Category Archives: Public relations campaign

Carbon Creative, PR and Coronavirus

In the public interest.

The head of Carbon Creative team is Wayne Denning.  I was curious about who he is and what he believes in.  I discovered Wayne is an indigenous person who is involved in promoting technology and STEM to indigenous youth.  STEM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Education and Math’s. This is a specific focus for creating a hi-tech society and is replacing traditional education, in my view, in order to digitize our world.  I note the website is does not have any health Public Relations (PR) campaigns of information dissemination and I question why Public Relations is required rather than a independent person (like Dr. Norman Swan) to discuss the issues without any guidance to deliver a message to bring people on board for social change.  The latter worries me. I am a former market analyst and I believe this is not the correct information channel in such a serious matter as coronavirus. PR is the art of persuasion it is not a factual discipline unless instructed by the client.  For me it is akin the police getting a PR person to soothe the public in respect of an incident rather than the Commissioner of the Police stating the facts and clear guidance.   As a citizen I don’t want to be persuaded. I don’t want spin.  I don’t want ‘feel good’, I want independent facts so that I can make decisions for myself and those around me.

STEM is the training for a technocracy and IT future.  It is rolled out as part of the global strategy of Smart Cities disruption (they call it). Refer   http://www.siliconvalleysystem.com. It is about implementing a technocracy envisage as the framework to a digitised society where everyone is online (trackable, profiled, facial recognition), artificial intelligence (decisions), automation, using cashless cards (embedded chips), a likely future income based on a Universal Basic Income (UBI) as money phases out, sensors to count/monitor, LED’s in lights – heat sensors, cameras in lights, drones, smart technologies that collect data in a Internet of Things.  According to a naval expert Mark Steele he states SMART is a military’s term meaning SMART = Secret Militarized Armaments in Residential Technology. His perspective is as follows:

For some it is a Brave New World for others it is an efficient technocratic future that connects everyone and provides jobs.  This new reality has been designed by the military in collaboration with Silicon Valley in the United States which is the home of 1,000’s of big tech companies who benefit from global implementation of STEM/SMART and IoT for example: Alphabet (Google), Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, HP, 23andMe, IBM, Apple, Intel.  They are making trillions of dollars which is why this industry is shape changing our world.  I tried to copy and paste the main companies and the military links but a strange thing happened.

My question is – does this make the world a better place or do we live in a virtual world disconnected yet connected?

Wayne Denning is involved with Australian indigenous Mentoring Experience involving STEM training  https://www.school-news.com.au/external-learning/state-libraries-partner-with-govt-to-advance-indigenous-stem-skills/

  • apologies I cannot create the link and having problems with this computer.  Can’t copy anything for some reason.

Our services

Carbon has all of the big agency benefits without the big agency attitude. Our full-service approach is led by a team of forward-thinking specialists to connect your cause with people and values in authentic, unforgettable ways.

  • Creative

    
Campaign | Strategy | Concept & design development | Above & Below the line

  • Art & Illustration

    
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artwork | Illustration

  • Branding & Design

    
Research | Development & concept | Brand design | Graphic design

  • Production

    Video (corporate to broadcast) | Motion graphic & animation | Photography

  • Digital

    Digital strategy | Website design & development | App design & development | E-learning solutions

  • Community Engagement

    
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community led discussion, consultation & engagement | Research workshops

  • Communications

    
Strategy | Planning & implementation | Event design & management

  • Outreach

    Carbon Creative owned outreach initiatives that help make positive social change

Supply Nation CertifiedCarbon Creative is 100% Indigenous owned and operated and is a Supply Nation certified supplier.

My note: I am unaware of Supply Nation so searched. Apparently you have to pay to be a member.  Would it not be better to not pay but selection on merit? Link:  https://supplynation.org.au/membership-fees/

Please note, membership fees will increase as of 1 July 2020.

Criteria Membership level Annual fee prior to
1 July 2020
(ex GST)
Annual fee as of 1 July 2020 (ex GST)
Australian and/or global spend on direct and indirect procurement annually: $500m or over Large corporate $15,000 $16,750
Australian and/or global spend on direct and indirect procurement annually: under $500m Corporate $8,000 $9,750
Government agencies* spend on direct and indirect procurement annually: $500m or over Large government $15,000 $16,750
Government agencies* spend on direct and indirect procurement annually under $500m Government $8,000 $9,750
Not for profit organisations with total annual revenue: $1b or over Large NFP $15,000 $16,750
Not for profit organisations with total annual revenue: under $1b Not for profit $8,000 $9,750
Not for profit organisations with total annual revenue: under $1b – data access only Select membership $3,500 $3,500

*Australia/State or Territory/Local Government agencies – includes all government statutory authorities and government owned corporations.

The public may not be aware that there are different types of classifications in respect of government owned, statutory and contracting organisations.  I will add a link here for you to learn about it.  Refer https://www.directory.gov.au/sites/default/files/types_of_bodies_2018-07-20_0.pdf

Our team

We’re here because we believe in what we do. Most of our people made the leap across from big agency land to work at Carbon. This means we’re super experienced, we’re passionate about social causes, and we’re ready to shake things up.

