ACON + VAC Unveils Site for Same Sex Attracted Men Eman8 via Innocean Australia + ADMATIC

A new national project that brings an innovative, digital approach to health promotion for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men about sexual health and wellbeing has gone live today called Emen8.

An Australian first, Emen8 is an exciting new online platform that delivers information about good sexual health embedded in a broader context and into daily conversations about matters of interest to its target audience: gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. Emen8 is produced by Australia's two largest HIV and LGBTI health organisations: ACON and the Victorian AIDS Council (VAC).

Emen8 has partnered with leading media and marketing agencies Innocean and ADMATIC to deliver the project, which will also see the rollout of six sexual health campaigns over the next 12 months.

Emen8 is designed to make information about HIV and STI prevention more appealing. It encourages regular engagement via a native content marketing approach, where sexual health information is integrated into content that reflects the lives of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men with sections covering emotional health and wellbeing, relationships, travel, culture and style.

In addition to the native content approach, the implementation of an open platform marketing technology stack will enable Emen8 to activate first and third party data and ensure the reduction of wastage, while driving faster outcomes at a more efficient rate. This approach has rarely been seen in the health promotion sector and the Emen8 platform will make this best practice for the sector moving forward.
 
ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill says by ramping up the 'shareability' of the content, we can harness the power of peer networks, community connections and social influence to amplify health messaging that can in turn, encourage health behavioural change.

Says Parkhill: "This new approach to HIV health promotion and sexual health is reflective of the changes in the way our community is consuming content. A traditional approach would not necessarily achieve the results that are required for the program and this direction has been taken to ensure Emen8's content creation and distribution reflects the way in which our target audience live their lives and engage with the ever fragmenting content streams that are available to them on a daily basis."

VAC CEO Simon Ruth said that the aim is to engage a broader range of people across Australia.

Says Ruth: "We're constantly adapting our educational efforts to reflect advances in HIV prevention and treatment, but also shifts in culture and communications. We believe the approach we're taking with Emen8 is a contemporary and innovative response to the way our community is connecting and consuming information.

"Emen8's content is designed to reflect and connect with a broad spectrum of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. The aim is to complement existing efforts and also significantly increase the reach and impact of our collective efforts to provide information to all gay men - cis and trans - across Australia about HIV and STI prevention."

Says Peter Fitzhardinge, CEO, Innocean Worldwide: "When the team came to us with the concept of sex positivity, it opened up a liberating communications platform that allowed us to be empowering and enlightening. It led us to the ripple design and the core thought of good news emanating and pulsing from our brand and content. The pulsating logo has also become a key design element that has been used across all elements of the campaign. Its lightness and personality continue the positive values we wish to present for the Emen8 brand."

Says Steve Jones, managing partner, ADMATIC: "The team at ADMATIC is excited to be working on the highly emotive Emen8 brand launch and the supporting tactical initiatives. Our campaigns have been purpose built using programmatic media to deliver a fresh, dynamic and more personally relevant message to the people and communities the Emen8 brand will relate to."

To view the new website and check out the content, please visit www.emen8.com.au.