COVID messages get CALD cut through

Culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD) are responding positively to the NSW Government’s COVID safety messages, with 75 per cent of people able to recall core elements of the campaign, according to new customer research.

Department of Customer Service Executive Director of Brand Digital and Communications, Angela Kamper, said the NSW Government’s COVID safety campaign has been in action since April with a new phase set to air in August.

“The NSW Government is ensuring CALD communities are informed about COVID safety, spending between 11-12 per cent of the COVID safety campaign on translating and targeting materials to the top 12 language groups in NSW,” Ms Kamper said.

“We’ve also run a successful COVID safety campaign for Indigenous Australians, who are uniquely vulnerable to the health impacts wrought by the disease.

“We need everyone in NSW to be able to access government communications and trust them as the source of truth on how to prevent and test for COVID, interact responsibly with the community, and get back to business safely.

“It’s therefore vital that the rapidly changing rules imposed on businesses are understood and implemented by English speakers as well as speakers of other languages.”

In the last two weeks the government imposed new conditions on the hospitality industry, starting with pubs, and extended the following week to bars, cafes, restaurants, clubs and casinos.

On Saturday 1 August, gyms followed suit and now face fines and closures if they are not complying.

All NSW businesses are urged to visit the website to download a COVID-19 Safety Plan and register as COVID Safe. Hospitality businesses and gyms must register and implement specific measures to remain open and continue to trade.

“The nsw.gov.au website can be viewed in 42 languages and includes a suite of translated COVID safety resources.”

“The general COVID-19 Safety Plan as well as the plans for the hospitality and beauty industries were translated into the top five languages so business owners can easily identify the steps they need to take to keep their workers, customers and the community safe,” Ms Kamper said.

The NSW Government will soon release the next phase of the multi-lingual advertising campaign to facilitate behavioural change.

“This campaign will be based on intelligence from our behavioural insights unit that shows appeals to an individual’s actions and consequences, as well as an individual’s tendency to loss aversion, may drive constructive behavioural outcomes,” Ms Kamper said.

For more information, visit the NSW Government website.

/Public Release. View in full here.