23CeSC089 - Creative agency support for eSafety awareness initiative

Put simply, we need more Australians to know about the eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) and how we can help.

Recent research* conducted for the national Online Safety Act awareness campaign in 2022 found awareness of eSafety was relatively low, around 23%.Participants also had limited awareness and knowledge of where to go to report online abuse. Despite 78% of respondents identifying online safety as an important issue, only 33% knew what to do if they had a negative experience online and 51% felt online safety was relevant to them. There is also considerable conflation between online safety and other online risks like cyber security. The same research report found that when respondents were asked to identify online safety issues from a list of online issues, 91% incorrectly attributed one or more other issues as being an online safety issue.

Additionally, managing a broad remit and complex messaging while targeting diverse audiences with differing needs can hold us back from achieving cut-through.

We need to develop an emotive community service announcement (CSA) initiative to increase awareness of who eSafety is and what we do to help keep Australians stay safe online.

Key message: When it comes to online safety or reporting online abuse, eSafety can help.

Get: Australians

Who: Don’t know who eSafety is

To: visit esafety.gov.au

By: making them think online safety is important and relevant.