Working together to achieve communication
solutions for rural, regional and remote Australia
Sowing the seeds of success
Animal Health
Australia

For six years, Sefton & Associates has conducted
this country’s major integrated biosecurity communication program
pitched at all type of livestock producers, the ‘Protect Australian
Livestock Campaign’, for client Animal Health Australia.
Originally a one-week media program, this was developed
into an annual multi-faceted campaign by Sefton & Associates for
the same budget.
To make this ongoing program possible we successfully
continue to undertake a variety of tasks:
• Strategy Development - recommend activities, plans, timelines,
budgets and KPIs
• Strategic Alliances Program – develop tailored materials
and presentations to major rural companies and agencies encouraging
them to partner with AHA in distributing campaign materials
• Supporters/Advocates Program – organise briefings and
media/speaking engagements
• Events - launched the 2001 Protect Australian Livestock Campaign
at the National Press Club
• Media Relations – prepare media kits, organise interviews
and target media stories
• Public Speaking program – speech writing, organisation
of appearances, production of speaker support materials for state-based
rural press clubs and industry events.
• Issues Management
• Governmental and industry lobbying
Australian Wool Innovation Limited
(AWI)
From the CEO through to Project Management levels,
Sefton & Associates is used by all parts of this company to provide
strategic communication advice on almost a daily basis. Sefton &
Associates has a strong network amongst the nations 35,000 wool producers
and the company uses this network to ‘get stories out to the bush’
and into the lounge rooms and farm offices on behalf of its clients.
Current and recent projects include Woolcheque, Feralmone, National
Mulesing Assurance Program and Project Development for Innovation Day.
Meat & Livestock Australia
(MLA)
Sefton & Associates works with a number
of MLA divisions for behavioural change, awareness and educational campaigns.
Sefton & Associates has a thorough knowledge of the organisation,
its members and key industry players. Current and recent projects for
MLA include a national communication campaign for MLA training project,
EDGEnetwork, Producer Expos, More Beef from Pastures and the Livestock
Production Assurance National Vendor Declaration education campaign.
Grain & Graze – GRDC
(Grains Research & Development Corporation), MLA, AWI and Land and
Water Australia (LWA)
Due to Sefton & Associates successful delivery
of campaigns for the Research and Development Corporations individually,
it was re-appointed to manage the communication campaign for the only
true ‘all-of-industry’ program, Grain & Graze.
WinCott and Grant Thornton Chartered
Accountants
Succession Planning for the Cotton
Industry
Sefton & Associates is engaged by international
accounting firm Grant Thornton to co-ordinate a succession planning
model specifically tailored for agribusiness. WinCott, the Women in
Cotton network has hosted 12 succession planning seminars throughout
the Eastern States.
Plant Health Australia

Making commercial plant producers aware of the importance
of plant health and how they can help reduce the risk of exotic pests
and diseases was the key to the success of the Plant Health Australia,
National Plant Health Awareness Campaign. This campaign was conducted
by Sefton & Associates over an 18 month period in 2003/04.
This campaign included:
• Supporters/Advocates Program - enlisting supporters to convey
key messages to their Members and distribute campaign materials
• Media relations – preparing extensive media materials,
organising interviews and targeting media
• Event Management - providing field days and member events with
marketing collateral
• Governmental and industry lobbying
This campaign was the winner of the Public Relations
Institute of Australia (ACT) Award for Excellence 2004 in the Community
Communication Category.
Telstra Country Wide

Improved mobile phone services
Telstra’s initiatives to improve mobile
phone services across rural NSW were publicised with the assistance
of Sefton & Associates.
Increased services in 132 towns were announced in
the ‘Besley 1’ initiative by John Anderson, the then Deputy
Prime Minister. Attracting 111 media hits through radio, TV, print and
internet, this success resulted in Sefton & Associates earning the
contract to work on the next announcement, ‘Besley 2’. This
surrounded the Commonwealth Government’s initiative to improve
mobile phone services in 55 towns with populations less than 500 and
we organised a launch event in Central West NSW with Senator Richard
Alston, the then Minister for IT & Communications. Media coverage
amounted to 65 hits across varied media.
Area General Managers PR
program
This ongoing community consultation program
incorporates communications plans and implementation across rural, regional
and outer-metro NSW. Advice and assistance is provided on media relations,
stakeholder relations, sponsorship and event management. The program
continues to expand as the Area General Manager group grows and Telstra
Country Wide takes responsibility for a greater number of rural and
regional business units.
Telstra Country Music Festival
As major sponsor of the three major festival
events, Telstra Country Wide engages Sefton & Associates to project
manage and conduct media relations at a state and local level for the
Festival. In 2003, Telstra Country Wide was the major sponsor of the
entire Tamworth Country Music Festival and invited Sefton & Associates
to evaluate their sponsorship. We developed a comprehensive recommendations
document focused on enhancing the viability of their Festival sponsorship
for the next three years. Sefton & Associates has an ongoing relationship
with the Telstra Country Music Festival with a focus on media relations
at a local and regional level.
Land & Water Australia
Developing a strategy for this five-year Land,
Water & Wool project involved an extensive audit of communications
materials. In conducting the audit, Sefton & Associates conducted
focus groups and structured interviews to test communication support
products for the program. With a limited set budget and tight time frame,
we utilised the two-month period carefully to understand the needs of
the target audience. Involving extensive industry contacts was also
key to delivering strong outcomes against the specified brief.
Farmsafe Australia

We worked with Farmsafe Australia in the latter part
of 2003 to develop and assist the roll out of a communication campaign
to support the Child Safety on Farms Strategy. The Safe Play Areas on
Farms was launched by the Deputy Prime Minister in December 2003, achieving
significant media coverage.
The success of the campaign relied on engaging
the support and participation of key state-based stakeholder and organisations
who had the responsibility for delivering the communication plan. To
this end we supplied stakeholders with the necessary template-style
materials to assist their participation.