How can you tell if the internet services your children use are safe?
As social media and internet use has increased, and the platforms have changed, so have concerns about child safety online.
Who remembers the early days of social media, when bulletin board systems, and platforms like ‘friends reunited, MySpace and AOL were popular?
We were pleased to be able to assist our client with meeting the aims of the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children by planning for and promoting the introduction of a family friendly internet service.
To ensure the service was suitable for Australia and included appropriate content for Australian families, we suggested to our client that we first assess the service with internet and technology experts in Australia.
The benefits of collaborating with experts
We identified a group of 10-20 online experts, and collaborating with our client’s technical team, we set up a ‘beta test’ program. These experts were given the opportunity to review the internet service and ‘take it through its paces’ before launch.
Setting expectations
Prior to implementing the beta test program, we briefed the client’s executive leadership team on the approach we proposed with the beta test program and the experience and value of having our panel of experts’ pre-test the service before launch. This was part of our change risk approach to identify and minimise negative comments at launch, knowing that not all features would be ‘turned on’ at launch. All participants involved in the test signed a non-disclosure agreement prior to taking part in the test. They were given the option to be the first to talk about the new internet service at launch, based on their experience with the pre-launch service.
Preparing for the test
We sent an invite to the 10-20 experts, with a brief about the project and what we were looking for, from them. We followed up the invitation with a face-to-face briefing during which we went into detail about the planned features of the internet service, noting where some of these were still in development. The client’s technical team led the briefing and addressed questions from our group of experts. To ensure the feedback from these experts was quickly captured and acted upon, we maintained close contact with the technical team and provided our ‘testers’ with a dedicated support email for all questions and issues. Our client made sure that each topic and interest area within the internet service contained a built-in feedback form, so our experts could add comments directly into the draft service.
What happened?
Well, our panel of experts understood which parts of the service would be ‘live’ at launch and which were still being worked on. These experts provided extensive coverage of their experiences with the service, highlighting the features that were still be worked on.
As a result of our strategy and management of the beta test program, the comments and coverage of the new internet service was balanced and positive and presented a realistic assessment of the value of a family friendly internet service to Australian families.
Click here for more information on the work of the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
We planned for and promoted the launch of a new investment accelerator for women-led businesses. The client chose us for this role because of our experience with marketing start-ups and because of our extensive knowledge of the business and technology sector.
Hearing about Australian innovation
We met with the founding chairperson of the investment accelerator to learn more about the aims and objectives of the organisation, with its launch into the Australian market.
We sat in on a preliminary business pitch session in which ten of the inaugural women entrepreneurs presented the innovative solutions being developed and sold by their businesses.
Planning the launch
From these meetings, we created a launch plan, a target media list, and tailored media pitches addressed to the different media outlets we wanted to invite to the launch. We reviewed the draft plan, messages and media pitches with the founding chairperson and an advisory board member.
Working with the media
Upon approval to proceed with the plan, we contacted each media representative to explain the ethos of the investment accelerator and to invite them to the launch event. We followed up each of our personal calls with a detailed and tailored invitation, with links to the operation and founding of the investment accelerator in the United States of America (USA).
As we secured the interest of leading media outlets to not only attend the launch event, but to also interview the global chief executive (CEO) and founders, we prepared concise brief for the chairperson of the Australian organisation, and for the visiting global CEO and founders.
The results: coverage at launch
The launch event was a great success, with the global CEO and many of the women entrepreneurs featured in leading newspapers such as The Australian, Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age. Plus, more detailed articles appeared in Women’s Agenda, several business magazines and on the ABC’s ‘The Business’ program.
Successful outcomes
Many of the women entrepreneurs have obtained growth funding and have expanded their businesses overseas, since the launch. The client’s business has expanded and continues to support entrepreneurs in several markets globally.
As pet owners, we all want to do the right thing by our fur family. So, when pet medicines appear online at a lower price, it can be tempting to click “buy” and feel like we have found a great deal.
But cheaper is not always safer. This case study focuses on the dangers of buying unregistered (and therefore, unchecked) medicines for your pets.
Our communication needed to alert pet owners to the potential risks without alarming them about the safe, registered pet medicines for sale in Australia.
This is what we did:
- reviewed the client’s research into the drivers behind pet owners purchasing pet medicines online
- conducted our own research into purchase motivations, the cost of pet medicines in Australia and overseas, and the comments in discussion forums about pet care
- sought information on the biggest risk with unregistered pet medicines from experts with knowledge of the pet medicine sector
- used the research to identify who would need to be targeted, the channels to reach them and the timeframe for the overall campaign.
We included highlights of the client’s research and ours in the communication strategy, tailored messages for pet owners, pet retailers and vet practices, with a list of potential social media groups and online forums to target with pet safety messages.
We added a tactical action plan to the strategy, showing how momentum would be built over time, and across multiple channels. We also provided an estimate of staffing time needed to deliver the action plan.
As requested, we handed over the completed strategy, messages and action plan to our client to implement.
The strategy met the objective of making sure pet owners, pet retailers and vet practices were informed of the dangers of buying unregistered pet medicines online.
A reminder to ‘paws before you purchase’, and ask yourself ‘has this medicine been registered as safe to use in Australia?
