Motion Sickness and FINCH’s ‘Herpes’ Campaign Made People Laugh To Make Them Listen

“Humour disarms and invites people in,” Motion Sickness executive creative director and founder Sam Stuchbury told LBB about ‘The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes’.

“Once you can make someone laugh, you can get them to listen. The whole strategy was about taking something no one wanted to talk about and making the education the joke, not the Herpes diagnosis.”

New Zealand agency Motion Sickness and Australian production company FINCH won two Grands Prix at Cannes for the campaign for the New Zealand Herpes Foundation. It brought home six awards in total, in what Sam called a “historic win” for Aotearoa.

The campaign won the first Grand Prix and first Gold Lion of the 2025 festival, ultimately securing the Grand Prix for Good, the Lions health grand Prix for Good, Gold Lions in Film and Health & Wellness, and two Bronze Lions in Sustainable Development and Entertainment.

The campaign, which approached reducing the herpes stigma by framing it as a restoration of New Zealand national pride, featured a global ranking system underpinned by live data.

“The Herpes Stigma Index was our social proof. It sparked some friendly international competition, particularly with Australia. As a nation, we like being the best in the world at stuff, so the live leaderboard motivated us and gave the country a finish line to aim for,” said Sam.

“We hoped the campaign would start a conversation, but the ultimate scale caught us off guard. It spread through New Zealand, then globally, and now, Cannes. Ironically, every time the campaign gets talked about, it destigmatises herpes for more people.

“We’ve put our country, and herpes, on the world stage and shown what creativity, craft, and boldness can do.”

Motion Sickness partner and head of strategy Hilary Ngan Kee added, “going deep” on the subject matter in the research phase gave the campaign an opportunity to stand out.

“The only time people talk about herpes publicly is when they’re making a joke about it,” Hilary said.

“Unfortunately, the majority of the time these jokes are at the expense of people who actually have herpes, usually reinforcing untrue myths that perpetuate the social stigma surrounding the virus.”

Such stigmas include a sense of uncleanliness associated with the disease, as well as views around the types of people who contract the virus. The spots revealed some startling numbers, including 80% of New Zealanders will come into contact with herpes.

For the campaign to be a success, Hilary knew they would need people to engage with the work.

“We always knew to make a real change, other people would need to spread the word for us,” she said.

“I’m so pleased that it’s had the reception that it has -- I know how much it means to the volunteers at the NZ Herpes Foundation. Shifting a decades-old stigma takes time, but our post-campaign research already shows big shifts.”

According to Motion Sickness, the NZ Herpes Foundation was overwhelmed with emails from people recently diagnosed. As a result of the campaign, many people who previously “thought their lives were over” were now able to talk about their condition.

Alaina Luxmoore of the New Zealand Herpes Foundation said the campaign's success will make a significant difference in the lives of the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders with a herpes diagnosis.

“While this campaign has been a lot of fun, it has also provoked a very important conversation in New Zealand," she said.

"Herpes is incredibly common across the world, but for too long it has been a reason for shame and stigma. By starting the conversation, and promoting education and acceptance over ignorance and fear, people with a herpes diagnosis know they are safe and accepted in New Zealand."

Motion Sickness’ production partner, FINCH, also won a Silver Lion with indie agency Supermassive for '36 Months’ -- a social change initiative to amend legislation to raise the minimum age Australian teenagers can sign up for social media accounts from 13 to 16.

​Corey Esse, managing director and executive producer at FINCH, said both ‘Herpes’ and ‘36 Months’, being associated with sensitive issues, required tact in engaging audiences.

“I think both campaigns invite people in, to join a cause and be part of a movement,” Corey said. “‘Herpes’ uses humour, while ‘36 Months’ uses common sense, giving parents and young people a platform to ask for change.

“36 months started with two people and grew to an army of thousands of people demanding change from the government. It is a non-traditional idea which is probably why it was shortlisted for Titanium at Cannes. Herpes followed a more traditional Branded Entertainment path which we are more familiar with. Both challenging, but both rewarding in different ways.

“We love adventure. When things are hard or challenging, it's probably because they haven't been done before. That's an exciting space to play with. It means we get to dive all in, and you are rewarded when you pull it off.”

The win follows a slew of award buzz for Motion Sickness, who took Silver for both NZ Creative Agency of the Year, and AU/NZ Boutique Agency of the Year at the Agency of the Year awards in Singapore last month.

‘The Best Place in the World to have Herpes’ also won Gold in the Entertainment Lotus category at AdFest 2025, and won four awards at the Clio Health 2025 awards.​

Hilary said what makes the creative team so brilliant is its ability to tap into “the human side”.

“Creativity doesn’t get in the way of the solution; the unconventional or unexpected is a tool for effectiveness.

“I’m so proud of our team. Every single one of them.”

While there is a sentiment that people will tune out bold or “weird” creative, Sam believes those qualities are exactly what cuts through.

“You just have to really believe in your skill to land the right tone, and treat the subject with respect, even if comedy is the way in,” he said.

“Don’t hide from the taboo in the first place, taboos have a hook. We made ‘Herpes’ as big as we can as the taboo itself made people look.

“If we can do it for herpes, and have it land with both the ad world and the real world, we’re excited to see what’s next.”