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The Pressies 2020: Best use of media relations

In celebration of the country’s most impressive PR, experiential and social media campaigns, StopPress chats to all the winners at The Pressies 2020. Mango Communications and New Zealand Aids Foundation took home gold for ‘Sperm Positive’ in the Best use of media relations category. 

StopPress: When you came up with the idea, did you have any idea how much global traction it would receive?

Chloe Leuschke

Chloe Leuschke, Group Business Director, Mango: We knew the idea had the potential to spark conversations across the globe and media relations was essential to the success of the campaign. Our strategy was to pitch hard locally to secure the foundation coverage, then we took it to the major international outlets and wires. You can never be 100% sure with earned media, especially with such a sensitive subject, so while we thought we’d be able to secure some hits overseas, we didn’t quite expect the incredible pick up that we received. We had more than 400 pieces of coverage, from CNN to The Guardian, Huffington Post and TV across Australia, Spain, France, China and more. In the end it became almost impossible to track and interpret all the coverage. Importantly the coverage sentiment was overwhelmingly positive throughout. We were thrilled with the results and that a small-budget campaign from New Zealand could have such an impact across the world.

StopPress: How did your agency partnership help you to deliver this award winning campaign?

Anthony Walton

Anthony Walton, Marketing Team Lead, New Zealand Aids Foundation, NZ: HIV stigma is still prevalent in our society and therefore a very sensitive subject to address on a mass scale – so we’re incredibly grateful to Mango and DDB for navigating a complex brief to deliver a well-thought-out, courageous concept that included the voices of people living with HIV. With a range of stakeholders on board and varying opinions throughout the campaign’s development, the team managed to work through many rounds of feedback to create a campaign that everyone involved was proud of and excited by. The volume of international media attention the campaign received was far greater than anything we expected, with huge potential to have a tangible positive impact on the lives of people living with HIV across the world.


For more winner interviews from The Pressies 2020, click here.

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