Frost brands Sydney Mardi Gras Parade float for ACON Health – in campaign to make HIV history

| | No Comments

Frost_ACON_Phase 1_12.jpgCreative agency Frost* has branded a float with more than 180 people, participating in the weekend’s Sydney Mardi Gras Parade part of a campaign with ACON Health to help make HIV history.

The new campaign developed by the agency, to help end the HIV epidemic by 2020, is timed to co-ordinate with this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Frost* pitched against four other agencies to win the work for ACON Health (the AIDS Council of NSW).

Frost_ACON Phase 1_05.jpgACON is NSW’s and Australia’s largest community-based gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) health and HIV organisation and this project will be the fourth campaign created for them by Frost*.

Australia signed on the new global HIV prevention targets set by the UN, and has set bold new HIV Frost_ACON Phase 1_08.jpgreduction and prevention targets locally. The new goals seek to achieve virtual elimination of HIV transmission among the gay community (currently accounting for 3⁄4 of new infections in NSW) by 2020.

This campaign is the first large scale gay community engagement and mobilisation platform to embody the NSW Frost_ACON_Phase 1_09.jpgHIV Strategy 2012-2015: A New Era, launched by NSW Health on 1 December, 2012.

The brief from ACON asked Frost* to create a highly visible campaign spanning film, print, digital and outdoor executions, to support and drive the achievement of these goals. ACON charged the agency with creating a multi Frost_ACON_Phase 1_11.jpgphased program, commencing with an awareness campaign in the lead up to Mardi Gras in February and resolving with a call-to-action phase launching this week.

The awareness campaign encompasses a takeover of the city, the eastern and inner western suburbs, with city lights and bus shelters, as well Frost_ACON Phase 1_01.jpgas digital ads, social media and an educational film, focussing on the message that ending HIV is now possible. The creative was inspired by the iconic ‘CHOOSE LIFE’ t-shirts worn by 1980s band Wham with the idea centred on mobilising the gay community with this very important message, in a very simple and bold way and uses the iconography of revolutions and protests as a direct reference. The creative has also been rolled out across promotional merchandise including t-shirts, shorts and tattoos as well as safe packs and the fully branded ACON float which participated in the Mardi Gras parade, bringing the campaign to life.

The call to action phase of the campaign Frost_ACON Phase 1_02.jpgcommunicates three primary messages: to ‘test more’, ‘treat early’ and ‘stay safe’. This phase asks the audience to become active participants in ending HIV, educates about the practical steps needed to achieve this and highlights the positive outcomes that are possible by making a personal commitment to contributing to the cause.

The lynch pin of both phases of the campaign is a film creative directed by Vince Frost,  directed by Graziela Machado at Frost* and created in collaboration with production company Heckler. Featuring music by lauded Australian songwriter and producer Lee Groves, the three minute piece aims to educate, empower and mobilise the gay community to end HIV. A continuation Frost_ACON Phase 1_03.jpgof the campaign look and feel, it utilises graphic and typographic animations rendered in stark black and white, with highlights in orange, creating an arresting and digestible personal ‘how-to’ guide for achieving this important goal. The film will be seeded through social media, shown as part of the Fair Day and Mardi Gras Film Festival and on the campaign website, Frost_ACON_Phase 1_13.jpgwith one minute and 15 executions developed to leverage the variety of channels.

Says Vince Frost, founder and executive creative director of Frost*: “This was an incredibly important brief and we had to respond with a highly engaging and effective campaign that makes a tangible contribution to eliminating the transmission of HIV in Australia. Work like this is perhaps the most tangible example of how design can contribute to improving our lives and the world in which we live.”

Geoff Honor, ACON’s director HIV and Sexual Health, says this brief comes at a critical time for HIV prevention.

Says Honor: “With new targets and advances in treatments, there is a very real opportunity to put an end to the HIV epidemic and we have to seize it. This campaign will be a crucial step in communicating very clear messages to the gay community and people living with HIV, on what they can do to help achieve this. Importantly, this campaign has to be more than a one off – it has to be the start of a continuing dialogue and mobilisation of the community.

“Frost* has consistently created edgy and highly creative campaigns for us, which have delivered the cut through we need. We’ve seen that again here.”

Frost* has won numerous awards for a previous ACON campaign, Slip it On, which was exhibited at the Sex Museum in New York City.

Client: ACON NSW

Agency: Frost*

Creative Director: Vince Frost

Film Director: Graziela Machado

Designer: Graziela Machado

Account service: Charlotte Brady / Anna Fisher

Production company: Heckler

Music: Lee Groves – Hex Orchestra