Advertising campaigns up to $250,000

Even paid boosts on social media and recruitment ads are subject to advertising rules and regulations. Know what rules apply to your campaign and your responsibilities.

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New requirements before briefing media – factor into your timelines

All advertising campaigns (not including one-off job ads and public notices) must now be submitted to DCS for approval at least 5 days prior to briefing OMD.

Read full details below.

In brief

You are legally required to:

You should also:

Read below for more information.

Complying with the Act, Regulation and  guidelines

Government advertising must be apolitical, which means it can’t be designed to influence support for a political party, minister, member of parliament or candidate. 

In addition to being apolitical, government advertising must be:

  • accurate
  • presented in a fair and accessible manner 
  • in line with branding guidelines
  • sensitive to cultural needs and issues, and reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of NSW
  • respectful in the portrayal of gender and sexuality 
  • inclusive of people with a disability

These rules are set out in the advertising guidelines and legally required under the Government Advertising Act 2011 and Government Advertising Regulation 2024. 

The advertising guidelines also set out the range of objectives advertising can achieve, as well as the standards and principles you should observe when planning, developing and managing NSW Government advertising campaigns. 

Multicultural and Aboriginal advertising policy

The policy aims to ensure multicultural and Aboriginal audiences are considered in all NSW Government advertising campaigns. 

The policy requires that:

  • at least 9% of an advertising campaign media budget is to be spent on direct communications to multicultural and Aboriginal audiences.
  • spend may be on advertising (paid media) or non-advertising communications activities (for example, events, public relations).
  • the spend under the policy does not include the costs for creative, production of paid media assets, translation, or research.

Get more information on how to apply the policy to your advertising campaigns.

Agencies should also report on these activities as part of the Multicultural Policies and Services Program reporting requirements.
 

People living with disabilities

There are approximately 1.3 million people with disability in NSW. Awareness of the communication requirements for people with disability is one of the principles covered in the guidelines. 

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, agencies must ensure that people with disabilities have the same fundamental rights to access information and services as others in the community.

Agencies should consider:

  • images that are used in advertising are representative of the NSW population and include people with disabilities where appropriate
  • captioning television and other multimedia advertising, and AUSLAN interpretation for people with hearing impairment
  • accessibility requirements for websites
  • information is designed for people living with intellectual disabilities and available in multiple accessible formats.

The Disability Inclusion Act 2014 requires NSW Government departments and agencies to develop and put in place their own Disability Inclusion Action Plan. Refer to your Disability Inclusion Action Plan when planning a government advertising campaign. 

Regional communities

Regional NSW communities are an important audience for NSW Government campaigns. 

  • When developing NSW Government advertising campaigns, government agencies must ensure they address the needs of regional and rural communities and consider regional media channels including local community media channels. 

  • For advertising campaigns of relevance to regional and remote communities, NSW Government agencies are required to spend at least 26% of their campaign media expenditure on channels targeting regional audiences. This should include expenditure in independent and local print media.

  • Regional NSW refers to areas of the state outside Greater Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle.  

Government agency obligations are set out in M2022-12 Advertising in regional media

Tips for effective engagement with regional audiences: 

  • Consider appropriate images and tailored messages and calls to action that will be relevant and resonate with regional communities in the target areas.  
  • Advertising in local and independent media outlets can be effective and efficient. The NSW Government Media Agency Services (MAS) provider OMD can provide expert advice on the suitable media channels to use. 
  • Make clear to the media outlet when disseminating media releases if it is connected to paid advertising placements in that media outlet. They may help with amplification of your messages. 
  • Be informed about the longer publishing lead times and media content deadlines in some regional media outlets to ensure you are providing timely information, especially for specific events.
  • Engage local community-based media to discuss any specific local nuances that may help make communications more effective. This includes regional print outlets, which often play a unique role in their communities by reaching residents who rely on newspapers as their only source of news.
  • Placing advertising in local community-based media (in addition to media releases, media activity and social media) can help ensure local communities are kept informed about government services and information such as: 
    • Events, consultations, and information sessions in their area  
    • Changes or announcements about local government offices and services 
    • Availability of government supports, grants and other programs 
    • Job and business opportunities with government 

Compliance certificates

The advertising compliance certificate is a legal requirement for almost all advertising campaigns.

The advertising compliance certificate is a short statement signed by the head of your agency* (unless exempt) that confirms the government advertising campaign:

  1. complies with the Act, Regulation and advertising guidelines
  2. contains accurate information
  3. is necessary to achieve a public purpose and is supported by analysis and research
  4. is an efficient and cost-effective means of achieving the public purpose
  5. has completed peer review, as indicated by the peer review completion letter from the Department of Customer Service, and
  6. if total budget exceeds $1 million, has completed a cost-benefit analysis.

It must be signed by your Agency Head* and publicly available (free of charge) on the NSW Government website, prior to the campaign starting.

You can use our Advertising Compliance Certificate Template or prepare your own.

