Marketing an HIV testing event at an historically black university

Background: On October 26, 2006, an HIV testing event was held at North Carolina Central University. A multi-media, graduated marketing campaign was conducted to recruit students. This poster will discuss how we involved numerous campus partners in the campaign, developed our marketing strategy, and conducted the campaign. We will also display samples of media developed for the campaign.

Methods: Testing Day represented collaborative efforts among Student Health and Counseling Services, a grant-funded HIV program (Project Style), three academic departments (Health Education, Art, and Public Administration), and seven student organizations. These partners developed flyers, handbills, articles for the campus newspaper, a special student-developed newsletter, campus radio and television spots, announcements on Facebook, and an HIV art installation.

Designed by students from the Art Department, the art installation consisted of 252 pairs of shoes arranged in a large spiral in the center of campus under the banner, “Shoes Too Easy To Fill.” Each pair of shoes represented a young African American diagnosed with HIV infection in North Carolina in 2005. Signs explaining the exhibit and encouraging students to learn their HIV status were posted along the spiral.

Results: Some 230 students registered for testing in the first 2 hours of the event, and 200 were actually counseled and tested over an 8-hour period. Ultimately over 50 students were turned away because of time and staff constraints.

Conclusion: This marketing campaign successfully recruited students for HIV testing and can serve as a model for public health events on other college campuses.