This is the third award for the HIV-Hop. The campaign was commissioned by the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health and centres on a comedy rap video featuring MC HIV-Hop, that aims to reduce stigma, by highlighting the ways that HIV cannot be transmitted.

Since the project was launched, the viral media video has been viewed almost 15,000 times. The HIV-Hop video became the third most watched World Aids Day video in the world which is more than Bill Gates WAD message and more than the total number of visits to The Prime Minister’s WAD messages since he came to power. The HIV-Hop Facebook page, which contains information about the campaign and about HIV awareness has had over 4,000 unique visitors to the site.

Amanda Pearce, diva’s Director said: “The HIV-Hop is a fantastic project and a great example of how we work with our clients, in this case the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health. It was great fun making the video and it’s so rewarding to receive this kind of recognition for a piece of work that will ultimately contribute towards changing attitudes to HIV and the stigma that surrounds it.”

The awards, held at The Comedy Store in Manchester, recognised excellence from organisations that have made a big difference in their communities. Other nominees included Battersea Dogs Home, Greater Manchester Police and Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

The world of digital media continues to change and it is now more important than ever that marketers roll with the times and change the face of their social media. Twitter has evolved in some exciting ways, so we thought we would get you up to date with what other tweeps might be up to in 2013.

1. Photos and videos are more important than ever

There has been a real increase in the amount of video and photography content used on the web in general. Using alternative media forms of posting on Twitter offers you a creative, fun and relevant way to engage with your customers. For example, cookie company Oreo took advantage of the blackout at the 2013 NFL Superbowl by posting this humourous photo – which has been re-tweeted more than 16,000 times.

2. Try out Vine

On the subject of inventive media, one of Twitter’s newest features is a mobile app called ‘Vine’, which lets you share looping six-second clips on your Twitter feed by recording footage directly from your phone. You need to be creative to get the most out of the short time limit, but ‘Vining’ is a great way of engaging with your audience and sparking a conversation. This hilarious example had us in the diva office chuckling away!

3. Embrace content marketing

Content marketing involves using relevant, interesting and quality content to communicate with your online audience. It’s a good way of engaging with customers, who are more likely to be drawn in by something they are interested in than by an advertisement or sales pitch.

Last year, Twitter was used for content marketing more than ever before and 2013 should see this trend continue, so think about how you could create topical content that would interest your follows and compel them to click through to your website.

4. Use a social media management tool

Programmes like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite are handy ways to monitor all your incoming messages and mentions, and are particularly useful if you control more than one Twitter account. Most of the popular clients let you schedule tweets in advance for automatic posting later and have apps for use on the go. They are also really useful for monitoring conversations and tracking keywords for you.

5. Use Twitter to research your customer base

More and more businesses and organisations use Twitter as one of their main tools for researching and understanding customers. Not only do a plethora of online services like www.knowyourfollowers.com offer cost-effective ways of getting demographic data about your followers, it is also possible to find out what makes your customer base tick simply by spending some time on your Twitter feed.

6. Think about your tone of voice

You can tweet as much as you want, but if your messages don’t use the right tone of voice, they won’t be read. Use what you know about your customer base to tailor your tweeting style to one they will be receptive to.

7. Promote your tweets

If you are thinking of investing a little bit more in your social marketing, then Twitter’s main advertising service, the ‘Promoted Tweets’ might offer. It lets you pay for tweets to be placed in the timelines of demographically targeted Twitter users, meaning you can reach thousands of people you have identified as potential customers.

At the start of this year, Twitter teamed up with five third-party firms to help advertisers track their campaigns’ performance. Twitter has promised that the change won’t mean ‘more’ adverts but ‘better’ adverts, so now is a great time to consider the benefits of using Promoted Tweets.

8. Keep up to date!

Twitter is ever-changing. With new features and services come new acronyms and hashtags, so while you might know what ‘RT’ and ‘FF’ mean it always helps to look at the latest Twitter trends. Sites like www.twittonary.com are invaluable resources and will be updated throughout 2013 with the newest terms in use on the network.

diva creative are an award winning full-service marketing agency, most recently winning ‘Best use of Social Media’ at Insider Yorkshire Digital and Technology Awards; who design, build and consult at the cutting edge of the web. We have an ethical focus, working predominantly with ‘green’ companies and public sector organisations to make a difference with our work.

The Role

You will work as part of a talented team in a busy studio, offering our clients across the UK a dynamic, flexible service with energy and enthusiasm. We pride ourselves in exceeding our client’s expectations and delivering quality solutions to meet a range of briefs.

You will be passionate about digital media and be constantly hungry to work with the latest technologies available whilst ensuring best practice, usability and accessibility for all.

You will work alongside digital designers and front-end developers on a variety of web and mobile projects ranging from WordPress sites and bespoke tool creation to smartphone optimised games and native apps development and give technical input in client meetings and requirement gathering.

