Get Tested Project
Issue 18 | March 2011
Agency
Shalmor Avnon Amichay/ Y&R Interactive Tel Aviv
Creative Team
Gideon Amichay Chief Creative Officer, Tzur Golan Executive Creative Director, Amit Gal Creative Director, Shirley Eva Bahar / Ran Cory Art Directors, Orit Bar Niv / Paul Paszkowski Copywriters
Other Credits
Adam Polachek Executive Client Director, Shiran Chen Gross Account Supervisor, Inbal Stern Account Manager, Yoni Lahav Planning Director
Date
December 2010
Background
On World Aids Day, Dec 1st 2010, anchors from all radio stations were invited to take HIV tests LIVE and get the results LIVE.
‘Get Tested’ was designed to be an open idea platform. In other words, DJ’s and anchors could use the core idea to create a campaign of their own. It was an idea in which advertising, media, PR and content all came together in one with radio commercials as well as some 20 hours of original branded content.
Idea
Aids is no longer a terminal disease. It can be cured.
But early discovery can mean the difference between life and death. It is also important for people to know their status in order not to pass it on to others.
70% of Israelis haven't taken a HIV test so the aim of ‘Get Tested’ was to increase awareness and get more people to take the test.
A radio commercial opened every broadcasting hour throughout the day, after which more than 30 top radio presenters took up the theme, taking live HIV tests on-air and then waiting for the results.
For many the wait was nerve-wracking and tense. Some stations invited listeners to come to the radio station and be tested there and then. TV stations sent camera crews and broadcasted the tests live. All the presenters who took the test turned out to be HIV negative.
Results
More than 20 hours of original branded content were created.
December 2010 resulted in the highest HIV test rates in the History of the Aids Task Force. The number more than doubled compared to 2009.
Our Thoughts
This would have made for compelling radio, hard to switch off. Not so much the moment each presenter took the test live on air, but the half hour, forty minutes while they waited for the results. How would you fill the time? What music would you play? What discussions would you start? What topics would you ask your listeners to ring in to discuss? And all the while the tension building. Are you or aren’t you? Finally the huge relief of a negative result.
This is an inventive use of an often-overlooked medium, radio, by an agency which is building a global reputation for itself as a game-changer. Their ‘Reality Billboard’ for Yellow Pages, for instance, not to mention the SDIA campaign which won the Grand Prix in the 1st Directory Awards, and so on. Respect.