Latest news with #SirGrahamHenry
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
'Best place to have herpes': New Zealand advert wins top prize
New Zealand Herpes Foundation "To fix our national pride, the solution is obvious: herpes." That was the pitch made by the charity New Zealand Herpes Foundation last October, when it launched a campaign to make the country the "best place" to have the infection. That campaign has been a roaring success, winning a top prize at this year's Cannes Lions awards, which recognise excellence in the creative industry. The campaign, which aimed to destigmatise herpes via a faux tourism advertisement video, was awarded the Grand Prix for Good - a category that seeks to highlight work by non-profit organisations and charities. The video starred Sir Graham Henry, the former head coach of the national rugby union team. In it, he touted the past successes of New Zealand and lamented its diminishing sources of national pride - such as an "embarrassingly low" sheep-to-human ratio and pies that are "pushing seven bucks". "We need something new to be proud of; something big and brave to put us back on the map," Mr Henry said as he scrawled the word "HERPES" - in all caps - on a chalk board. "It's time for New Zealand to become the best place in the world to have herpes." What followed was another old-school video packaged as a "herpes destigmatisation course", featuring other national icons like former health ministry chief Sir Ashley Bloomfield and professional boxer Mea Motu. The irreverent humour running through the campaign - which was developed with agencies Motion Sickness and FINCH - has struck a chord with audiences. "Forget doom and gloom, there's enough of that already to go around," said David Ohana, communications chief at the United Nations Foundation and a jury president at this year's Cannes Lions. "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." Around one in three sexually active adults in New Zealand has the virus that causes genital herpes, though most have mild or no symptoms and can lead ordinary lives, according to the New Zealand Herpes Foundation. "Popular media, misinformation, and New Zealanders' awkwardness talking about sex - has led to huge stigmatisation for those living normal lives with the virus," reads a press release from when the campaign was launched last October. Alaina Luxmoore, from the New Zealand Herpes Foundation, told local TV programme Breakfast that millions had seen the campaign, which had "massive cut-through". "The campaign was so funny, I think that's why it worked," Luxmore said. New Zealand
RNZ News
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Sir Graham Henry, herpes, and an award-winning ad campaign
Sir Graham Henry. Photo: Supplied When Sir Graham Henry got a call from a young ad man asking him to front a campaign about a taboo subject, his answer was surprising. "It was quite daunting to call him up," says Sam Stuchbury, creative director and founder of Motion Sickness. "No one really wants to be in a herpes ad." Sam Stuchbury, executive creative director of Motion Sickness Photo: Supplied But Sir Graham said 'yes' to the campaign, and last week took his support of the campaign further by beaming into the prestigious Cannes Lions global ad awards with a tongue in cheek message of congratulations to New Zealand for being "the best place in the world to have herpes". The campaign was awarded two Grand Prix and four other prizes at Cannes, where they competed with more than 26,000 entries. Stuchbury tells The Detail how he nervously phoned Sir Graham, and before he could complete his pitch the former All Black coach said, "yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do it". With Sir Graham on board, the team at Motion Sickness then approached other New Zealand "icons" including Sir Ashley Bloomfield, Sir Buck Shelford and comedian Angella Dravid. The agency had been given a brief from the Herpes Foundation: to remove the stigma from genital herpes , an infection that one in three sexually active New Zealand adults have. Foundation trustee Alaina Luxmoore says the organisation had been trying to destigmatise herpes for more than 20 years. A still image from the award-winning herpes ad. Photo: Supplied "It has never, ever, ever worked," she says. "You're up against mainstream media; being the punchline joke in movies and songs and TV; decades and decades and decades of internalised shame about herpes as being akin to some type of sexual proclivity or uncleanliness. "It felt like you could never shake the stigma." When the agency came back to Luxmoore with the campaign tagline "Make New Zealand the best place in the world to have herpes", her reaction was instant. "'Oh my gosh, that's it.' By the end of the weekend after we'd heard that line for the first time I couldn't shake it and we were giddy with excitement." Both Luxmoore and Stuchbury were shocked at the worldwide reaction, with 22 million PR impressions, a reflection of the number of people reached by the campaign in the first eight weeks, and more than 10,000 hours of educational content watched. "I didn't expect the level of admiration from overseas people and we had a lot of herpes organisations from other places around the world reaching out and saying, can I share your content, can you tell me about it. "American podcasts, English researchers who are doing their degrees on the stigma around herpes. Lots and lots of international eyes on us and I didn't expect that." For Luxmoore it was also a surprising personal experience, as she fronted for media interviews for the foundation about why destigmatisation was so important. "It was like, 'who is the person who can speak to the lived experience of herpes' and that's me. The reason I'm on the board is because I have herpes." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