We are here because we believe that good ideas can make real change.

Our story

14 years ago, proud Birri Gubba man Wayne Denning saw an opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of his fellow Indigenous Australians. After more than a decade of working on landmark government policies in Native Title and Land Rights, Wayne’s vision put storytelling and creativity front and centre with the goal of changing hearts and minds on a grand scale. Carbon Creative was born.

Image of Wayne

From the mainstream to the marginalised, Wayne’s vision has evolved further to empower and motivate behaviour change en masse. Today, we’re a team of creative social change specialists making good on this vision.

When he’s not leading the charge at the agency as Carbon Creative’s Managing Director, Wayne keeps busy as the Deputy Chair of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) and Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) as well as doing keynotes for like-minded organisations.

Coronavirus PR Campaign

In the public interest.

Carbon Media was commissioned by the government.  My first response is a citizen is that I do not want PR involved in information dissemination, I want only experts so that I know I am getting independent information.  I am concerned about misinformation and manipulating information. So those involved are important to look at in the public interest.  I will look at Carbon Media in the next blog.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/australian-government-did-not-commission-coronavirus-campaign-until-a-month-after-first-case

Australian government did not commission coronavirus campaign until a month after first case

Australia’s health minister Greg Hunt, prime minister Scott Morrison and chief medical officer Brendan Murphy

Labor says the Morrison government has been slow educating the public about coronavirus, as details of the public health campaign tender emerged. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The Morrison government only engaged a creative agency for its national public health campaign about coronavirus on 3 March, more than a month after the first case of the disease was reported in Australia.

According to the contract notice on AusTender, the health department engaged Carbon Media to provide creative services for the Covid-19 campaign on 3 March.

A spokesman for the health minister Greg Hunt defended the timeline, telling Guardian Australia the department “had access to creative services from a range of sources, both internal and external, well before Carbon Media was engaged” but conceded the contract for the national campaign began on 3 March.

Labor has seized on the revelation to step up its criticism that the Morrison government was too slow to educate the public about preventing the spread of coronavirus through hygiene and social distancing measures.

On Sunday the prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced that Australia will require all international arrivals in Australia to self-isolate for 14 days and is now encouraging social distancing for others. The escalation comes on top of a recommendation that from Monday all non-essential mass gatherings of more than 500 people be cancelled.

The suite of new measures comes after criticism the government has failed to give clear messages about social distancing. The chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, advised as late as Sunday morning that handshakes between people who have not returned from overseas were still advisable.

The $407,700 Carbon Media contract is due to run until 30 June and was awarded by limited tender, subject to the exemption on open tenders for government advertising contracts.

Carbon Media has numerous other contracts with the health department including for seasonal influenza communications and childhood immunisation.

Labor’s shadow health minister, Chris Bowen, told Guardian Australia: “Time will tell whether this is in an effective advertising campaign, but Labor questions why it took the government over two months to commence an advertising campaign to provide the most basic public health information on Covid-19.

“They should be doing more, sooner.”

The coronavirus ads, which were rolled out on Saturday, direct Australians to visit health.gov.au to access up-to-date advice:

Pinterest

Another version of the ad urges people who have been overseas or had contact with people with coronavirus to call ahead before visiting the doctor and stay home if the illness is mild:

Pinterest

Australians are directed to cough or sneeze into their arm or a tissue, and to wash their hands regularly:

Pinterest

On Wednesday Hunt announced the $30m ad campaign as part of the $2.4bn health response to the coronavirus.

So far, the health department has paid $2.3m to Mediabrands Australia for the media buy for the campaign, and $56,375 to Snapcracker Research and Strategy for concept testing for the campaign. Those contracts run from 12 March and 4 March.

The department has paid $17,270 to Ansible Pty Ltd to develop a mobile application, although it is unclear if the contract relates to development of a new coronavirus app.

At a press conference on Sunday Bowen said Labor welcomed the fact the advertising campaign has started in earnest.

“I have made the point consistently that the public information has not always been clear and consistent,” he said.

Bowen said the campaign “needs to be a nationally coordinated, fully integrated campaign to allay misinformation on social media” and should also “make people’s obligations for self-isolation very clear”.

On Monday, Scott Morrison told ABC’s AM resources for the campaign were put in place “several weeks ago” and the government had taken coronavirus seriously since mid-January.

He cited travel bans and evacuations from Wuhan, without explaining why the health campaign was commissioned on 3 March.

The first case of coronavirus in Australia was confirmed on 25 January.

On 11 March Hunt defended the pace of rolling out ads by noting the government had already started using signage at airports to communicate about measures to combat coronavirus.

“In addition, we’ll be focusing on online, electronic media and messages to the home to make sure that people have as many avenues [to receive information] as possible,” he said.

Hunt’s spokesman said the government had run “a range of messages and advertising, particularly targeted at the Chinese community and international travellers as was the original need in the early phases of the outbreak”.

“The public has been provided with the latest developments regarding the coronavirus outbreak through nearly daily press conferences, media releases, updates on the department’s website and social media channels.”

“Multiple fact sheets and communiques have been posted on the website and distributed to key stakeholders and industries to address their specific requirements.”