Partnering with Popular Media to Reach Young People on AIDS and other Social Issues

Over the past decade, the Kaiser Family Foundation has pioneered a new model of engagement with media organizations to bring attention to pressing health and social issues, particularly HIV/AIDS. Our strategy has been to partner with outlets that are popular with our target audiences. Kaiser's current media partnerships with MTV, BET, Univision, Viacom/CBS and Fox are multi-faceted initiatives that leverage significant communications resources to deliver lifesaving messages to target audiences across the country. With a special focus on reaching young people with information about HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, the Foundation's domestic media campaigns incorporate highly-targeted public service ads; original long-form programming; storylines in popular entertainment sitcoms and dramas; workshops for news and entertainment media; and, content delivered across an array of emerging new media platforms. All of the content drives to free resources to connect audiences with local resources and comprehensive resources. In addition, we work directly with national, state, and local organizations and communities, to reach target audiences and extend the reach of our media partnerships.

To date, we have received some three million calls to our various campaign hotlines and millions more visits to the informational companion websites. National surveys indicate very high awareness to our campaigns among our targeted demographic – 92% of African American youth ages 18-24, for example, are familiar with our campaign with BET – and those who have seen campaign elements are more likely to take affirmative actions, such as seeing a health care provider or getting tested.