Testing communication resources within 24 hours for the 'Only Together' government campaign
The Dutch government has launched a campaign entitled 'Only Together' to keep its citizens informed of the latest developments concerning the coronavirus. This campaign not only informs people, but calls upon them to adapt their behaviour in order to limit the spread of the virus. We have received a commission from the Dutch government to conduct rapid testing of the communications for this campaign.
We assess whether the message and action perspectives have been properly understood by the various target groups and give advice on how to optimise them. The research results come back within 24 hours, but often much faster (within 4 hours) and the communications can be optimised immediately before going live.
Testing communication resources within 24 hours for the 'Only Together' government campaign
The Dutch government has launched a campaign entitled 'Only Together' to keep its citizens informed of the latest developments concerning the coronavirus. This campaign not only informs people, but calls upon them to adapt their behaviour in order to limit the spread of the virus.
We have received a commission from the government to conduct rapid testing of the communications for this campaign. We assess whether the message and action perspectives have been properly understood by the various target groups and give advice on how to optimise them. The research results come back within 24 hours, but often much faster (within 4 hours) and the communications can be optimised immediately before going live.
Research results available within 24 hours
Depending on the research needs and the nature of the communication statements, the government can choose whether to have the research conducted using our Sprint research application or by our communication researchers. No matter whether the communication statements are tested among the general population or specific target groups such as care workers, teaching staff or at-risk groups, the research results are always available within 24 hours.
• We deploy our communication researchers if there is a need for advice, a more in-depth assessment or specific research questions aligned to the communication statement. This is also the case whenever several communications are to be shown to the same person. One of Blauw's researchers will contact the relevant official to liaise about the research. We discuss the structure of the questionnaire, give advice on how to present the communications and send the results quickly.
• When the communications are nearly finished and all that remains to be done is to test the most important KPIs, such as understanding the message and action perspectives, the government is given access to the Sprint app, so that it can upload the communications and start the research quickly and easily. The results are immediately shown on an online dashboard and our researchers then compare the results against our benchmark.
Testing posters and commercials for TV and radio
We have already tested several different communication statements among a range of target groups. Here are a few examples:
• Several different posters were monadically tested among the Dutch general public. Eventually, a poster was selected and optimised on the basis of the open answers we received. The government received the results within 22 hours.
• Several television and radio commercials were tested using the Sprint research application. All communications are tested among the Dutch general public. The government also decided to test two commercials specifically among a target group consisting of the over-70s. The results of the various tests were entered in an online dashboard, so that they could easily be compared. The final results were available on our online dashboard within 3.5 hours after being uploaded.
Flexibility is essential in a crisis situation and that is exactly what works so well in our cooperation with Blauw/Sprint. We have been able to adapt swiftly without any loss of quality, which is fantastic.”
Positive results for the communications
We can see that all of the communications have scored well against our benchmark so far. In fact, no KPI has had a score equal to or lower than our benchmark. All communications for the 'Only Together' campaign scored significantly higher in all cases. Furthermore, the open answers show that the respondents have a great deal of understanding for the measures. They feel a kind of shared responsibility: "We have to solve this together as a society. Together we are strong."
