Top Honours at Cannes PR Lions
Our alumni, Jacob Newton and Josep Jover, scored not only a Grand Prix but took home Gold, Silver and Bronze at the Cannes Festival of Creativity for their ad ‘Sperm Positive: The World’s First HIV–Positive Sperm Bank’.
Sperm Positive gives men living with HIV the opportunity to become sperm donors. The award-winning ad campaign was developed in collaboration with NZ Aids Foundation, Body Positive, Positive Women NZ, and advertising agency DDB.
Jacob and Josep, who work for DDB, were up against a competitive field of more than 725 entries from around the world.
“I'm not surprised at all by their success. The moment Jacob and Josep got together at MDS they started knocking it out of the park. This was noticed by Haydn Kerr, Digital Creative Director at DDB - and he promptly signed them up as junior creatives.” Kate Humphries, Programme Director - Creative Advertising
Their entry has garnered the world’s attention. Shared in 94 countries to an audience of over 1.8 billion, it has helped combat stigma by reinforcing the message that people living with HIV, who are on effective treatment, cannot pass on the virus through conception.
To date, four babies are due, 32 women have registered as recipients, 27 HIV-positive sperm donors have joined, and in January this year, the first baby (a baby girl) from an HIV-positive sperm bank was born.