*The head of your agency is a Secretary or CEO, except where delegated in accordance with the Government Advertising Regulation 2024.

When is a compliance certificate not needed?

You don’t need a compliance certificate for routine advertising under $250,000 (ex GST) as long as:

What is 'routine advertising'?

Routine advertising is defined in Section 7 of the Regulation as

  • information about routine matters relating to the provision of services, including notification of service changes
  • information about requirements imposed on persons
  • community announcements or notices about community events or activities; 
  • notices or announcements required to be made by or under any law; 
  • recruitment notices
  • government tender or procurement notices.

Approval process for campaigns under $250,000

To support the NSW Government's election commitment to reduce advertising expenditure, agencies must submit an Under $250,000 Approval Form for proposed campaigns to the Department of Customer Service. Once approved, agencies are then able to brief OMD.

DCS is required to review all under $250,000 campaigns and work closely with agencies to ensure each campaign:  

  • is an efficient and effective use of public funds
  • demonstrates a clear need for paid advertising over and above owned, earned, and stakeholder engagement channels
  • complies with the Government Advertising Act 2011, Government Advertising Regulation 2024, Advertising Guidelines, and Government Brand Framework.

In order to assist agencies with planning their campaigns, DCS has developed a set of media guidelines in conjunction with OMD to assist you in effective and efficient planning.

Please note that public notices, recruitment notices and in-house paid social media activity/boosting under $5,000 per campaign per month are exempt from this process. Agencies are still required to report actual advertising expenditure to the DCS Campaign Strategy and Effectiveness team via the quarterly expenditure reporting process. If you have not been contacted by the team for expenditure reporting, please reach out to adreviews@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.

To request a copy of the Under $250,000 Approval Form, please contact digitalcampaigns@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.

The form includes 3 clearly labeled tabs to guide you through the submission process:

  1. Under $250,000 Approval Form - Complete this form for one campaign at a time. For submitting multiple campaigns, please contact digitalcampaigns@customerservice.nsw.gov.au for a multi-tab form. 
  2. Instructions & Definitions - Get detailed guidance on completing each form field.
  3. Example – See a reference example with specific details for each question.

Once you have completed all the form fields, please email the completed form to digitalcampaigns@customerservice.nsw.gov.au at least five business days prior to when you plan to brief OMD. 

DCS will review each submission and respond back to you within 3 business days from the date of receipt. At this stage, we might ask for more details to support the submission which we will request all at once. Further questions may follow once you have provided the additional information. 

If the campaign is approved, you will be issued a unique campaign approval code which you will need to include in the brief to OMD.  If the campaign is not approved, we will provide clear reasons for this decision and can continue to work with you to facilitate further review as required.  

If you have questions or need clarification on any aspect of the form, please contact the DCS Digital Campaign Leadership team at digitalcampaigns@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.

Access an information session for the Under $250,000 Approval process, along with an FAQ sheet, on the on the GovComms Learning Hub.

Request access to the Learning Hub.

Media guidelines for Under $250,000 campaigns

These guidelines have been developed to assist planning effective campaigns under $250k and should be followed in most cases.

  1. Campaigns should not include more than 5 channels or platforms. 
    • Channels e.g. Radio, Out of Home, Press, Digital display
    • Platforms e.g. Tiktok, Snap, Meta (Facebook and Instagram count as one platform).
  2. Within Social, your budget must allow for a minimum reach of 25% of your target audience (although reach of 40-65% is considered optimum), and a minimum frequency of 1 per week for each platform selected.
    • While each social platform has some unique demographic splits for their users, all platforms have a similar percentage of users aged 25-64 (between 60-74%). Therefore, campaigns under $250,000 should feature 1-2 social platforms only. (Note: Meta counts as 1 platform, encompassing both Facebook and Instagram placements.)
    • Focus on fewer creative rotations. There should be a maximum of 5 creatives in market for each channel/platform.
  3. For Digital Display, Digital audio and Digital video, your budget must allow for a minimum reach of 25% of your target audience, and a minimum frequency of 2 per week per channel. For Online Video, focus should be towards lower cost channels and shorter-format creatives in order to achieve reach goals.
  4. Campaigns should be in market for a minimum of 4 weeks and a maximum of 8 weeks to ensure reach and frequency is optimised.
    • Event-based activity can run for a shorter timeframe, but must still comply with the minimum reach of 25% and minimum spend of $2500 per week per platform/channel in market.
    • SEM is customer supply driven, so is not subject to the 4-8 week timeframe.
  5. Audiences:
    • Your target audience must be clearly defined, with media buy optimised to reach this audience with limited wastage.
    • Adopt a full funnel approach and incorporate audience retargeting tactics where possible.
    • Multicultural and Aboriginal allocation should be a minimum 9% of total campaign media budget.
    • Regional allocation should be at least 26% of total campaign expenditure.
  6. Tracking and reporting:
    • Ensure any traffic being directed to a campaign landing page is correctly tagged so that performance can be closely monitored. You will need to report on the effectiveness of these campaigns if you want to repeat them in the following financial year.
    • Use the Digital Dashboard to investigate past campaign performance and inform campaign strategy. Once channel learning phases are complete, the Digital Dashboard should be used to identify campaign optimisations.

