On www.SpreadTheKnow.com, creatives at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, Miami, have used graffiti to illustrate spreading awareness of HIV/AIDS for KNOW HIV/AIDS through Kaiser Family Foundation and Viacom–as the site says, “Knowledge can spread faster than any disease.” For the project, the agency commissioned a large-scale art project from the Barnstormers, a collective of artists. Shot over the course of three days, the artists covered a city block in the downtown area of Philadelphia with graffiti. Time-lapsed images condense the action.
Four television spots–“Mural” (:30), “Connection” (:30) “Community” (:10) and “Knowledge” (:10)–feature the energetic images and are showing on the Web site’s home page. The spots, which encourage people to get tested for the virus, are similar in their rapid pace and content as well as feature the hip-hop artist Common, who also participated in last year’s KNOW HIV/AIDS initiative.
“I have to give credit to Kaiser and Viacom for buying into this because the things that we were showing them on paper were so vague–There was no way to put this on paper and that pervaded the whole shoot,” creative director/copywriter Dave Schiff related. “Like when we were in pre-pro looking at what we were going to do and what the plan [would be] day to day, it was wide open because who could have written down, ‘Well at this point you will paint over the mailbox at which time it will occur to you, hey I want to paint across the street.’ So we didn’t know what was going to happen and it was maddening and everybody was scared, but in the end we got great stuff. And it was because of the fact that there was nothing on paper, it was just a concept and it was free-form and we went out there and whatever happened, happened and we were going to capture it.”
MOVEMENT
After contacting several major cities with the proposed art happening, Philadelphia was the only one to welcome it. Once Philly accepted the project, Schiff said they approached the business owners on the block. Some needed proof that the paint would wash off and soon got on-board. In this campaign the power washers played a “pivotal role,” even sitting in on an important meeting with the major players.
On the site, visitors can take a look at the action behind the scenes. Three clips show interviews with Common and the artists as well as locals who supported the effort.
Another link takes visitors to a place where they can create graffiti of their own.
Participants can use their mice to create virtual artwork and submit it to an online gallery.
The target for the initiative is technically anyone who is sexually active but the audience tends to be people from about 15 years of age to those in their early 30s. This group, Schiff explained, is a bit cynical and not inclined to listen to PSAs that come across as preachy. They do, however, respond to elements of pop culture like fashion and music. “I think the free-spiritedness and rebelliousness of [graffiti] is very relevant to our target and is very cool and core to the concept of spreading.”
In last year’s campaign, “Knowing is Beautiful,” Common provided spoken word pieces for the TV and radio spots while the artwork for the outdoor elements modeled high-fashion ads. The concept was that knowing your HIV status was beautiful rather than smart. Common’s participation adds credibility to the campaign.
This year’s campaign slogan “The Know is Spreading” is an attempt to turn a negative thing–the spreading of a disease–into a positive thing, spreading knowledge. “We tried to look at examples of how can we show something beautiful spreading and one of the ideas was artwork, in particular graffiti,” Schiff said.
MESSAGE
Though the site and overall campaign approach the serious issue of HIV and AIDS in a positive and colorful way, there are components on the site with straightforward information about the virus. There is also a search engine to help people find testing centers.
On why the Internet was the right place to take the campaign, Schiff said that it is difficult to have a candid conversation through a spot with this wary audience, whereas with “the fluid nature of the Web, not that people still aren’t skeptical, but it’s much easier I think to talk with people in a voice that they can feel comfortable with and feel like their not being advertised to.”
Instead of scaring the audience with alarming statistics or sounding like they are trying to offer fatherly advice, Schiff went on to add, “We always wanted to be this positive, culturally relevant–I don’t even know if I would say message, you could call it a message–but I think we really wanted to create a brand and have them opt into that brand the same way they would opt into a handbag or a pair of jeans so I think it was a lot easier for us to do that online than it would generally be in television.”
Additional credit at the agency goes to Alex Bogusky, executive creative director; Jeff Benjamin, interactive creative director; Dave Swartz, art director; and Darren Himebrook, interactive producer.
On the spots, Bogusky and Swartz held the same positions, and the aforementioned Schiff was creative director. Credit also goes to Rupert Samuel and David Rolfe, executive agency producers; Amanda Ormerod and Sheri Radel, producers. (Rolfe is now senior VP/director of branded production at DDB Chicago.)
Anders Hallberg directed the spots through bicoastal/international Believe Media. Cheri Anderson, Liz Silver and Luke Thornton were executive producers. Hallberg and Chris Keohane were DPs.
