New Zealand Herpes Foundation's Groundbreaking Campaign Wins Prestigious Cannes Lions Grand Prix For Good
The campaign, developed in partnership with Motion Sickness (Auckland) and FINCH (Sydney), represents a paradigm shift in public health communications, demonstrating how bold creative strategies can effectively address sensitive health topics and drive measurable behaviour change within healthcare communities and the broader public.
Launched in October 2024 on Global Herpes Awareness Day, the campaign successfully challenged decades of entrenched stigma surrounding genital herpes – a condition that affects up to 80% of New Zealanders at some point in their lives. Through innovative use of humour, gamification, and celebrity endorsement, the initiative transformed a traditionally taboo medical topic into an accessible national conversation.
The campaign's "Herpes Destigmatisation Course" featured prominent New Zealand figures including Sir Ashley Bloomfield and Sir Graham Henry delivering evidence-based health education through engaging video content. A Herpes Stigma Index provided real-time global rankings, encouraging community participation and measuring progress against international benchmarks.
Within eight weeks, New Zealand rose from ninth to first place on the global stigma index. The campaign generated exceptional engagement metrics including:
Over 10,700 hours of educational content consumed
12.7 million impressions across social channels
69% of participants reported reduced stigma attitudes
86% felt more comfortable discussing herpes openly
81% expressed motivation to support others with HSV
The campaign's success underscores the critical importance of addressing the substantial gap between medical reality and public perception of HSV. While most people (~80%) will host a Herpes Simplex Virus during their lifetime, only approximately 20% will experience recognisable symptoms. The majority remain undiagnosed because most people who host herpes simplex don't experience symptoms ( ie are asymptomatic ) creating ongoing challenges for clinical management and patient counselling.
"This campaign demonstrates the transformative power of exceptional creative communications in achieving public health outcomes that traditional medical education approaches have struggled to deliver," said NZHF Trustee Alaina Luxmoore. "We're immensely proud that our bold approach to destigmatising herpes has resonated not only in New Zealand but globally. The message we're conveying is simple – herpes is a common, manageable virus that doesn't define a person's worth or relationships.
"Winning the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Good validates our belief that innovative communications can break down barriers that have prevented effective clinical care and patient wellbeing for decades. However, this recognition is just the beginning. While we're officially the best place in the world to have herpes, maintaining this title requires constant education, ongoing destigmatisation efforts, and continued advancement in clinical training on best-practice herpes management and treatment guidelines. We're committed to building on this momentum to ensure healthcare providers and patients alike have access to evidence-based, stigma-free herpes care."
The campaign's international acclaim extends beyond Cannes Lions, with awards from AdFest 2025 (Gold Lotus - Entertainment), Clio Health 2025 (multiple Gold and Silver awards), D&AD (Wood Pencils), and The One Show (Bronze - Health & Wellness). This recognition highlights the campaign's effectiveness as a model for addressing sensitive health topics through creative communications.
David Ohana, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at the United Nations Foundation and Cannes Lions jury president, praised the campaign: "This year's Lions Health Grand Prix for Good unabashedly uses humour to tackle a challenging subject and stigmatisation. Our 2025 awardee took a taboo topic and turned it on its head – showing that with a great strategy, a big, bold crazy idea, and humour for days, that anything is possible."
The campaign's success provides valuable insights for healthcare professionals addressing HSV in clinical practice. By normalising conversations about herpes and emphasising that HSV-1 and HSV-2 are essentially the same virus managed through identical clinical approaches, the initiative supports more effective patient counselling and care delivery.
For healthcare providers, the campaign reinforces that societal conditioning around herpes requires recalibration. HSV-1 causes approximately 50% of genital herpes cases, often through oral-to-genital contact, yet remains socially acceptable when presenting as oral cold sores while carrying significant stigma in genital presentations.
The Foundation's ongoing work will focus on supporting clinical education initiatives, advancing diagnostic understanding, and promoting evidence-based treatment guidelines. With no definitive diagnostic test available for asymptomatic individuals, the campaign's emphasis on reducing stigma becomes even more critical for effective public health management.
The New Zealand Herpes Foundation is dedicated to providing accurate information, support, and advocacy for individuals affected by Herpes Simplex Virus. Through evidence-based education and innovative communications strategies, NZHF works to eliminate stigma and improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders. This includes running a herpes helpline managed by nurse counsellors. The helpline can be reached on 0508 11 12 13 from a landline or 09 433 6526 from a mobile. For more information on the helpline and NZHF's other services visit: herpes.org.nz.
The "Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to Have Herpes" campaign was supported by Sexually Transmitted Infections Education Foundation, Whānau Ora and Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa.
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