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Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 February 2021

Wednesday, 24 February 2021

Questions (8)

Sorca Clarke

Question:

8. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Taoiseach the amount his Department has expended to date regarding awareness raising campaigns of Covid-19 in national newspapers, regional newspapers, national radio, regional and local radio stations and across social media platforms; and the amount of committed expenditure under any current contracts or agreements with same in tabular form. [10472/21]

View answer

Written answers

The spend on Covid-19 public information campaigns is listed in the tables below.

Since March of 2020, my Department has co-ordinated communications for the whole-of-government response to the pandemic. This necessitated expenditure on a broad range of targeted public messaging across a range of different information campaigns.

The overall communications strategy for Covid-19 is based on a coordinated response that ensures maximum clarity for citizens, businesses and our wider community. This aligns with both World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) advice, both of which emphasise the importance of ensuring the general public is aware of the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak, and further that a high degree of population understanding, community engagement and acceptance of the measures put in place are key in preventing further spread.

It is also recommended that communication strategies should target different audiences and provide the rationale behind the measures, also outlining the necessity to put a support system in place to provide essential services and supplies (e.g. food and medication), and to monitor vulnerable individuals.

Campaigns have included national and local radio, national and regional newspapers and social elements across different platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Last Spring a number of campaigns were run as restrictions were initially imposed at the onset of the pandemic in order to explain the measures and to reinforce public health messages. Other Campaigns focussed on targeted sectors including the Business Sector, the postponement of the Leaving Certificate, the Return to Work Campaigns and Community Wellbeing.

In May of last year, the Government’s Roadmap to Reopen Society and Business was published and a communications campaign was run to explain the different phases of the Roadmap.

During Summer 2020 the Jobs Stimulus Plan was announced by the Government and a Campaign was run which focussed on restoring confidence and investment in the recovery.

In Autumn Campaigns aimed at Community Wellbeing and Keeping Well and reinforcing public health messaging were run.

The AntiViral Campaign, launched in December, aims to engage with those aged 18-24, recognising that they have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Also in December, there were campaigns to inform citizens of the advice for having a safe Christmas with family and friends, and guidance on shopping safely, to reinforce public health messaging. This campaign is a way to demonstrate the positive role that our young people are playing in beating back this virus. It has had over 5.7 million interactions on the social platforms and reached over 300,000 people in that age demographic. The AntiViral hashtag had over 1.1 million views and the Campaign’s positive sentiment was measured at over 60%.

It is essential that citizens, business owners and communities are informed of the decisions being made by Government, and campaigns are developed and implemented to make the public aware of these decisions.

Data from 25 of the Campaigns advertised in National press show an average reach of 49%, with 17 of these reaching over 50%. The average readership for the 25 campaigns was 1.9 million (with 16 of the 25 campaigns having a readership of over 2 million). Readership figures for regional newspapers is over 1.5 million for each campaign. Radio advertising had an average audience reach of 79%, with 19 of the campaigns advertised on radio reaching over 80%.

Digital display advertising was used in 13 campaigns, with a combined audience reach of over 33 million. This is an average of 2.6 million impressions, with six of the campaigns reaching over 3 million citizens.

Of 19 campaigns analysed that used Social media advertising, an average of 4.9 million impressions were achieved, with a high of 16.1 million impressions for the Publication of the Roadmap campaign.

Covid-19 Advertising Costs 2020

Campaign:

Advertising in publications

Broadcast Advertising

Online Banner Advertising

Social Media advertising

Production costs

Total

Emergency Business Supports

€229,784

€253,141

€0

€0

€9,422

€492,347

Use of Outdoor/Public Spaces

€140,178

€264,855

€0

€0

€12,983

€418,016

14 Day Restrictions

€135,291

€323,281

€0

€5,064

€13,407

€477,043

Community Call

€578,741

€1,061,445

€100,520

€0

€33,918

€1,774,624

Business Supports - SMEs

€470,649

€414,255

€83,998

€6,215

€43,850

€1,018,967

Wellbeing

€268,367

€395,996

€124,999

€11,263

€35,221

€835,846

Reopening Roadmap

€303,611

€439,980

€23,809

€47,381

€36,832

€851,613

Business Reopening - Return to Work Safely Protocol

€311,932

€414,641

€100,000

€13,939

€27,669

€868,181

Leaving Certificate

€47,458

€0

€0

€7,239

€3,739

€58,436

Phase 1 Reopening

€527,336

€486,403

€113,993

€14,350

€34,677

€1,176,759

Business Reopening - RTW 2

€219,889

€341,233

€29,877

€6,158

€3,785

€600,942

Phase 2 Reopening

€310,423

€444,453

€93,740

€17,091

€26,839

€892,545

Phase 3 Reopening

€583,883

€462,156

€81,032

€19,548

€59,194

€1,205,814

Personal Responsibility

€0

€348,175

€29,337

€0

€6,876

€384,388

Travel

€143,412

€164,130

€0

€0

€15,812

€323,353

Phase 4 Reopening - July Delay

€316,218

€380,505

€0

€11,140

€27,872

€735,735

July Jobs Stimulus

€274,421

€208,380

€117,027

€20,706

€31,841

€652,375

Travel Green List

€47,307

€117,173

€0

€0

€14,772

€179,252

Phase 4 Reopening - August Delay

€0

€165,466

€0

€0

€5,898

€171,364

3 Counties Restrictions (National and Regional)

€18,234

€87,939

€0

€0

€13,250

€119,423

Additional National Measures (August)

€236,596

€192,278

€0

€0

€20,733

€449,607

Dublin/Limerick High incidence awareness

€154,770

€183,921

€0

€0

€27,368

€366,059

Living with COVID (Announcement, Framework and Household booklet)

€332,909

€357,401

€103,324

€27,767

€81,203

€902,604

Dublin Level 3 (Sept)

€0

€0

€0

tbc

€12,318

€12,318

Donegal Level 3 (Sept)

€123,782

€52,554

€0

€0

€1,488

€177,824

Reinforcing Public Health Messaging Nationwide

€0

€76,475

€36,363

€9,674

€3,836

€126,348

Nationwide Level 3 (Oct)

€47,307

€170,682

€6,410

€5,833

€9,367

€239,599

3 Counties L4 / National L3 update

€0

€31,296

€0

€3,836

€9,728

€44,860

Nationwide Level 5 (Oct)

€47,307

€138,355

€6,410

€7,885

€11,779

€211,736

Keep Well - Community Wellbeing

€265,970

€342,127

€82,116

€12,003

€39,343

€741,559

#SafeChristmas Phase 1 (L3)

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€40,160

€40,160

#Antiviral

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

€87,120

€87,120

3rd Party Copy/Scriptwriting/Strategy

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€50,820

#SafeChristmas Live action TV ad

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€157,058

€157,058

#SafeChristmas Animated TV ad

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€36,947

€36,947

TOTALS 2020

€6,135,775

€8,318,696

€1,132,956

€247,092

€996,304

€16,881,642

Advertising Costs 2021

Campaign:

Advertising in publications

Broadcast Advertising

Online Banner Advertising

Social Media advertising

Production costs

Total

#SafeChristmas Live action TV ad

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€6,292

€6,292

#SafeChristmas P2 - (ease of restrictions)

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€22,494

€22,494

#SafeChristmas P3 - Gathering/Dinner

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€0

Christmas transition to Level 5

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€0

Dec/Jan return to full Level 5

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€14,272

€14,272

January Additional Level 5 measures

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

€10,938

€10,938

#Antiviral maintenance campaign

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

Do the Right Thing

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

tbc

TOTAL 2021 Costs

€53,996

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