2021 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

INSIGHT
In spite of 40 years of education about HIV, the stigma around the disease remains as prevalent today as ever, mainly because of misunderstandings around transmission. This stigma keeps a large number of people with HIV from disclosing their status, leading to loneliness, isolation, and mental health issues.

A survey that Bensimon Byrne and its sister agencies Narrative and OneMethod conducted found 65 million North Americans feel they would be shunned by friends, family and co-workers if they revealed they were HIV+. This stark reality is vastly underrepresented in popular culture: there has never been a mainstream television program that has tackled HIV stigma.

EXECUTION
As one of the largest purpose-built HIV/AIDS hospitals in the world, Casey House wanted to continue its multi-year campaign to smash stigma, educate about transmission, and help people relate to the experience of living with HIV. The agencies had to show the devastating effects of stigma in a way that would make people take notice. So they used beloved characters from Friends and The Office, two of the most streamed shows on earth.

They searched 236 episodes of Friends and 203 episodes of The Office to find scenes that could be re-edited and reordered to create the unthinkable: New episodes where iconic TV characters are HIV+ and facing the isolation of stigma. The team hired voice impersonators from across North America to replace dialogue, and lookalikes for each actor, so they could swap voices and faces using innovative post-production.

The organization launched “Losing Friends” and “The Toxic Office” worldwide on SmashStigma.ca and with a private media screening featuring a panel of HIV+ influencers discussing the impact of stigma in their lives. The agencies drove traffic to the site through social, mass, and earned media. To show the episode was more than fiction, HIV+ influencers bravely shared their stories on the website, bringing a personal and human viewpoint to HIV stigma.

RESULTS
The launch became a global conversation within 24 hours – with over 200 stories, 10 million social impressions, and 200 million media impressions within the first day of launch. And most impressive, after viewing our episodes, 88% of people felt more empathetic to those who live with HIV.

Credits

Bensimon Byrne
ECD: Joseph Bonnici
CD: David Mueller
CD: Gints Bruveris
Writer: Matthew Valenzano
Art Director: Ana Segurajauregui Sanchez
Designer: Ana Segurajauregui Sanchez
Strategist: Daniella Perruccio (Director of Media Strategy)
Account Service: Will Dell (Sr. Business Lead)
Project Director Jordan Lane (PMO Director)
Project Manager: Ashley Belfast (Program Director)
Media Director: Eugene Makhouleen (Digital Analytics Director)
Social Strategist: Rebecca Milner (Community Manager)
Media Supervisor: Karensa Williams
Agency Producer: Michelle Pilling

Narrative
Managing Director: Sarah Spence
Creative Director: Debbie Chan
Associate Creative Director: Jessie Sorell
Art Director: Fiorella Martinez
Account Director: Lauren Baswick
Senior Account Manager: Denise Roy
Account Manager: Tony Koutoulous
Account Manager: Jackie Kleinberg
Account Manager: Jessica Leroux
Associate Account Manager: Sarah Santarossa
Account Coordinator: Aaron Nilsen
Account Coordinator: Kaitlin Copp

OneMethod
ACD: John Hotts
XD Director: Kurt Krumme
Designer: Cam Harapiak
Developer: Dov Atlin
Project Coordinator: Stephanie Niro
Project Coordinator: Naomi Sklar

Production House: Button Factory
Director: Dan Kelly
Line Producer: Dan Rankin
DOP: Mikhail Petrenko
Editor: Tim Pienta

Post-Production: The Faculty
Editor: Dan Kelly
Audio Production: Grayson Matthews
Audio Producer: Sharon Yokoyama
Audio Director: Tom Westin
Audio Director: Tyson Kuteyi
Audio Engineer: Vlad Nikolic

Casey House
CEO: Joanne Simons
Chief Marketing and Development Officer: Mark Trask
Communications Officer: Lisa McDonald