Fighting AIDS in Asia

APCOM (Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health) is a Bangkok-based non-profit working across 35 countries in Asia and the Pacific. The organization advocates for the health, rights, and wellbeing of people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). Founded in 2007, APCOM works through community mobilization, advocacy, and health innovation—placing HIV prevention, LGBTQI+ human rights, and community leadership at the centre of its regional impact. By 2011, APCOM needed a complete brand, digital, and communications transformation to reflect its growing influence and ability to convene stakeholders across countries, cultures, and disciplines. The existing identity no longer matched the organization's bold mission. In parallel, they aimed to develop and scale a sex-positive, culturally adaptive HIV testing campaign known as TestXXX, beginning with testBKK (Bangkok), testSGN (Ho Chi Minh City), and others.

What We Were Hired to Address

By 2011, APCOM had outgrown its existing identity and digital infrastructure. While its influence across countries and disciplines had grown, the brand no longer reflected its bold, intersectional mission. At the same time, the organization was preparing to scale a new, sex-positive, community-led HIV testing campaign across multiple cities, beginning with Bangkok.

The dual challenge was to:

• Rebuild APCOM’s core brand, website, and communications strategy to support its leadership position.

• Develop a marketing platform for the TestXXX campaign that could be adapted to local cultures and languages while maintaining brand cohesion and creative impact.

Success for APCOM meant:

• A cohesive and modern brand identity aligned with its human rights and reconciliation-focused mission.

• A professional, responsive website to drive fundraising, partnerships, and community participation.

• Localized yet consistent TestXXX campaigns that reflected community input and cultural nuance.

• A digital knowledge and funding platform—The Source—to empower grassroots HIV/AIDS response efforts.

Research / Strategy

Our approach combined in-depth creative exploration with a commitment to local adaptability. We worked closely with APCOM and its regional partners to understand language preferences, cultural contexts, and social norms relevant to LGBTQI+ health engagement.

Strategic imperatives included:

• Designing a culturally intelligent, flexible campaign model that communities could customize.

• Developing a modular creative system that maintained visual consistency while supporting bespoke rollouts in diverse urban contexts.

• Building a digital foundation that would support storytelling, funding outreach, and knowledge sharing across the Asia Pacific region.

Actions / Execution

Brand Platform and Visual Identity

• Created a new logo featuring a bold wordmark and overlapping multicoloured forms that loosely reference the geography of Asia and the Pacific.

• Visual elements symbolized unity in diversity, regional identity, and resilience—centred around a strong, readable logotype.

Website and Digital Infrastructure

• Designed a fully responsive website to house:

  • Multimedia campaign storytelling.

  • Real-time updates and calls to action.

  • Fundraising and donor tools.

  • "The Source": a digital portal for grants, toolkits, data, and advocacy guides.

TestXXX Campaign Rollout

• Co-designed and launched TestXXX, beginning with testBKK (Bangkok) and expanding to testSGN (Ho Chi Minh City), Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Manila, and Hong Kong.

• Developed a unified, playful, and sex-positive brand identity applied across:

  • Posters, social media, booking tools, and event activations.

  • Local-language messaging through community testing and input.

  • Online-to-offline HIV services, including appointment systems and support access.

Digital and Social Media Strategy

• Produced digital assets for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (now X), and YouTube.

• Crafted visuals and copy reflecting humour, cultural fluency, and a modern tone to reach urban MSM and LGBTQI+ audiences.

• Designed content to thrive in dating apps, social platforms, and nightlife settings.

Outcomes / Results

Reach and Engagement

• TestXXX campaigns generated:

  • Over 5.5 million impressions and 70,000+ safe play pack distributions via testBKK.

  • 104,000+ regional social media engagements.

  • 83,000+ individual actions (reactions, shares, clicks) across campaigns.

Digital Infrastructure and The Source

• Built and launched The Source, APCOM’s digital hub for:

  • Grant listings for community groups.

  • Toolkits for advocacy and campaign planning.

  • Regional policy updates and networking tools.

• In 2023 alone, APCOM’s digital presence achieved:

  • 396,187 website visits.

  • 342,000 new users.

  • Reach across 21 countries in Asia and the Pacific.

Long-Term Impact

• APCOM’s transformed brand and communications strategy became a platform for life-saving, community-led HIV prevention and advocacy.

• The organization is now recognized as a regional leader in digital engagement, trusted by partners such as UNAIDS, Global Affairs Canada, DFAT Australia, and the Open Society Foundations.

• The flexible marketing platform and campaign model continue to support bespoke local rollouts, strengthening community response and sustaining momentum across borders.

See APCOM's website

See TestBKK's website