- HIV Medication Add: How to get in one? -

[pozhope]

hello all - hope all is wonderful!

23 yr old art student here - just wondering how to go about being in an HIV add?

who do I contact? have you been in one before and have insight to the process?

*** I wanna use the money to fund a HIV online TV series featuring the lives of positive people.

hope to hear from you!

[skeebo1969]

   867-5309 ask for Jenny.

[pozhope]

thanks! any other advice anyone?

[Ann]

thanks! any other advice anyone?

Are you hiv positive yourself?

[pozhope]

yes I am +

skeebo1969 your number doesn't have a area code...

[Inchlingblue]

yes I am +

skeebo1969 your number doesn't have a area code...

I think skeebo was being funny/playful...the number he gave is part of the lyrics to a song from 1982 called "867-5309/Jenny"


There was a thread here a few months ago about a casting call fro a Truvada ad, link below, it has the name and contact info for the ad agency that was handling it. It also explains what they were looking for and even though different ads will vary, it will give you a general idea of the kind of thing they usually look for (i.e someone with HIV but who looks GREAT). Different ad agencies handle different accounts depending on the drug company.

You can always search online to see if you can find out which ad agencies are used by the drug companies that make HIV drugs and then contact the ad agencies.

LINK:

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=26504.0

[Ann]

yes I am +

Well, in that case, PH, welcome to the forums! I had to ask, because your first post gave no indication and you'd be surprised by how many well-meaning but often-times rather condescending non-poz people we get coming here with somewhat off-beat requests. Their threads often disappear.

I wouldn't have a clue how to get into an ad campaign - maybe contact the drug companies? I can't really see them paying very much though. There's got to be better ways of raising money.

You might be interested in reading this recent thread:

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=28408.0


Ann

[sdguyloveslife]

   867-5309 ask for Jenny.

Skeebo - you crack me up!!! LOL!!! 

Pozhope -

Not laughing "at" you - naturally, you thought he was being serious - you probably were not even born yet when that song was a hit!   

Pharmaceutical companies typically don't create ads themselves.  Yes, they do have marketing departments that market the "drug" - and their own marketing professionals know how to take the "features" of the drug and translate that into tangible benefits for the target audience, but it usually ends there. 

If you notice the ads as well as the commercials, they're quite sophisticated and require a lot of "production equipment and capabilities" that are far outside the pharma company's business - so they typically outsource this type of work to ad agencies.  Sure the pharma company "supervises" the outside agency in terms of "Yeah, we like that" or "No, that's not convincing enough" or "FDA won't let us say 'that' in our ads" but the ad agency manages the production piece.  Then it gets really complex - because the ad agencies have varying levels of involvement - and some just manage the project, but hire all sorts of outside contractors to get the work done.  So, there's lots of "layers" of people, companies and agencies involved in this sort of work. 

Check out "Med Ad News" (you can easily google them online) - they're an industry trade journal specifically geared toward pharmaceutical and medical advertising.  There you will also familiarize yourself with all the big ad agency names - because they all love to brag about which pharmaceutical companies and drugs they represent.  After you familiarize yourself a little with the landscape, you then might try calling around and possibly find someone friendly in an ad agency that can help point you in the right direction. 

You can PM me if this is all too confusing -- this industry is a bit outside of my scope of work, so while I don't have any contacts to share with you, I would gladly answer a few more questions to help you understand how this all works. 

Good luck!
Richard