Essential skills required include:

• PHP (Procedural and OOP)
• MySQL
• JavaScript and jQuery
• HTML 4/5, CSS 2/3
• WordPress development
• Extending WordPress (bespoke plug-ins)
• Mobile app development iOS/Android
• HTML5 Games (Canvas)
• Connecting to API’s
• Working knowledge of mobile frameworks such as Sensha / JQuery Mobile
• Domain and hosting management

Not essential but preferential:

• Knowledge of Zend Framework
  Experience of PhoneGap, Eclipse, Xcode
  Knowledge of BuddyPress
• Flash/Action Script
• Adobe Creative Suite

Apply

Do you have a minimum of three years experience, a strong portfolio that demonstrates our required skills and a keen understanding of how to meet a client’s brief?

Please submit your CV and portfolio to vacancies@divacreative.com or by post to: Human Resources, diva creative, Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX.

diva does not employ smokers.

diva is a equal opportunities employer.

It was another award for our latest social media campaign – The HIV Hop.  We were up against some stiff competition, including national advertising campaigns for Morphy Richards, the team behind Yorkshire’s Tour De France campaign and a social media campaign promoting Belling’s sponsorship of the new BBC Good Food series.

The selection panel recognised our ability to create a multi-channel campaign that aimed to reduce the stigma around HIV, utilising everything from YouTube to 3D street art. The judges said this was a great campaign that pulled a number of platforms together and was marketed exceptionally well. Apparently they were very impressed with the level of our creativity too!

And watch this space, as The HIV Hop has also been shortlisted for another award, in the national Social Impact awards.

Click here to find out more about our digital and social media work…

Harlem Shake peaked in February 2013, with 12000 copycat videos being uploaded to YouTube every day and is a perfect example of something going “viral”, which essentially means something becoming extremely popular on the internet in a short space of time.

No one can guarantee that any piece of content will take the web by storm, but we have a few tips for you to make sure your video has what it takes.

History has shown us that there’s nothing the ever-powerful 18-25 demographic like more than surreal, nonsensical humor that they can quote endlessly. We also know that this demographic shares things on the Internet first and foremost, and are often the chief drivers of what is considered “cool”.

Usually for something to be considered viral it needs to make its way into everyday non-internet life. For example, an impossibly random campaign by Old Spice, which featured a man whose rugged handsomeness was matched only by his rapid-fire surreality. Spawning catchphrases like “silverfish he caught with his hands”, the Old Spice Guy inspired reams of jokes, impressions, and even contemplations about how he was good for race relations in America.

Another favourite here in the office is the Old Spice Cat video – a spoof created to promote the film “Puss in Boots”, which was so popular it almost overshadowed Old Spice Guy.

In the business to consumer (B2C) industry, where campaigns promote a product or service, you can get away with that extra element of randomness – something that might prove to be a bit of a double-edged sword in the world of public health campaigns, which are usually concerned with achieving a change in attitude or behaviour, rather than making people laugh.

However, diva’s Game On video is a great example of when a public health campaign gets viral right. The message here was about safe sex and condom use amongst young men and we used the stylised concept of retro video games (something of particular interest to our audience) to get this across. We also added a dose of humour, with many an hour spent trying to catch a glimpse of the little Mario character’s crown jewels. By channelling the video through a host of popular gaming websites, Game On received over half a million views in just over a month. Two years on, it’s sitting at over 630,000 views on YouTube and is one of the most watched videos we’ve ever made.

Although, you can’t just post a great video on YouTube and expect it to take over the internet on its own. Game On worked not just because it was a great video but because it was seeded properly. Meaning we sent it to all the right places, where it was picked up by influential bloggers and websites who helped share the video to our target audience of teenage boys.

With clever seeding, humour and a dose of randomness you’ve got a good chance of going viral.

And if this doesn’t work – most people can’t resist sharing a picture of a grumpy little cat.

Produced for the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health in Sheffield, the project won Sexual Health Media Campaign of the Year at an awards ceremony in London last night, edging out competition from the likes of Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.

MC Hiv Hop collected the award, which was presented by ‘sexpert’ Tracey Cox.

The campaign, which aimed to dispel common myths around HIV transmission, received support from influential Twitter users such as Durex, MTV and Dr Christian Jessen (C4’s Embarassing Bodies).

The video tells the story of a young man who overcomes his fear of catching HIV by realising that you cannot catch it from kissing, hugging or sharing drinks with someone. And within two weeks of launch, the YouTube clip had been viewed more than 10,000 times, while more than 3,000 tweets had used the #HIVHop hashtag.

By bringing together art, music and comedy in an innovative way, we made a serious message more accessible and ultimately more shareable.

Amanda Pearce, diva’s director said: “This is fantastic and great recognition of all the hard work the team have put into this campaign.  We’ve worked with the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health for many years now, and it’s so rewarding to have our collaboration recognized in this prestigious national award.”

The HIV Hop campaign has the chance to scoop two more gongs later this month, after being nominated for both Best Use of Social Media and Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year in the Insider Yorkshire Digital and Technology Awards 2013.

We’re absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for not one, not two, but three Insider Yorkshire Digital and Technology Awards.

