• by Les Luchter , March 8, 2026

In a Digitas commercial spearheading Gilead Sciences’ launch campaign for Yeztugo, Ciara’s mid-2000s hit “1, 2 Step” becomes “One2PrEP” -  a term that sums up what the new drug is all about.

“PrEP” stands for “pre-exposure prophylaxis,” the long-available treatment that prevents HIV. The “One2” portion stands for Yeztugo’s first-of-its-kind administration: twice yearly injections as compared with daily pills such as Gilead’s own now-generic Truvada or bimonthly injections like GSK/Viiv’s Apretude.

One distinctive feature of the TV spot and larger Yeztugo campaign is its diversity and inclusiveness, a broad audience profile previously acknowledged by Apretude while other PrEP treatments have tended to target gay males (see here and here).

“The CDC says that 2.2 million people in the U.S. should be on PrEP,” Ashley Gildea, Gilead’s vice president, marketing, U.S. HIV prevention, tells Marketing Daily. “There’s about 500,000 people on PrEP today.” 

Despite being around for over a decade, PrEP has remained a hard sell, and Gildea points to “lack of awareness” about the treatment “and who qualifies for it. “A lot of people think PrEP is not for them or they’re not at increased risk of HIV. There’s also stigma and misperceptions about the nature of the HIV epidemic.”

On that point, she says, “many people mistakenly believe that HIV is no longer a public health threat. Yet, there are 100 newly diagnosed with HIV every day in the U.S. It’s staggering, so we have a lot of work to do”

“Women, Latino and Black communities,” Gildea notes, “historically have some of the highest incidence of HIV and yet the lowest usage of PrEP.”

To help reach these groups, the Yeztugo campaign is using grassroots marketing as well as mass marketing.

On the mass side, the TV spot has run during high-profile events like the Grammy Awards and Super Bowl pregame, and is continuing on cable (e.g., Freeform, NatGeo, AMC, Lifetime) and streaming services (e.g., Peacock, Netflix, HBO Max).

On the grassroots side, Gildea explains, the TV spot can be seen in doctors’ waiting rooms and in magazines and brochures on waiting room tables.

Print outlets include Men’s Health, Essence and US weekly.

Other media being used include ads on dating apps, influencer marketing, and tie-ins with local events.

Yeztugo’s twice-yearly nature overcomes one of the key barriers of traditional daily pills: adherence. “Individuals don't have to worry about missing doses,” says Gildea.

Overall, though, the Yeztugo campaign is designed to “make HIV prevention feel more approachable and relevant, so that more people can have the conversation with healthcare providers and that sexual health conversations become more normalized.”

That includes on the doctor side as well, whether it’s PCPs or infectious disease specialists: “Everybody who sees patients should be having a sexual health conversation,” says Gildea. “It should be normalized and embedded into everyday practice.  And we’re far from that today.”