Media planning and buying lead for a groundbreaking HIV destigmatization campaign in Myanmar, commissioned by ICAP at Columbia University and supported by the CDC, reaching 13 million people across social media.
The U=U (Undetectable equals Untransmittable) initiative is a major international public health campaign based on scientific evidence that people living with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit the virus. In Myanmar, this message was critical: HIV stigma remained a significant barrier to testing, treatment, and community wellbeing. ICAP at Columbia University, alongside the U.S. CDC and Myanmar's National AIDS Programme, commissioned a localized campaign to bring this message to the people who most needed to hear it.
I served as the media planning and buying lead at Nexlabs for the "Move Forward Together with U=U" campaign. My responsibilities covered developing the paid media strategy, channel planning across social platforms, audience targeting for PLHIV communities and their support networks, media budget allocation, campaign execution, and performance monitoring throughout the campaign period.
The campaign required a fundamentally different approach to audience targeting than commercial work. The goal was not conversion optimization but meaningful reach among people living with HIV, their caregivers, healthcare workers, and the broader Myanmar public, while being sensitive to the privacy and dignity of the communities involved.
We deployed a multi-channel approach spanning social media platforms, interactive online activities, and community-based digital touchpoints. Creative assets were developed in Myanmar language with culturally appropriate imagery and messaging, including animated explainer content that communicated the science of U=U accessibly without medical jargon. The media strategy prioritized authentic engagement over raw impressions, using platform tools to reach relevant community segments and encourage sharing within trusted networks.
Targeting had to balance reach with sensitivity. We built audience segments that could reach affected communities without inadvertently outing individuals or creating privacy risks, working closely with the public health teams to ensure the media approach aligned with ethical guidelines for health communication.
The campaign reached 13 million people across social media in Myanmar and generated 3 million engagements, playing a significant role in spreading the U=U message and combating HIV stigma in the country. The campaign was recognized as a meaningful contribution to public health communication in Myanmar and has been referenced in ICAP's documentation of the initiative.
Public health media planning requires a completely different set of ethical and strategic considerations than commercial campaigns. The metric that matters is not ROAS or CPL but whether the right message reached the right people in a way that was safe, respectful, and actionable. This campaign reinforced my belief that digital media, when applied thoughtfully, can be a genuine instrument of social change — not just commercial growth.