For some 4.4 million Australians living with disability and their families and carers, searching for information and services can be a lengthy, complicated process – and a barrier to their independence and community participation.
Having launched the National Disability Information Gateway (Disability Gateway) to make it easier for people living with disability to find trusted information and services, the Department of Social Services (the Department) appointed Fenton Communications to implement a targeted public relations campaign.
The Disability Gateway is a website, phone line and social media channels structured around 10 areas of life that people living with disability, and their families and carers, can search to find information and services to support them.
Fenton worked with the Department to implement a targeted public relations campaign to build on above-the-line advertising, increasing awareness and spurring engagement with the Disability Gateway – particularly among trusted advisors of people with disability.
We developed a suite of communication materials to educate and motivate target audiences to use the Disability Gateway. These included fact sheets, FAQs, an animated guide, written and video case studies of Australians living with disability, social media content, images, information flyers and posters for key intermediaries such as carers and doctors, and promotional products.
These materials were published through the Disability Gateway website and social media channels, and were distributed as a downloadable kit to stakeholder networks across the country – equipping them to engage their own communities on the Disability Gateway.
We approached select media in the disability and healthcare sector and put forward real Australians as spokespeople to talk about the value and positive impacts of the Disability Gateway on their lives.
To complement this stakeholder and media engagement, we collaborated with the Department to develop and implement a series of partnerships to raise awareness of the Disability Gateway among key intermediaries for people living with disability such as general practitioners and local government representatives.
This included supporting the Department to participate in conferences and webinars with partners to showcase the Disability Gateway, as well as executing a series of print and online advertisements and editorial articles across partner channels and publications.
Visit the Disability Gateway at https://www.disabilitygateway.gov.au/