Love Our Work: Christie Cooper on 'Make NZ The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes'

Christie Cooper and James Conner were part of the team behind the recent Grand Clio-winning Benee Bagels campaign for ASB, and along with picking up metal at all the major shows, their work has influenced legislation, been cited in academic research, and made a lasting mark on culture.

Over nearly 20 years working together – across DDB, Colenso, The Monkeys, and now as co-ECDs at Droga5 ANZ – Christie and James have helped shape campaigns for some of New Zealand’s biggest brands, including ASB, Meridian, Asahi, Lion, SKY TV, Westpac, Volkswagen, McDonald’s, Pink Batts, BNZ, Burger King, and Cadbury. They’ve also worked on award-winning campaigns like Steinlager’s Deep Dive, BMW’s Reverse April Fools, Paw Justice: Animal Strike, and Don’t Trademe.

LBB > What’s the piece of work you love?

Motion Sickness and FINCH’s herpes campaign. Last year, they made New Zealand the best place in the world to have herpes. This year, they proved that it's also one of the best places in the world to have a Grand Prix-winning idea.

LBB > What do you love about it?

The line alone is good enough to win a Lion. But the work is bold, funny and weirdly patriotic. They took one of the most awkward topics imaginable and reframed it as a matter of national pride.

It tapped into something uniquely New Zealand: we love it when we top a global ranking. We’ll celebrate coming first in anything: least corrupt country, most sheep per person, even sexiest accent (not sure how we got that one).

Whatever it is, if we’re number one, it’s headline news, and the talk of the BBQ. So, turning herpes destigmatisation into yet another way we could be the best wasn’t just funny, it was psychologically perfect. We got to win at something weird. And we love that.

LBB > Is it in line with work that usually grabs your attention?

Anything good grabs my attention, but it’s rare to see work that’s socially important and culturally entertaining. This did both. It made me laugh, made me think, and made me weirdly proud to be from a country that would actually run with an idea like this. It made herpes education headline news, stigma a national enemy and agencies everywhere a little bit jealous.

LBB > What does it do for the brand and the category?

For the brand: it finally cracked a conversation every STD campaign’s been trying to start for years. It made herpes go viral, in a good way.

For the category: it proved you don’t need scare tactics or serious ads to create real behaviour change.

LBB > And what does it do for the agency and our industry?

Motion Sickness have been on a roll the past few years, this proves they’re capable of taking a taboo, turning it into something entertaining, and getting the whole country talking about it (and then winning a Grand Prix to top it off).

And for the industry, it’s a reminder that the best ideas don’t need world-first tech or loads of money. Just bravery, a sharp insight, and one really good joke.