The idea core is a real world five days experience that proved the stigma is still there: the real conversations and reactions of hundreds of people who called Daniel after finding his ad online and how they reacted when he said he had HIV. How the experiment was set up, all that happened during that calls and the results of the experience were shared in a 2´ video that made other people be part of the experience. After Daniel´s story we engaged people in SM with specific educational content that fought misinformation.

HIV patients thanks to new treatments have a normal healthy lifestyle. There are no deaths. Aids is almost over. No one talks about it anymore. Our society has become more open and diverse, but HIV community says the opposite: people still reject them when they share their life, workplace, or a house with others. Discrimination of people with HIV is still a huge silent issue in Spanish society today: however, nobody talks about HIV anymore, seems like a thing from the past.

But how to capture media attention when there are other emergencies every day? How to make people experience the discrimination they cause?

The brief: awareness. Talk about HIV stigma again, grab media attention and make society think about a problem they think doesn´t exist anymore. And show our patients and HIV community our support in their daily life, not only with treatments but with their mental health.

Daniel´s Apartment is a real-life experience that proved prejudices and disinformation around HIV still exists.

In the midst of a rental boom in Madrid , we posted an ad in the main online real state agencies: a beautiful apartment to share in Madrid´s city center. Daniel answered the calls and during the conversation he dropped casually that he had HIV: everyone remained cool but in the end 81% of people never called back to visit the apartment.

We told Daniel´s story and the result of the experience in a video that ended up with a powerful conclusion: we are not more open minded about HIV, we are more hypocritical (and we have better manners on the phone than ever). The same stigma and false fears still exist., even though sharing an apartment has no risk of infection.

The target was Spanish society, focusing on people between 20 and 40. We know by studies that younger generations in Spain (especially in big cities) think HIV and stigma is something from the past, we are over it: they believe they are more open and informed than ever. They are super progressive regarding HIV.

We needed to find real people, from younger generations and put them to a test: are they informed and free of prejudices around HIV like polls say? We came up with the idea: would this people share an apartment with a person with HIV for real?

The idea kicked off with an ad in the Spanish most important rental platform, www.idealista.com. We knew some of our audience would be there looking like crazy for a room to rent in Madrid. Finding a good apartment is a feat nowadays. The results to their response is Daniel´s apartment

It all started with an ad on the housing and rental platform (April 25th). After 5 days of Daniel answering calls, we created a 2´ video with the results of the experiment and posted it in ViiV´s own channels.

We shared it to the most important Spanish media outlets: the story of Daniel and the real reactions of the people who called and turned down the apartment in the end, even when finding a good rental was a real feat.

In parallel we contacted the main HIV associations. Daniel's story got them all to speak with one voice on the same anti-stigma message, using their social networks and their influence to amplify the campaign.

After the experiment, we went further to fight stigma: we identified HIV misinformation and top false fears in SM and fought them one by one, with accurate information (micro content).

- More than 350 calls/conversations

- With 0 investment, 91% of Spanish media talked again about HIV through Daniel´s story

- +3225% HIV mentions in SM

- +1125% HIV online searches

- 11 speaking Spanish countries covered Daniel´s story. GSK Uruguay with the Ministry of Health used it to raise awareness in their AIDS National day.

- 4 most important HIV associations in Spain joined the campaign

- The campaign united the HIV associations to create the first pride parade against stigma in Spain

- IT BROUGHT A CHANGE IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF PATIENT CARE (HEALTH CATEGORY): FROM PHYSICAL WELL BEING TO EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL HEALTH.

In Spain, the last “National Study of HIV and stigma perception in Spaniards” (Ceisida 2022) says we are more open, empathetic and informed as ever about HIV. People, especially younger generations say when asked they don´t feel people with HIV are discriminated.

Also, as a context for the idea, Spain is living a real state boom again: prices are too high, especially in big cities like Madrid and Barcelona. Renting prices for an apartment are higher than ever and finding a place to live is a real feat.