How to engage NSW Government's contracted media agency

Optimum Media Direction (OMD) manage media planning and buying services for paid advertising placements for all of NSW Government. All paid media campaigns and related media planning/media strategy work should go through OMD.

A good brief is essential

All NSW Government agencies must submit their media campaign requirements through the online briefing form and attach a completed OMD briefing template (DOCX 451.83KB).

Aim for a detailed and clear brief that includes:

  • background information
  • brand information
  • possible competitive challenges
  • past learnings
  • campaign objectives
  • target audience
  • broader communications strategy
  • campaign logistics and budget
  • in-market dates and timelines.

Please note approval is needed from DCS on Under $250K campaigns to provide a unique campaign code, this is needed to brief OMD within the briefing form. Please refer to: 'Approval process for campaigns under $250,000'. 

Based on your brief and timings OMD will provide suitable service deliverables that include but are not limited to a fully costed media plan.

OMD is remunerated for its services via a flat % fee on the media/activity plan. The same flat fee applies to all media plans/activity regardless of size or type. Read more on the OMD contract scope.

Contact Optimum Media Direction (OMD)

Choose a communications services provider (for services outside of OMD's scope)

Buyers across NSW Government may be familiar with schemes for potential suppliers, such as the Advertising and Digital Communications Scheme. Scheme members are approved suppliers with proven capabilities to deliver specific goods and services. buy.nsw is the one-stop shop for whole-of-government procurement resources and services. The buy.nsw Supplier Hub is the platform where NSW Government buyers and suppliers can connect. 

The Advertising and Digital Communications Prequalification Scheme (the Scheme) lists prequalified advertising and digital communications service providers across a range of fields, including but not limited to, video production, market research and graphic design.

Key Benefits

  • Makes it easier for NSW Government departments and agencies to source approved suppliers for a range of marketing communications services
  • Gives marketing service providers with relevant and proven expertise the opportunity to deliver work for NSW Government
  • Helps aggregate government spending to ensure value for money.

Types of capabilities

  • market research
  • strategy
  • marketing and campaign services 
  • public relations
  • social media
  • Indigenous communications and engagement
  • CALD communications and engagement
  • visual communications
  • written communications
  • digital communications
  • production


Please refer to the Scheme Conditions (DOCX 114.95KB) for more information about the capabilities and services available for prequalification.

Quotes

Additional to any guidelines specific to your department, the following procurement rules apply when using a service provider on the Scheme:

  • If the cost is between $50,000 and $150,000 you need one quote.
  • If the cost is more than $150,000 you will need three quotes.

Please reach out to the Campaign Performance Team for the supplier’s Scheme rate card.

Formalise your agreement

We recommend using a standard form of agreement (DOCX 61.68KB) to formalise your agreement with a scheme service provider.

Please check with your Department’s Procurement Team if any procurement rules apply.

Suppliers on the Advertising and Digital Communications Prequalification Services Scheme

If you have a buy.nsw Supplier Hub account and are logged in, you will be able to access to the complete list of suppliers who have been approved for the Advertising and Digital Communication Services Prequalification Scheme.

If you do not have an account, it is quick and easy to register. You can create your account via the Supplier Hub. Please contact the Campaign Performance Team if you require further assistance.

If you contact a supplier on the Scheme, we ask that you please fill out this form upon engagement and/or contracting their services.

Recruitment, procurement and public notices

 

Recruitment 

Speak with your people and culture division before advertising.

If you will be placing the advertisement, contact OMD for advice about media options available, costs, geographical coverage of various newspaper titles, dates of publications, booking deadlines, circulation and readership if needed. 

Public notices

Public Notices appear on a weekly basis (Wednesday) in the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Telegraph. Note Public Notice activity also includes any media channels running Public Notice messaging. 

Contact OMD for advice about media options available, costs, geographical coverage of various newspaper titles, dates of publications, booking deadlines, circulation and readership if needed.

Procurement

Procurement notices including requests for tender, requests for quote, requests for information and expressions of interest are advertised on the NSW Government e-Tendering website. 

Contact the NSW Procurement Service Centre on 1800 679 289 or email nswbuy@treasury.nsw.gov.au. Press advertising of tenders is discouraged.

Expenditure reporting

The Government advertising team request information about advertising expenditure from government agencies as needed, including estimated forward expenditure and final campaign costs.

An updated report is published (every six months) on our website with details of advertising media expenditure by government agencies. 

We encourage you to publish information about your own advertising programs on your websites. Information may include advertising rationale, objectives, costs and outcomes.

Helpful resources

Need advice?

The NSW Government Brand and Communications team at DCS can provide support for your campaign. 

Below is a list of the support services we offer and the relevant contact details.

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