The Welsh Government have spent more than £10m on coronavirus information campaigns over the past two years.
Messaging was key to keeping the virus under contro l. Whether that be self isolating, mask wearing, speaking to contact tracers or getting jabbed phrases like Keep Wales Safe, Test Trace and Protect and HelpUsHelpYou were seen across a wide variety of different platforms. As health is devolved in Wales there was often different messaging in Wales compared to England. For example initially everyone in the UK was told to Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives but that soon changed in England to Stay Alert. Wales did not follow these changes.
But all this public messaging costs money. In the digital age there are so many different ways of platforms being used many information campaigns target a wide variety of different media. This is especially needed when message has to reach people across different generations and age groups. A Freedom of Information Request (FoI) to the Welsh Government has revealed how much was spent on Covid message over the pandemic.
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In total £10,801,248 was spent to cover the total cost of all advert and asset production, media buying, public relations, stakeholder and public engagement for the Keep Wales Safe (COVID-19 public information) campaign and Test Trace Protect (COVID-19 testing) campaign as paid for the Health and Social Services Department of the Welsh Government.
The break down by year (excluding VAT) is:
- 2020-21: £3,985,446.67
- 2021-22: £6,815,802.10
A small percentage of this was spent on social media. This is how it breaks down:
- Facebook and Instagram £499,659.97
- Twitter: £164,926.74
- TikTok: £78,273.94
- SnapChat £89,326.70
- YouTube £197,608.10
- LinkedIn £2,285.23
Speaking about the figures a Welsh Government spokesman wrote in the FoI response: "The integrated campaign and digital marketing contracts were let as a single contract to cover the Keep Wales Safe, Test Trace and Protect and HelpUsHelpYou (NHS access) campaigns to enable us to get the best price and allowed us to flex the available media buying space at short notice so that we could respond quickly to the ever-changing situation during the pandemic. Where possible, we have removed the costs related to the HelpUsHelpYou campaign but some costs for that campaign are still included."
