through the new campaign a switch from its traditional mode of broadcasting messages to its audience to one involving greater engagement with it. There was also recognition that behaviour change in our audience is most influenced by what their peers say or do.
The ‘I Did It’ campaign’s goals are:
- an increase in numbers of men communicating the positive consequences of regular testing
- an increase in numbers of men testing for HIV in the previous 12 months or considering doing so within the next 12 months
Current UK guidelines recommend that all gay and bisexual men test for HIV at least once a year or after unprotected anal sex. Increasing testing is now a central part of any HIV prevention strategy as research shows that by decreasing undiagnosed HIV infection there is a reduction in onward transmission of HIV.
Campaign message
The ‘I Did It’ campaign addresses barriers and incentives to testing across its three ads/posters:
- convenience issues around getting tested
- testing as a protective behaviour for men in or starting relationships
- testing as a means to certainty or peace of mind
Simultaneously the invitation to share testing experiences or hear those of others is promoted via the i did it web site onto which stories can be anonymously uploaded. The themes in the ads are echoed in the real life stories posted by men online. Early February 2011 the site in its entirety was unveiled with its clinic finder, discussion forum and useful background information.
Target audience
The ‘I Did It’ campaign should be disproportionately encountered by men under 25, men with less education, BME men, men with diagnosed HIV and men with13 or more partners a year. Placement of ads in selected gay press titles and web sites was tailored to this end.
Men were encouraged to engage with the campaign regardless of their testing history. Positive men were asked to submit testing stories as well as men who had tested negative. Men under 25 were especially targeted through press titles most popular with them and youth-orientated web sites.
These men had greater need around testing due to their lack of knowledge and greater anxiety about the issue stemming from less experience of testing and testing centres. The use of digital technology in the campaign such as social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter were also designed to boost engagement with younger men.
Materials supporting the ‘I Did It’ campaign
The following were produced as part of the campaign:
- One outdoor ad placed on bus shelters in CHAPS cities, also in London Underground stations
- Three press ads, also available as A4 posters
- Web site
- Two ads for Gaydar radio
- An illustrated email bulletin promoting the ‘I Did It’ web site and key testing messages sent individually to 50,000 members of the Gaydar social networking site
- Animated banner ad for use on partner and other web sites
- Campaign briefing (pdf format)
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