Mr Drew Clarke PSM
Secretary
Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
38 Sydney Avenue
Forrest ACT 2603
Dear Mr Clarke
NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK METROPOLITAN CAMPAIGN
I am writing to advise you that the Independent Communications Committee (Committee) has considered the National Broadband Network Metropolitan campaign. The Committee undertook the review process outlined below and, based on the information provided, the
Committee has concluded that the proposed campaign complies with Principles 1 to 4 of the
Guidelines on Information and Advertising Campaigns by Australian Government
Departments and Agencies (Guidelines).
Agencies subject to the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 are required to comply with the Guidelines. To this end, the Committee considers proposed advertising campaigns of $250,000 or more and provides a report on each campaign to the relevant Chief
Executive in relation to its compliance with Principles 1 to 4 of the Guidelines. Those principles are:
Principle 1: Campaigns should be relevant to government responsibilities;
Principle 2: Campaign materials should be presented in an objective, fair and accessible manner and be designed to meet the objectives of the campaign;
Principle 3: Campaign materials should be objective and not directed at promoting party political interests; and
Principle 4: Campaigns should be justified and undertaken in an efficient, effective and relevant manner.
Agencies are responsible for providing their Chief Executive with a report on campaign compliance with Principle 5 of the Guidelines.
Review Process
The campaign review process is designed to enable the Committee to obtain sufficient information, clarification and justification from departments and agencies, to provide advice to you on the compliance of proposed campaign advertising activities. This letter is to assist your deliberations in certifying the campaign’s compliance with the Guidelines.
The Committee reviewed materials in session on 17 occasions – 21 August, 4 and
28 September, 5, 22 and 26 October, 2 and 20 November, 14 December 2012, 24 January,
7, 21, 28 February, 8, 21 March and 4 and 5 April 2013 – and reviewed additional materials out of session on 6 November 2012 and 13 March 2013 to consider the National Broadband
Network Metropolitan campaign during its development, and has considered the
ICC Secretariat: Communications Advice Branch, Department of Finance and Deregulation,
John Gorton Building, PARKES ACT 2600 Tel: (02) 6215 2677

communications strategy, market research, final creative materials, proposed media plan and strategy, and a Statement of Compliance with the Principles.
The Committee has reviewed the proposed material and taken into consideration advice and documentation provided by your Department, the Communications Advice Branch of the
Department of Finance and Deregulation and expert advice provided by Hall and Partners |
Open Mind (market research), ORIMA Research (market research), George Patterson Y&R
(advertising), and Universal McCann, the Commonwealth’s media placement agency.
As you may know, at its meeting of 8 March 2013, the ICC:
 considered advice provided by Orima Research with respect to the proposed
‘Business/Glow (videoconferencing)’ television execution, but did not consider there was adequate evidence to suggest that the key messages in the commercial were sufficiently relevant to the target audiences;
 noted that although ‘Business/Glow (videoconferencing)’ was not as strong as the other proposed television commercials, DBCDE was of the view that it appeared to resonate with business audiences;
 in response to the research findings, noted that DBCDE proposed to use the
‘Business/Glow (videoconferencing)’ commercial at 10 per cent of the total television media buy; and
 noted that DBCDE considered that the messages in ‘Business/Glow (videoconferencing)’ were an important component of the overall campaign, and it had an updated opinion from
Orima Research that strongly supported the use of ‘Business/Glow’ (videoconferencing) to complement the ‘Christakis’ and ‘Infrastructure’ television commercials.
At that time, based on the information available and noting DBCDE’s advice, the Committee remained concerned that the ‘Business/Glow (videoconferencing)’ television commercial would not fully satisfy Principle 2 of the Guidelines.
The Committee notes that the latest round of research indicates that the ‘Business/Glow
(videoconferencing)’ television commercial performed well among the business segments of the target audience, but remains concerned that it did not perform well when previously tested among a broader target audience. In this respect, the Committee has particular regard to Principle 2 (25), namely that: “ campaign materials should be tested with target audiences to indicate they are engaging and perform well against the objectives of the campaign.”
Recognising the particular difficulties of specifically targeting a business audience through free to air television, we leave it to you to form an opinion when certifying the campaign, noting that the ‘Business/Glow (videoconferencing)’ commercial, when placed in the market, would be exposed to a broader audience.
The Committee is concerned with the continued late provision of materials by your department, and on this occasion, the submission of incorrect materials for review by the ICC.
The Committee must be able to have a degree of reliance on the information and material provided by agencies prior to its meetings, and sufficient time to consider this material.
Next Steps
Following consideration of this report and advice from within your agency on compliance with Principle 5 of the Guidelines, you determine whether you consider that the National
Broadband Network Metropolitan campaign complies with the Guidelines, which would also include assuring yourself that the presentation, wording and imagery of the campaign materials are factually correct and verifiable. You will also need to satisfy yourself that the claims made in your Department’s Statement of Compliance are valid and adhered to.
Subject to all that, your certification should then be submitted to your Minister who may launch the campaign or approve its launch.

Your certification should be published on your agency’s website when the campaign is launched.
I take this opportunity to remind you of the need for a subsequent evaluation of the campaign to assess its overall impact and effectiveness, and whether or not the various activities meet the stated communication objectives. Any additional phases of the campaign will, of course, require separate consideration by the Committee.
The Guidelines, including the full details of the principles, can be found at: www.finance.gov.au/advertising
This letter will be published on the Department of Finance and Deregulation website as soon as possible after the commencement of campaign advertising activity.
Yours sincerely
(signed)
Allan Hawke
Chair
Independent Communications Committee
5 April 2013

National Broadband Network Metropolitan Campaign
(Reviewed 5 April 2013)
Document title
Mainstream television
1 x Business/Glow – videoconferencing (45 seconds)