The ‘Donate life, discuss it today, OK?’ campaign’s scope and effectiveness will be increased through the participation of the DonateLife Network, together will all signatories to the National Communication Charter and other key stakeholders.
The campaign represents a special opportunity to increase public awareness so that Australians can make an informed decision about becoming an organ and tissue donor. The campaign will also promote discussion about the issue and help dispel the misconceptions and myths around organ and tissue donation.
Activities in metropolitan as well as regional and rural areas need to reach Australians where they live, work, network and socialise as well as on those occasions when families are together.
The campaign aims to increase the number of Australian families who know, understand and accept each other’s wishes regarding organ and tissue donation.
The campaign timing is from the last week of May until the end of June 2010 and this period is the immediate focus. However the suggested community activities can and should be implemented on an ongoing basis.
As a starting point, the Organ and Tissue Authority has compiled the range of suggestions below.
The new campaign will commence on Sunday 23 May 2010. We want to generate maximum exposure and reinforce the Sector’s united approach to increasing Australia’s organ and tissue donation rate. To support the campaign, from Monday 24 May onwards, your organisation could issue its own media release, highlighting your support for the campaign as a Charter Signatory and important Sector stakeholder.
2. Organise other media publicity
Other ways to give the campaign and the issue of organ and tissue donation a high profile in the media and on the web include:
- Ringing radio talkback
- Writing a letter to the editor
- Writing an opinion piece
- Posting a blog
- Briefing local media contacts on the campaign
- Issuing a community service announcement
- Organising a media photo opportunity of one of your activities to support the campaign
3. Promote the campaign within your own organisation
Your staff (and their families and friends) are target audiences for this campaign – use internal communications channels to promote the campaign to staff and generate discussion within the work environment. We want all your employees, volunteers and members to support the campaign and we want to get them talking about organ and tissue donation.
You could:
- Place campaign posters on notice boards, in staff rooms and kitchens and even in staff changing rooms and rest rooms;
- Include information on the campaign and your role as a Charter Signatory in staff newsletters, on the extranet and on notice boards;
- Encourage staff to use the new campaign tagline as a screen saver;
- Put the campaign on the agenda for your next staff meeting and brief your team on the campaign, empowering them to help spread the message; and
- Hold your own internal ‘launch’ for the campaign – invite staff members to a launch morning/afternoon tea where you could show the new TVC and explain the campaign’s relevance.
4. Publish campaign information in your organisation’s existing communications channels
Use the template materials provided in this kit to publish campaign information in your organisation’s magazine, newsletter or e-bulletin or on your web site.
5. Link information about the campaign from donatelife.gov.au to your website
If you have a website please add a link to www.donatelife.gov.au and consider featuring DonateLife branding, the new campaign image and tagline.
6. Encourage your constituents to become DonateLife Facebook fans
We want to get people talking within their physical communities and also online. Encourage your employees, members, volunteers and other stakeholders to become Facebook fans of DonateLife.
You’ll find DonateLife’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/DonateLifeAustralia
7. Hold a localised campaign launch in your area
Consider holding your own event to support the campaign launch. You could invite your key stakeholders and local media to the event and use the opportunity to update attendees on your organisation’s recent activity, the current state of organ and tissue donation in Australia and the campaign rationale.
8. Display and disseminate campaign materials
We want to use every possible opportunity to take the campaign’s messages to the community. Your organisation can help facilitate dissemination of campaign information by:
- Encouraging your employees, members and volunteers to use campaign materials within their own communities (eg: schools, sporting groups, local libraries, etc);
- Inviting local libraries and councils to stage their own DonateLife displays and providing them with access to campaign materials;
- Holding your own public education display/s at major community hubs within your jurisdiction; and
- Using the campaign materials at any public or professional activities that you already have planned.
9. Hold a public forum and invite a DonateLife Network representative to speak together with a donor family representative
You could hold a public information session with a panel of experts to provide the facts on organ and tissue donation, followed by a facilitated Q & A session. Use campaign materials to decorate the room and ensure there are facilities for people wanting to register.
10. Partner with a local organisation in holding an information session
Approach local organisations such as community service clubs, women’s groups, gyms, schools or sporting clubs and offer to provide a speaker for any future activities they may already have planned or encourage them to consider hosting their own information session. Posters and other resources can be provided to them.
11. Recruit a community leader
Part of our campaign will be a community leaders’ initiative with local leaders and high profile Australians being recruited to help champion organ and tissue donation. Their role will be as role models and advocates, encouraging those within their communities to have a family discussion. The Authority will provide information kits to give to community leaders, once the campaign has commenced.
Consider what leaders you have access to and invite them to become involved. You could provide them with the kit which gives them campaign materials that they can share as well as template letters they can send to their constituents. You could also announce their involvement via a media release and include them at any public events or information forums that you may have planned.
Leaders could also be asked to write letters to other leaders and influencers asking them to share the DonateLife messages within their own organisation or club. They could also be invited to write a column for your newsletter or provide words of support for your website.
