The Campaign

The Fight Dementia campaign responded to the Government’s termination of the Dementia Initiative in the 2011/12 Federal Budget. Crafted on evidence based priorities, we demonstrated the need for action and our messaging was consistent: $500 million over five years and dementia reinstated as a National Health Priority. The campaign began in October 2011 with a protest at Parliament House, attracting more than 500 people, 150 pieces of earned editorial, bipartisan support and @AlzheimersAus trending nationally. We continued to demand action, sharing the stories of 12 Dementia Champions at Christmas and an assault on traditional Valentine’s Day activity resulted in thousands of Valentine’s Day cards flooding Parliament House, a letter of support from the PM and acknowledgement from the Leader of the Opposition. Things came to a head in April, with the release of consultation report. It supported our call for action. The campaign was shaped by a clear strategy. We rallied support from thousands of Australians and the results exceeded funding expectations. On 20 April $268.4 million, allocated over five years, as part of the Aged Care Reform package, to address Australia’s dementia epidemic and made dementia a National Health Priority. PR was key to the success of this campaign, enacting traditional media relations, stunts, social media outreach and influencer engagement. It relied on creating a movement to put dementia back on the national agenda.

The Brief

Research found 50 percent of people either “don’t know” or don’t think it’s possible to reduce dementia risk. The Fight Dementia campaign called for dementia to be made a National Health Priority and asked for guaranteed funding ($500m) over five years in response to its Dementia Action Plan. Audience: CHANGE MAKERS: Politicians, particularly those on the Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) who make budget decisions and influence party members. CHANGE INFLUENCERS: The 1.5 million Australians affected by dementia (living with/caring for someone with dementia) who are committed to change/influence those unaffected and/or unaware.

Results

On April 20 the Government announced its Living Longer. Living Better package. Guaranteed funding of $268.4 million was allocated to tackle dementia over the next five years, and dementia was made a National Health Priority. • An online army of more than 35,000 • Fight Dementia Facebook page: 10,119 • Alzheimer’s Australia Twitter account: 1,736 • Ita Buttrose Twitter account: 19,874 • Web champions: 3,401 • Sustained and consistent media presence: • The Fight Dementia march reached an audience of 7,677,882 • The Christmas online advent calendar saw 8,189 visits • Valentine’s Day saw a radio reach of 1,019,700 and a print reach of 219,700 • Consultation report coverage across television, radio, print and online, reached an audience of 17,403,309 • Capturing political attention: • 79 politicians signed up as Dementia Champions • More than 7500 cards sent to Parliament House, 800+ letters written to local MPs

Execution

We began with a protest march on Parliament House (October), attracting more than 500 people, 150 pieces of editorial, bipartisan support and extended to an online army of Fight Dementia supporters; including the Australian media guru, Ita Buttrose who we inducted into Twitter. Ita reached an audience of 163,851 in less than 24 hours, and trended nationally. This day also saw the launch of the Fight Dementia Facebook page, which grew to become the central information hub for the campaign. An online advent calendar shared the stories of 12 Dementia Champions (December), while our efforts to ‘take it to the streets’ (February) resulted in 7,500 Valentine’s Day cards flooding Parliament House, a letter of support from the Prime Minister and a tweet from Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott. April saw the release of the consultation report Consumer Engagement in the Aged Care Reform Process, outlining the need for action.

The Situation

Alzheimer’s Australia is the peak body for people with dementia, their families and carers. It provides support and services through national dementia programs including the National Dementia Helpline. There are almost 280,000 Australians living with dementia; and 1.2 million who care for them. Without a significant medical breakthrough, there will be an estimated one million affected by 2050. It’s Australia’s third largest killer and predicted to become the leading cause of disability by 2016, yet its funding does not match other diseases. In the 2011/12 Budget the Government terminated the Dementia Initiative, leaving no guaranteed Federal funding for the future.

The Strategy

Australia’s political and economic environment was tense - the Government was committed to returning the next Federal Budget to surplus. Getting dementia on the agenda was going to be difficult. The existing drive for reform of aged care and mental health provided leverage to start a fight over dementia. The key to our success was clear and consistent messages from stakeholders, consumers and experts. We aimed to reposition Alzheimer’s Australia from another not-for-profit, building to a movement which fights for something that will affect all Australians. The strategy worked to: • Arrest attention through street activations and events • Use social, earned editorial, and paid media to build an army of support and spread the word • Leverage ‘change influencers’ with the facilitation of letters direct to local MPs