Introduction

The Australian Organ and Tissue Authority (OTA) has 3 main objectives under the ‘Build Support’ goal of our national strategy:

1. Increase registration – 50% of eligible Australians are registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR) (currently 36%).
2. Increase family discussion – 90% of registered donors have discussed donation with their family (currently 78%)
3. Raise awareness – 40% of eligible Australians are aware of the DonateLife brand (our public-facing name) (currently 28%).

Australia has an opt-in system, and registration is a key driver of consent. Around 8/10 families give consent when their loved one was registered. This drops to 4/10 when their loved one was not registered.

Like many other countries, Australia has seen a declining consent rate following the COVID19 pandemic. Registration has also flatlined since registration via driver’s licences was removed in the early 2000s. A strategic approach to reaching Australian audiences was required to deliver more effective communication.

Method

A behaviour insights research project was commissioned to:

• benchmark our engagement KPIs
• build an engagement framework
• build an audience segmentation.

The research was conducted in 3 phases:

Explore

• 60-person online community
• 12x mini-groups
• 12x in-depth interviews

Build

• 2,700x 20-minute surveys

Unlock

• 15x 1.5 hour in home interviews with priority segments

Results

The research uncovered 23 drivers for registration, 33 barriers to registration, 27 motivators and 24 messages. These were used to created 9 audience personas (3 registered, 6 unregistered) that place the Australian population on a spectrum based on how likely they are to take action (see diagram).

The registered audience segments are exposed, rationals and compassionates.

The unregistered audience segments are unawares, deliberators, ineligibles, sceptics, uncomfortables and devouts.

Two main opportunities were identified through the research:

1. Engaging our exposed / rationals to turn them into advocates
2. Target the unawares /deliberators as the most likely segments to register.

An example for opportunity 1: we split our annual awareness initiative – DonateLife Week – into 2 phases. The first phase is about engaging advocates to help spread the word about DonateLife Week.

Results included:

• creatinga groundswell of support
• 2,000+ new social followers
• 5,000+ resource downloads
• 500 cafes distributing more than 1,000,000 coffee cup stickers, delivered by advocates.

An example for opportunity 2: we created TikTok style video with minimal branding, a short call-to-action and sponsored it on TikTok, Reddit and Snapchat.

The results were:

• 41,865 views on Snapchat
• 406,298 views on Reddit
• 126,886 views on TikTok (83% more cost-effective than the benchmark).

Conclusion

Using an evidence-based audience segmentation of the Australian population, based on attitudes, motivations and barriers, has allowed us to deliver more tailored, strategic communication and is delivering better results against our targets.