Sheffield agency wins national award

A Sheffield social marketing agency has been recognised for its attempts to tackle the stigma surrounding HIV.

diva creative’s ‘HIV Hop’ campaign was named Sexual Health Media Campaign of the Year at this year’s UK Sexual Health Awards, edging out competition from the likes of Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.

Produced for the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health in Sheffield, the project featured a comedy music video that was written, rapped and recorded on the streets of Sheffield.

Inspired by the comedy style of Flight of the Conchords and Tim Minchin, it received support from influential Twitter users such as Durex, Dr. Christian Jessen and MTV.

Within two weeks, the YouTube clip had been viewed more than 10,000 times, while more than 3,000 tweets had used the #HIVHop hashtag.

The video tells the story of a young man who overcomes his fear of catching HIV by realising that you cannot catch it from kissing, hugging or sharing drinks with someone.

The idea was to dispel common myths around HIV transmission and social media was used to reach the widest possible audience.

By bringing together art, music and comedy in an innovative way, diva made a serious message more accessible and ultimately more shareable.

diva’s approach also saw Sheffield street artists get involved in the campaign by producing several limited-edition postcard designs to help spread the message.

Amanda Pearce, director at diva, said: “This is fantastic and great recognition of all the hard work the team have put into this campaign. We’ve worked with the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health for many years now and it’s so rewarding to have our collaboration recognised in this prestigious national award.”