A 2024 COVID-19 vaccination campaign rolled out by NWMPHN and other Victorian primary health networks reached every member of its target cohorts, data suggests.
The campaign – aimed at people over 65, particularly First Nations communities and people from culturally diverse backgrounds – resulted in a solid increase in winter vaccination numbers compared to 2023.
Themed around the concept of family occasions, the campaign was led by Western Victoria PHN in conjunction with Geelong-based creative agency Passionfolk Marketing.
Together they designed assets depicting happy family interactions involving grandparents, such as card games and cooking. These linked the notion of it being “time to” do fun things with it also being “time to” book a COVID-19 vaccination booster.
The assets were produced as static and moving social media and web content, posters, postcards, newsletter features, newspaper and radio adverts, and media releases.
Each PHN was provided with a campaign pack consisting of all assets branded with individual logos.
Social media deployment relied mostly on Google and Meta. Results across both platforms suggest that the campaign reached almost 100 per cent of the target cohorts who were online in the NWMPHN catchment.
Of course, reach and result do not always align, and it is usually impossible to fully disentangle causality from correlation.
However, in this case the numbers are telling. In Victoria in 2023 there was a steep seasonal decline in COVID-19 vaccinations administered from June to August. In 2024, the decline was not only shallower, but resulted in vaccination numbers exceeding those of the previous year by a solid 16,000.
The PHNs also drove nearly 40,000 people to healthdirect’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic finder.
“This is a great example of a coordinated response by PHNs to address a time-critical heath need,” said NWMPHN CEO, Chrstopher Carter.
“The campaign benefitted from a common, clear message, which was strengthened by each PHN rolling it out to local communities. It combined united messaging with on-the-ground knowledge and targeted vaccination programs.
“We thank Western Victoria PHN for their leadership on this piece, and with all the PHNs working together this way, the result was cost-effective and health-effective. It’s an excellent result.”
