It was the irreverent campaign featuring Sir Graham Henry, Sir Ashley Bloomfield, boxer Mea Motu, and other high profile New Zealanders.
The New Zealand Herpes Foundation launched the Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to have Herpes advertising campaign last October, with the aim of tackling stigma associated with common and largely benign Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV).
Now, the agency behind the campaign — Motion Sickness / FINCH — has been awarded the Lions Health and United Nations Foundation Grand Prix for Good award at Cannes 2025.
The award recognises outstanding creative work for non-profit organisations and charities, specifically campaigns that promote social good and address global health challenges.
Alaina Luxmore told Breakfast the campaign had “massive cut-through”.
“More than 20 million saw it, more than the size of our country.
“We know that if you get the information early in your diagnosis you’re far less likely to suffer the psychological effects, you can get optimal treatment, so getting to our website and helpline was a big thing.”
The videos, starring an all-star cast of New Zealand celebrities, tackled questions such as “is herpes scary?”, and “how common is it?”
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“The campaign was so funny, I think that’s why it worked,” Luxmore said.
Motion Sickness’ executive creative director Sam Stuchbury was thrilled with the award.
“We were really pleased with people’s response, at the end of the campaign 86% of people that did the course said they were now comfortable about talking about herpes and if they were diagnosed they’d know what to do.”
