Chelsea and Westminster Dean Street Clinic launches a new era in advertising through the Community Campaign

56 Dean Street, part of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital facilities, is offering members of the gay community the chance to design an innovative HIV or sexual health awareness campaign.

56 Dean Street, the award-winning Soho-based HIV and sexual health clinic owned by local Chelsea and Westminster hospital, launched a competition to tackle HIV and sexual health awareness amongst gay and bisexual men. Named The Community Campaign, the competition asks any member of the community to submit their ideas for an innovative advertising campaign that will make an impact to reduce rates of HIV, or increase education about sexual health.

Entries will be put on display in selected gay bars across London and be taken to a public vote via Facebook. The winning concepts will appear online, in print or on radio.

Supporting the campaign, Stephen Fry said, “With one in seven gay men on the London scene now living with HIV, it’s never been more important to develop new ways to reach and engage people with a safe sex message.”

The awards for The Community Campaign will be held twice yearly, with two categories every six months. The two categories for the first six months are:

• Testing (a print advertisement campaign)—We want to educate and encourage every sexually active gay man to get tested for HIV at least once a year. The winning sketch will be professionally designed into a fully fledged advertising campaign appearing in various media across London.
• What Would You Tell The 19-Year-Old You? (a viral video campaign)—We want to hear what you would tell others in your community about love, life, work, sex, relationships, whatever will make people take note and remember. The winning video will run extensively through online media and be shown in London’s most popular gay bars.

Dr Alan McOwan, Service Director at 56 Dean Street said, “We want to create a voice for the gay community to actively design, vote on and react to their own advertising. If we can all get involved—together, we can make a difference.”

Submission for entries is open now, and will close on 25 June. A judging panel of industry experts will shortlist the entries, and a public vote will open in August to decide the overall winners. The winning campaigns will run during September–December.

• Check out what Stephen Fry has to say about the campaign
• Find out more on Facebook