Vangardist Magazine wanted to activate people to fight against HIV-related stigma. So, what better way to connect people to the issue than by printing their whole edition with the cause of the stigma itself – HIV-positive blood. It created awareness of the issue with the reader in a heartbeat and rallied people to share the topic via social media with #hivheroes.

To create an emotional and moral response in a heartbeat, the editors of Vangardist transformed their publication into the cause of the stigma itself- they printed every word, line, picture and page with HIV positive blood. They then placed the magazine in a transparent wrapper encouraging people to break the seal and break the stigma.

In addition to the physical print run, all PR activities were supported by an interactive platform on the net, featuring video content and interviews around the project, leading to a call to stand up against stigma on Social Media through #hivheroes

Vangardist´s online readership were also confronted with the issue via the publication being placed in a “virtual wrapper”. Users would need to follow 3 steps to unlock the content on the mobile devices: After synching their smartphone, they would have to place their fingers on to the scanner to 'accept' the issue, open the online-edition of the magazine and share the issue with their friends.

• One of the most trending topics on the net

• Received broad coverage on platforms like buzzfeedm maskable, ifls,com

• Over 5,2m shares in the first ten days of the campaign

• More than 20mins of live overage on news channels such as CBS-News, BBC, AlJazeera, etc

• Reaching out to an estimated audience of 32million

• Over 300 publications covered the topic in 28 countries across the globe.

• All coverage added up to an earned media value of USD 1,98m

• On the day of entry, the edition was on its way to selling out, raising potentially EUR 150K of donations.