The Manahan Group LLC (TMG) was tasked by the West Virginia Office of Epidemiology & Prevention Services to create, place, and manage a statewide annual digital campaign to create awareness about the risk of HIV and various sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including symptoms to watch for, testing, and treatment options amongst high-risk populations.

Initial research estimated that there are 466,000 single West Virginians using dating apps. To engage this population, TMG took inspiration from current CDC messaging and created custom ads to best reach the state’s residents likely engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors. These populations identified as pregnant women, men who have sex with men, women who have sex with women, and general population who utilize various dating apps including, but not limited to, Plenty of Fish, Tinder, Grindr, Adam4Adam, OK Cupid, Sniffy, Hinge, Jack’d, and Bumble.

Throughout the year, three to five ads ran every two weeks to avoid fatigue arising from repeated viewing by the audiences. As app users are less likely to click on in-app ads that will direct them away from the app, ads were placed on sites outside the apps targeting the audiences who use the specified dating apps. By reaching targets outside the app, this increased the chance that users were served and saw the ads. This method created a touchpoint when the audience was more likely to click thru for additional information.

By the end of the campaign, 38 different messages rotated every two weeks targeting a variety of populations across the state. These ads generated over 22.2 Million impressions and over 19,450 clicks through to partner websites.