Helping protect the
lives of everyday
Australians

The brief

In a global pandemic, with a 24/7 news cycle, there’s plenty of opportunity for misinformation and panic.
The Australian Government Department of Health’s role, as our most trusted and credible voice in communicable disease outbreak, was (and still is) to keep the Australian public informed on all things coronavirus, including what it is, how it’s transmitted, what to do if you get it and how to stop it spreading. The urgent brief to Carbon Creative – to develop and produce a Through the Line awareness campaign to drive immediate, ongoing behaviour change. Our target audience – the whole of the Australian general public.

The good

Working closely with Health and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Carbon Creative set about helping educate on how the coronavirus spreads, the critical need for personal hygiene and physical distancing, knowing the signs and symptoms, staying at home when sick, getting tested, maintaining good mental health, keeping yourself informed and the importance of looking after the vulnerable in our community.

In this highly responsive phase, the immediate priority was to disseminate clear, transparent, succinct messaging that was both reassuring and empathetic, prompting vigilance without fear. Critical to engagement, making sure the approach was inclusive of the whole of audience.

Carbon’s strategy was to keep our creative accessibly clever; simple, so the message was easily understood, reassuring, relatable and highly adaptable as situations changed rapidly. The use of line drawing animation allowed for compressed lead times while enabling accessibility for mainstream, CALD and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences.

Our highly campaignable “soap bubble” brand mark and tagline “Help stop the spread” were developed and coupled with the equally recognisable illustrative “pink” coronavirus, driving recognition and recall. The deliberate use of background colour by subject matter helped promote positivity, while differentiating the content from other COVID creative in market.

Storytelling in live action – filmed abiding by strict COVID restrictions – gave window for us to give engaging heartfelt thanks to Australia, promote well needed mental health messages and critically, educate on how the virus spreads.

The impact

Distributed via unprecedented Above the Line media across TV, SVOD, radio, social, digital, OOH, convenience and print, as well as Below the Line via extensive government stakeholders, our creative generated high measurable impact. In the first week alone in market, research reported Australians felt relief to know the rules and what was expected of them to minimise the spread and keep the country safe. A strong feeling of community ensued and endured as much of Australia embraced a common goal of stopping the spread.