Bristol-Myers Squibb Taps Yahoo! for AIDS Day Initiative

Pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb is the sponsor of an AIDS resource center on nine global Yahoo sites and the backer of a one-day “Light to Unite” awareness initiative linked from their home pages. The content and sponsorship coincide with World AIDS Day, which draws attention to AIDS and HIV each year on December 1.

“Add your light to the fight” is the call to action on Yahoo’s front page, which appears next to an image of a red AIDS awareness ribbon with a candle flame at its top. Users who click through are taken to a Web site where they can click to add their virtual light to a global display.

Visitors are also greeted with information about Bristol-Myers Squibb’s HIV drugs, Reyataz and Sustiva.

The sponsorship was set to appear on Yahoo.com and eight of the company’s global sites, including the front pages for U.K./Ireland, France, Germany, Singapore, Australia/New Zealand, Korea, Brazil and Yahoo en Espanol. However, by 11 am EST, that content was not visible on Yahoo’s French and German portals, though locally it was still December 1. On the international portals where it did appear, the sponsorship linked to a version of the “Light to Unite” site that was customized according to the language of each region.

A ticker banner telling visitors how many flames have been added tallied approximately 26,000 by noon EST. Additionally, the site links to a Times Square video screen on which the company plans to display a global map with hourly updates fed by the “Light to Unite” site.

The site was designed by Euro RSCG Life Interaction in partnership with Euro RSCG Life Adrenaline, according to David Rosen, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s associate director of corporate affairs.

The companies did not disclose the dollar value of the sponsorship.