Calls for coronavirus campaign overhaul as messaging falls flat

Coronavirus health messaging to date had been too complex and unengaging, leading to “message fatigue” in the community.

‘The ultimate direct marketing is the ADF knocking on your door’: The Brand Agency chief executive Steve Harris said of the pandemic information overload and ‘messaging fatigue’.

Marketing experts have called on governments and health departments around Australia to tear up their current coronavirus ad campaigns­ and replace them with simpler, emotive messages to re-engage a complacent public.

As much of Australia continues to disregard social distancing guidelines, and with Victoria scrambling to enact new measures aimed at combating the virus’s resurgence, communications experts told The Weekend Australian the public health messagin­g to date had been too complex and unengaging.

Steve Harris, chief executive of The Brand Agency, said too much of the communication from health authorities had missed the mark. Authorities needed to look at the template behind Australia’s world-leading health advertising and communications, such as anti-tobacco and road safety cam­paigns that had been replicated overseas.

“If you look at the great social-change advertising, particularly around health, it’s been highly emotively engaging,’’ Mr Harris said. “That’s what we are missing … You can’t just sell to the head, you’ve got to sell to the heart. We are missing that emotionally engaging advertising that is going to sit up and get noticed, and really motivate changing behaviou­r.”

His comments came as Victoria prepared to launch a new advertisin­g offensive built around personal stories of coronavirus survivors, frontline workers and their families. The new campaign was scheduled to begin on Friday night across a range of platforms.

A spokesman for Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services said the campaign aimed to remind viewers of the “very personal reasons to stay home and stay safe”.

“This is an ever-evolving emergency and we update our public campaign with new information and based on new insight regularly,” the spokesman said.

The length of the pandemic, and the frequent changes in official advice, have further complic­ated efforts to limit the spread of the virus.

Simon Ryan, chief executive of RyanCap and former chief of the Australian and New Zealand arm of Dentsu Aegis Network, said governments and health departme­nts needed to strip back and simplify their health advice.

“From my view, there are too many messages out there. There needs to be a simplified approach and a very strong strategic approach to ensuring that it’s hitting all the different cultures and the different people out there in the most appropriate way,” he said.

“From what I can see, there is still some confusion out there as to the constant new rules. There’s probably too many mixed messag­es out there and those messages are getting confused among individuals.”

Mr Ryan said contradictory or unclear advice from authorities often meant people stopped listening to official channels.

“If there’s any confusion, people tend to go with what they know and what they hear from their family and friends, and that may or may not be right,” he said.

Much of the advertising to date has taken the form of simple graphics and animations.

Mr Harris said the numerous changes in advice meant many people were suffering from “messaging fatigue”. But the authorities had the resources to spread the message effectively. “The ultimate direct marketing is the ADF knocking on your door,” he said.