The awards, which celebrate the best in Yorkshire web design, mobile technology and IT will be held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on 27th March 2013.

The website we developed for ITM Power has been nominated for Business to Business website of the year. ITM is a dynamic business which is breaking into new markets all the time. The website we developed has been designed to ensure it is flexible and able to adapt to the business as it changes. This will ensure its integrity will stand the test of time.

The all singing, all dancing HIV Hop campaign we created for Centre for HIV is up for both Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year and Best Use of Social Media. The HIV Hop campaign features an original comedy rap video by MC HIV Hop which was aimed at reducing HIV stigma and increase accessibility to information about HIV. The campaign used a variety of social media platforms, as well as a variety of digital and offline platforms which helped it gain a significant presence both within the UK and worldwide.

More than 70 individual companies entered in ten different categories for the prestigious awards ceremony, so we’re up against some stiff competition but fingers crossed we’ll have some more silverware for the office cabinet shortly!

This is a fantastic opportunity to join our multi-award winning creative team to help create engaging and eye-catching designs for a wide range of print projects from concept through to artwork.

You will be working on a variety of projects including logos, advertising, POS, direct mail, stakeholder communications and guides, exhibitions and promotional give-aways, whilst ensuring that you follow brand guidelines and are consistent throughout all mediums. Experience in responsive web design/digital publishing is favourable, but not essential.

You will work as part of a team in a busy studio and need to be able to demonstrate creativity, confidence, flexibility, self-motivation, excellent attention to detail, exceptional organisational skills and the ability to approach all work with energy and enthusiasm while under pressure.

Most crucially, the ideal candidate will demonstrate a genuine interest in the not-for-profit/public sector thus affording them the empathy and understanding needed to create work that encourages support, challenges attitudes and changes minds.

Responsibilities:

• Take creative responsibility for a wide range of projects including logos, visual identities, brand languages, print and campaigns
• Contribute ideas and regularly lead on large-scale projects and pitches
• Develop a competence in areas outside core graphic design, for example, digital and photography
• Participate in briefing sessions
• Prepare and occasionally attend client presentations
• Liaise with clients
• Prepare a wide range of artwork for print
• Prepare printing/production specifications and obtain estimates
• Liaise with suppliers including printers, sign-makers and exhibition contractors

Essential requirements:

• Advanced knowledge/experience in Adobe Creative Suite
• Good communication skills

Not essential but preferential:

• QuarkXPress (v6.0 and above)
• Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
• Microsoft Office Suite (2008 and above)

If you would like to be considered for this role then please send in your cv and samples of work that demonstrate your ideas-led approach to vacancies@divacreative.com or by post to: Human Resources, diva creative, Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX.

Salary to be negotiated.
diva does not employ smokers.
diva is a equal opportunities employer.

Closing date: 24th May 2013

We do NOT invite unsolicited CVs from agencies and will not be liable for any fees relating to any such candidate we employ.

Brief: Conduct a scoping exercise to identify local perceived barriers to the uptake of mainstream sport and physical activity in Somerset for adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities. The project aimed to examine the issue from the perspectives of service users, non-users, carers (both paid and unpaid) and service providers. The scoping exercise aimed to identify what action could be taken to break down those barriers and increase access and participation from adults with learning disabilities.

What we did:

• The initial stage of the project involved locating and reviewing relevant secondary research into integrating adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities into mainstream sport and physical activity. A review of grey and published literature was undertaken. The secondary research review was then used to inform the next stage of the scoping work.
• Primary research was then conducted using qualitative techniques. The delivery of focus groups from the various target audiences, allowed for an in depth understanding of participants experiences, perspectives and current circumstances. A list of recommendations for the best way to engage adults with learning disabilities into mainstream activities was then developed.
• The final stage of the project involved the delivery of a creative workshop with some of the key participants from the focus groups to test the recommendations with a key focus of integration for all.

Value:

• We were able to provide our client with a list of robust and tested recommendations on how adults with learning disabilities could in engaged with mainstream sport and physical activities.
• We offered a 360 degree evaluation ensuring that all stakeholders were involved every step of the way.
• The creative workshop offered an opportunity for all participants to come together and voice their ideas and opinions in a facilitated manner, some of whom had not had the opportunity to engage that way before.
• All participants were very happy that they had been given the opportunity to have their voices heard.
• The client was satisfied that they now had some solid key recommendations which could help shape their strategy for enabling adults with learning disabilities to access mainstream sport and physical facilities.

Testimonial:

Louise Woolway, Public Health Specialist, NHS Somerset

In Somerset we were interested in applying a social marketing approach to understand what we needed to do in the county to increase opportunities, for adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities, to mainstream physical activity and sport. diva undertook the insight work on our behalf. It has been a pleasure to work with the team, their approach to the work has been both creative and inspiring. I now have some tangible recommendations which can be taken forward within the county. I particularly liked the creative workshop diva delivered which tested the findings with the key stakeholders prior to the recommendations being formalised.