GSK Teams Up With Drag Queens To Fight HIV 06/09

Award-Winning Campaign Breaks Ground

Challenge
Historically, marketing of HIV products has been sterile and conservative.  With its HIV brand Epzicom, GlaxoSmithKline wanted to reach patients with honest, transparent and informative lifestyle content that would motivate individuals to actively manage their HIV and initiate consumers’ specific request for GSK’s Epzicom.

MediaCom’s Strategy
Our research identified two very different targets that together comprised almost half of patient population: gay white men and African American women. We sought to attract both targets through a trusted partnership with LOGO (the leading gay-targeted multiplatform property) and its hit drag queen competition reality show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, starring RuPaul, who has a mass following in the African American community.

The MediaCom, GSK and LOGO partnership centered around an exclusive web-based “digisode” series that lived on LOGO Online and starred Ongina, a popular contestant from the show. Ongina spoke honestly and candidly about her experiences and offered a compelling appeal to motivate viewers to take an active step in managing their HIV. These videos allowed GSK to break through a cluttered environment with ownership of high impact media placements and 100% sponsorships throughout the site.  

Results
The Living with HIV Video Playlist received exceptional viewing numbers. This highly engaging and influential segment showed an unprecedented increase in “intent to ask a doctor for a prescription.” 

MediaCom received the award for Best Targeted Campaign for its work with GSK at the Festival of Media Awards in Valencia, Spain, in April 2010.