A local ad executive is promoting a new corporate message — but this time from the other side of the camera.

Viamark Philadelphia owner Stephen Facenda and his 18-year partner Todd Babish, vice president of client services, star in a targeted TV campaign by Aetna marketing the health care provider’s “Be Proud. Be Well.” message to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Phoenix, Miami and Charlotte markets.

“We were very proud to be in this video,” Facenda said in a Philadelphia Business Journal report. “We applaud Aetna and think it was a smart move. We do appreciate when a large corporation says, ‘We recognize you and we are there for you.’ … Doing this, for me, was a way to speak for people who can’t speak for themselves.”

For the TV spot, which hit airwaves last week, Facenda and Babish talked candidly without a script about love and relationships; they are planning a wedding next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukaX_AzMsFM

“We didn’t prepare anything, which I think was a good way of doing it, “ Facenda said in the article. “The answers came from the heart.”

Read more about the TV ad campaign and how Facenda received the opportunity to step out in front of the camera in the Philadelphia Business Journal here.