A major national community roadshow, campaign launch event and communication and marketing outreach
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT | DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT | CONTENT DEVELOPMENT | COMMUNICATION STRATEGY & PLANNING | STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
Delivering a major national community roadshow, campaign launch event and communication and marketing outreach.
Client
Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Challenge
The LKB Agency (LKB) was engaged by the Commonwealth Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to deliver a national community engagement campaign raising awareness and increasing participation in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP).
The national community engagement campaign is designed to target the three priority audience groups for bowel cancer screening – First Nations communities, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities and eligible Australians aged between 45 and 74 years. LKB delivered the campaign in 2024, including a community launch event, a national roadshow, visiting 32 locations across Australia, and a workplace partnership program. In 2025, LKB was re-engaged by the Department to expand the campaign to reach remaining Australian states and territories and continue raising awareness of the NBCSP.
Strategy
LKBโs strategic approach brings together communication and engagement activities designed to reach target audiences and raise awareness about the screening program in locations where screening rates fall below the national average of 40.0%.
The key elements of the campaign include:
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- The Get behind it! Community roadshow and mobile community engagement hub.
- A community launch event in partnership with the Western Sydney Wanderers in 2024.
- A workplace partnership program.
- Marketing, communication and social media activities, including ambassador collaboration.
- Campaign brand and collateral development.
- Tailored First Nations engagement.
- Multiple partnerships with sporting organisations.
2024 campaign
In May 2024, LKB delivered a national launch event in Western Sydney in partnership with the Western Sydney Wanderers, to launch the campaign activities and the Get behind it! Community roadshow.
The launch event was attended by more than 60 guests including community groups and the local community, Western Sydney Wanderers staff, players and supporters.
A panel of guest speakers included health professionals, Professor Eleonora Feletto and Professor Golo Ahlenstiel, bowel cancer survivors, Erik Carapetian and Chris Apps, and the event was hosted by Dr Andrew Rochford, the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program Get behind it! Community roadshow ambassador.
The event unveiled the community engagement event trailer which travelled to communities throughout Australia.
To target the three priority audience groups, LKB coordinated, executed and delivered a national community roadshow. Between May and October we visited 32 locations where testing rates fall below the national average of 40.0% in NSW, QLD, Northern Territory and the ACT, raising awareness about the screening program and encouraging eligible Australians to do the test.
As well as low participation rates, the roadshow targeted specific locations with large First Nations and CALD communities. The roadshow was an opportunity to directly influence and engage with local communities and individuals, encouraging participation in the program. During the campaign, on 1 July 2024, the participation age for the NBCSP was lowered from 50 to 45 years of age. The change was a key shift in campaign messaging that became a positive engagement topic amongst communities. LKB ensured all collateral and campaign material was revised ahead of the change.
LKB also designed and facilitated a partnership program that engaged with workplaces and community groups to share information and collateral on the screening program on their owned channels. The program was also designed to encourage employees and their loved ones to do the test.
As part of the partnership program, workplaces were offered the opportunity to host a morning tea and receive a visit from the community trailer. LKB coordinated and delivered three workplace visits throughout the 2024 campaign period.
Results
In 2024, the Get behind it! community roadshow campaign achieved:
Between May and October, the LKB team engaged with over 12000 people throughout NT, QLD, ACT, Sydney Metro and Regional NSW locations with an estimated total reach of 80,949 people.
Partner pitch packs and toolkits distributed to over 1700 potential partners and workplaces and 646 Government bodies.
94 confirmed partners generated from the partnership campaign.
52 community engagement events organised across NT, QLD, ACT and NSW with the trailer covering 17,233 kilometres.
Multiple articles featured in local NT, QLD, ACT and NSW publications.
65 people in attendance at the national launch event, with media coverage of the event featuring on Channel 10 News as well as local publications.
2025 campaign
Due to the success of the 2024 campaign, LKB was re-engaged by the Department to deliver the Get behind it! community roadshow in 2025.
The roadshow visited communities in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia to continue raising awareness of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. The campaign also involved a targeted workplace partnership program, refreshed marketing and communications activities, and tailored First Nations engagement.
After reflecting on learnings from 2024, LKB chose to enhance our engagement approach by designing and fitting out a smaller van capable of reaching a wider variety of locations across Australia. The 2025 roadshow visited 23 locations across the four states, targeting areas with both high populations and low program participation rates.
In 2025, LKB implemented a more focused and strategic partnership program, encouraging workplaces to partake in a morning tea hosted by the Get behind it! team to open conversations amongst staff and help normalise the message about bowel cancer screening. LKB sent out updated program resources to 90 workplace partners across Australia and delivered 18 workplace events throughout the campaign period. LKB also worked closely with key campaign partners such as Supercars and the Penrith Panthers to deliver collaborative community engagement events in each state.
As part of a refreshed approach to marketing and communications in 2025, LKB engaged six state-based ambassadors to help promote the NBCSP to the target audience โ former AFL players, Shane Crawford, Matthew Richardson, Andrew Jarman and Wayne Schwass, general practitioner, Dr Preeya Alexander and TV personality, Julie Goodwin. Ambassadors were selected based on their medical knowledge, community reach and connection to bowel cancer, with each raising general awareness of the program via their channels.
In 2025, LKB introduced additional merchandise items, including โthank youโ postcards to serve as a token of appreciation to active screeners and a form of takeaway information for message sharing amongst family and friends.
LKB partnered with First Nations engagement specialists, YarnnUp, to implement a tailored First Nations engagement strategy in 2025. YarnnUp, as part of the Get behind it! team, delivered a series of community engagement events across Australia raising awareness of the NBCSP among First Nations communities, using tailored messaging designed to resonate with the target audience and reduce the stigma around screening.
Results
The 2025 Get behind it! community roadshow campaign achieved:
Visited 23 locations across VIC, TAS, WA and SA.
Between April and November, the LKB and YarnnUp teams engaged with over 18,000 Australians, while 186,000 people saw the roadshow in locations visited.
394 individuals ordered a bowel screening test kit at one of the events.
Over 3.1M content views on the Get behind it! social media, further raising awareness of the NBSCP.
Delivered 18 workplace events as part of the workplace partnership program.
