The archive · Public & Social · Marketing decision · 2024–2025
NZ Herpes Foundation reframes herpes stigma as national pride — two Cannes Grands Prix
A national-pride campaign made New Zealand 'the best place in the world to have herpes' — stigma index 9th to 1st in eight weeks
New Zealand Herpes Foundation · Motion Sickness · FINCH
What it had to solve
A public-health client needed to dismantle one of New Zealand's most persistent taboos; past health warnings had only reinforced shame, and nearly a third of diagnosed people reported depression or suicidal thoughts because of stigma.
How it works
Launched on Global Herpes Awareness Day (13 October 2024), the campaign set out to dismantle one of New Zealand's most persistent social taboos. With up to 80% of Kiwis carrying oral or genital herpes by midlife, the country ranked among the most stigmatising in the world, and nearly a third of diagnosed people reported depression or suicidal thoughts — not from symptoms, but from shame.
The creative leap was to stop fighting stigma with fear and start fighting it with national pride. The New Zealand Herpes Foundation, Motion Sickness, FINCH and TRA built a playful six-part 'Herpes Destigmatisation Course' hosted by respected Kiwi figures — Sir Ashley Bloomfield, Sir Graham Henry, Sir Buck Shelford and others — plus a live, OECD-based Herpes Stigma Index. Watching videos, sharing content and completing the course earned points for New Zealand, turning a medical message into a collective sport; bold travel-poster style outdoor ads plastered the word HERPES across the country.
Within eight weeks Aotearoa climbed from 9th to 1st on the index, overtaking Australia and Sweden. Kiwis collectively spent over 10,700 hours on the course and drove 12.7 million impressions; a TRA post-campaign survey found 69% of participants reported reduced stigma and 86% felt more comfortable discussing herpes.
The work was also the industry's verdict on the idea: at Cannes Lions 2025 it won the Grand Prix for Good and the Lions Health Grand Prix for Good, plus Gold Lions in Film and Health & Wellness, with six awards in total.
Why it lands
- Framing destigmatisation as national pride turned a private, shameful topic into a shared civic goal people wanted to win.
- A live leaderboard gave the campaign a finish line and made progress visible week by week.
- Respected Kiwi presenters carried authority, while the humour disarmed the audience and made the education the joke, not the diagnosis.
- The mechanic rewarded participation — watching, sharing, completing — so the audience did the distribution.
What it did
Within eight weeks New Zealand climbed from 9th to 1st on the stigma index; Kiwis consumed 10,700+ hours of course content and generated 12.7M impressions; 69% of participants reported reduced stigma. Cannes 2025 awarded it the Grand Prix for Good and Health Grand Prix for Good plus four more Lions.
What you can take
A taboo is a hook: make education the joke and national pride the finish line — people share because it feels like winning, not like a lecture.
Since then
The foundation was overwhelmed with emails from people recently diagnosed who said they could finally talk about their condition; post-campaign research showed big shifts in stigma. The campaign also won Gold at ADFEST 2025 and four awards at Clio Health 2025, and it kept destigmatising on every award-stage replay.
Sources
- Motion Sickness and FINCH's 'Herpes' Campaign Made People Laugh To Make Them Listen
- The New Zealand Herpes Foundation: The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes (case study)
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