NYC Condom (NYC Health Department): Helping NYC “Get Some”
Free Condoms For All New Yorkers Who Need Them
In 1971, the New York Department of Health started distributing free male condoms in the city’s sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinics. In the 1980s, the onset of HIV/AIDS led to the expansion of free male condom distribution to HIV/AIDS service organizations and organizations that served injecting drug users. In 2005, the Health Department launched a condom ordering website for easier access and bulk orders. Average monthly condom distribution then rose from 250,000 to 1.5 million. On Valentine’s Day in 2007, the agency set a national precedent with its NYC Condom campaign, in which a standard, premium lubricated Lifestyles condom was packaged in a chic, Gotham inspired NYC branded wrapper. The municipally branded NYC Condom provides New Yorkers with a uniquely cosmopolitan condom while increasing condom use and awareness in NYC. In 2009, the NYC Condom Availability Program distributed over 41.5 million condoms, and the NYC Condom can now be found at over 3,000 locations around the city. Free female condom distribution began in 1998 and nearly 1 million free female condoms were also distributed in 2009.
Awareness and Community Buy-In
The primary goal of the NYC Condom Availability Program is to increase consistent male and female condom use to reduce the transmission of HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancy in New York City. The program works to accomplish this goal by making condoms more widely available to NYC residents; generating conversation and community buy-in around safer sex through participation in community events; and by providing NYC residents with valuable education and training regarding safer sex practices. The program strives to not only increase correct and consistent condom use through out the city, but it also seeks to normalize condom use and accessibility throughout New York City. Recently, the program established a presence on social media platforms, allowing for increased individual engagement and for questions to be directly answered to expand education, visibility, and customer service. The NYC Condom Availability Program became one of the first government agency programs to use the social media platform as a venue to address any programmatic questions, concerns, and/or misinformation.
Overcoming Hurdles
One recent hurdle that the NYC Condom Availability Program had to overcome was learning how to use social media to appropriately discuss and educate the public regarding the NYC Condom Availability Program. While social media platforms are used to promote products and services, the NYC Health Department was one of the first governmental agencies in New York City to use social media in order to promote a public health campaign. The NYC Health Department had to ensure that all content placed on the page was accurate, engaging, and relevant, while also being educational and respectful of all page participants.
A key goal of the NYC Condom Availability program was that the platforms had to attract fans and keep them engaged with content that piqued their interest and also provided a call to action that would ensure interaction on the page, while also educating people about safer sex and dispelling any misinformation. The development of content for the social media platforms used by the NYC Condom Availability Program is an ongoing process that requires not only research and creativity, but also a complex tracking system to ascertain the successfulness of posted content (by using parameters such as: how often the content is “liked”, commented on, shared, retweeted, etc.).
New York Welcomes Another Hot, New Wrapper
In an effort to reach out to New Yorkers in media spaces that they increasingly patronized, the NYC Condom Availability Program created a Facebook and a Twitter strategy that included education, calls to action, and interactive polling. All content placed on the page is answered by a staff member of the NYC Condom Availability program and this engagement has allowed for real-time, first person education and communication to occur.
The NYC Condom Availability Program used its Facebook page and Twitter account to announce the NYC Condom Wrapper Design Contest on December 14, 2009. The contest was created to empower NYC residents to take ownership of safer sex by competing to design a limited edition of the NYC Condom wrapper and share in the development of a new NYC Condom media campaign. The objective of the art contest was to creatively engage community members in the NYC Condom Availability program by linking the community’s artistic voice with this effective public health tool. The contest ran from December 14,2009 until January 22, 2010, and was open to any New York City resident 17 or older. A panel of judges evaluated submissions and selected five finalists, which were announced on February 11, 2010. New Yorkers were then able to vote for their favorite design by casting votes online at the NYC Condom Availability Program’s official webpage, www.nyc.gov/condom. The winning design, which was announced at a press conference on March 9, 2010, was turned into a special, limited edition NYC Condom wrapper, that will be unveiled this fall.
Folding content regarding the NYC Condom Wrapper Design Contest into the program’s social media strategy was both successful and innovative. Information regarding the contest was placed on Facebook page tabs, fans were invited to participate and were updated on the contest via status updates and images of the five finalists were shared with bit.lys linking the Facebook page to the NYC Condom program’s official webpage. The Twitter strategy was even more proactive. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night staff would search for NYC-area Twitter users who tweeted that they were going out. Staff would remind them, via Twitter messaging, to take a condom with them. The ground-breaking twist is that staff tweeted AS THE CONDOM (please see attached images and video). The program was looking to make an impact and offer a practical, yet friendly reminder to be safe.
Spreading the Word
Facebook ads were used to target both voting for the design contest and unveiling of the design contest winner. These location-based, targeted ads reached out to people who were not already connected with the NYC Condom Facebook fan page and/or the NYC Condom Twitter account. Grassroots, word-of-mouth marketing regarding the program also occurred by presenting the contest at various HIV Care Network meetings throughout the five boroughs; emailing the NYC Condom Wrapper Contest announcement to the entire condom ordering distribution list (over 2,500 venues/organizations); and by answering individual emails and phone calls garnered by earned media regarding the contest.
Contest Results:
- Over 600 unique entries for the NYC Condom design were submitted from all five boroughs and from around the world (including as far away as St. Petersburg, Russia).
- Over 15,000 online ballots/votes were cast.
Press Results:
- Featured in The New York Times, NY Magazine, Time, The Village Voice, MSNBC, Los Angeles Times, Telegraph, NY Post, and NY Daily News
- Featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, VH1’s Best Week Ever, CBS News
Perception Results:
- 12,800 Facebook fans
- 2,346 tweets
- The NYC Condom Availability program’s official webpage saw a 16% increase in page views in February-March 2010 when compared to February-March 2009
- From November 21, 2009 until March 1, 2010, the NYC Condom- Get Some! fan page generated 11,300 new Facebook fans
- From January 1, 2010 to May 1, 2010, the NYC Condom- Get Some! fan page gained an average of 2,400 new fans each month
- 15,000,000 impressions during contest period
