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Dental Hygienists Association of Australia
Drooling for publicity.
The Situation. The Dental Hygienists Association of Australia is a professional body of health professionals devoted to oral health and is one of 24 national bodies that comprise the International Federation of Dental Hygienists.
Its members are all graduates of accredited schools of dental hygiene and they promote total health through the prevention of oral disease. Through clinical services, education, consultative planning and evaluation they work with dentists to prevent oral disease, provide treatment for existing disease and assist people to maintain an optimum level of oral health.
As a relatively small professional association, the DHAA has limited funds to promote oral health and must take as strategic view of the application of its resources to the oral health agenda.
It recognises the necessity of promoting oral health, and the services of its members in providing oral healthcare services, so has engaged Hughes Public Relations to devise and implement periodic publicity campaigns to promote its interests.
Hughes Public Relations conducts these campaigns from its Adelaide office and generates publicity in a variety of media across Australia.
Objectives. The Association decided early in 2003 that the practice of tongue and lip piercing had become so widespread that it constituted a public health issue in Australia. The Association briefed Hughes Public Relations to mount a publicity campaign in March 2003 to warn young people about the dangers of oral piercing.
The objectives were to capture the attention of the whole Australian community, but particularly young people who undergo oral piercing as a fashion or identity statement or in response to peer pressure.
The underlying key message of the campaign was to make young people aware of the general and dental health risks they faced.
Elements. The key elements of the campaign were:
- Concentrating on print and radio media nationally as the two communication channels most likely to take up the story and also provide access to young people and those who influence them;
- A strong message, covering “confronting” topics and couched in language that would provide catchy print news copy and headlines and also generate provocative “sound grab” phrases for radio;
- Organising local Association spokespersons to be quoted in media releases and participate in resulting interviews – particularly radio – in each state and the ACT;
- Development of separate radio and print news releases in each state and the ACT;
- Following up with subsequent news releases for magazines to health, women’s, men’s and gay magazines.
The news releases were prepared and issued to metropolitan and regional newspapers, radio presenters and radio and television newsrooms in a coordinated nation-wide release covering all states and the ACT.
Outcome. The results were spectacular – 27 identified newspaper articles and 56 radio bulletins and interviews. The newspaper coverage was outstanding – including prominent articles in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Courier-Mail, The West Australian and the Mercury, and coverage in regional newspapers across five states.
Overall, the Association’s warning hit an estimated media audience of more than seven million Australians in the publicity campaign through metropolitan and regional print and radio outlets. Further coverage was achieved, but not measured, in regional radio and magazine coverage.
All monitored news coverage mentioned the Association and most included the nominated key messages developed for the campaign – drooling and slurred speech, as well as the risk of infection and permanent damage to teeth and mouth.
