HIGH-PROFILE television ads for Go for 2 & 5, Find 30, and Quit were just some of the media and marketing activities undertaken by the Department of Health during 2003.
The government agency also employed a combination of public relations activities, stakeholder management, sponsorships and strategic partnerships that, along with mainstream advertising, had a positive impact on the behaviour of Western Australians.
According to Department of Health marketing manager Meg Berry, not all its work was about prime time social marketing commercials.
“There was the three big ones but we also did other bits and pieces, including the winter flu campaign,” Ms Berry said.
“This was a small budget campaign targeting people over 65 and trying to get over the myths about flu vaccinations making you sick. This message was that if they didn’t get the vaccination there would be greater complications down the track.
“We managed to get 80 per cent vaccinations in that age group.”
Ms Berry said the Quit campaign last year involved developing a strategy to target young adults and leveraging off the history of the 20-year anniversary of the Quit campaign.
“It was cost effective for us but they were hard-hitting commercials,” she said.
“Sixty-three per cent of people attempted to quit after seeing the commercials. There was 70 per cent awareness for the campaign and Quit Line recalls grew from 51 per cent to 72 per cent. That was an increase of 40 per cent from the previous year.
“We launched a website so that people could access information better. We held a forum with people involved in tobacco control because there are lots of non-government agencies involved.
“This was about getting together and talking about the future direction.”
Ms Berry said research into all of the department’s major campaigns showed it was having a positive effect on the behaviour of Western Australians.
She said one in four adults who had increased their fruit and vegetable intake had done so based on the advertising campaign.
She said the department worked very closely with its advertising agency.
“It’s a collaborative approach and we are also keen to keep them in the loop with the things that we do.”
