Wrongly dismissed as a condition of “frail old women”, osteoporosis had a branding problem – getting in the way of saving lives, since numerous interventions can be made with public education.

By creating a consumer-facing brand – Bone Health New Zealand – and an integrated launch campaign, ONZ took a bold step away from old myths and negative connotations and drive a step-change in New Zealanders bone health through awareness that leads to proactive behavioural change and action. There have been three phases to the campaign so far:

(1) Initial launch
In tandem with the rebrand, we licensed ‘Know Your BonesTM’ (KYB) for use in NZ – a free online consumer-friendly fracture risk assessment web tool based on the Garvan risk calculator. ONZ developed a digital campaign, aiming to drive 3000 completions of KYB through engaging, curiosity-piquing creative concepts. Two weeks post-launch KYB had achieved 500 completions, but with the country then thrown into lockdown (and bone fragility far down the list of national health concerns), ONZ paused the campaign.

(2) TVC
Post-lockdown, in June 2020, ONZ applied for a media grant. Instead of the 15” community radio campaign initially on offer, ONZ were granted a national two-week television commercial flight supported by digital billboards in NZ’s largest city. 5000 KYB assessments were completed, well above ONZs initial target.

(3) Clinical standard and KPI
The KYB tool is now embedded in the clinical standards for NZ Fracture Liaison Service as well as a cascade screening KPI in the new National Registry.

https://www.bones.org.nz/

• New Zealand

• Older persons
• 50+ years.

ONZ have developed a strategy that has been intentionally designed to be readily exportable to other countries. The use of transferable messaging and mediums enables the campaign to be packaged and delivered by other national osteoporosis societies to engage people of all ages but in particular those aged 50+.

ONZ is open to entering into agreements with sister organisation in other countries to share our experience and intellectual property, provide mentorship and support to enable delivery of similar Bone Health public awareness strategies for the populations that they serve.
Our platform will drive a step change in bone health through awareness that leads to proactive behavioural change and action.

It is encouraging to see that our sister societies in other countries have embraced the ‘healthy bones’ positioning of Bone Health NZ for communications with members of the public - Australia rebranded as Healthy Bones Australia, Feb 2021. A demonstration of the move away from the negative connotations associated with ‘osteoporosis’ and dismissal of the myth that osteoporosis is purely a condition of very frail old ladies, rather that there should be a life course approach.

Critical to the success of our campaign, ICTs have played a key part in both campaign delivery and free access to our offering. In our initial digital media campaign, ICTs were involved in: • Intercepting our audience via digital platforms. • Directing interested individuals to our web platform. • Driving engagement with the Know Your BonesTM web tool. • Compiling personalised reports for easy sharing with GPs. In our television commercial flight and supporting digital billboards, ICTs were involved in: • Calls to visit our web platform. • Driving engagement with the Know Your BonesTM web. • Compiling personalised reports for easy sharing with GPs. Finally, the ICT-powered Know Your BonesTM web tool is now embedded in clinical standards for New Zealand’s Fracture Liaison Service, as well as featuring in our new National Registry as a key performance indicator for cascade screening. KYB and the campaign speaks to the Integrated Care theme best: • “Numerous physiological changes occur with increasing age, and for older people the risks of experiencing declines in physical and mental capacities increase. • These declines often progress and manifest themselves as visual impairment, hearing loss, cognitive decline, malnutrition, mobility loss, depressive symptoms, urinary incontinence and falls. • Integrated care for older people (ICOPE) reflects a continuum of care that will help to reorient health and social services towards a more person-centred and coordinated model of care.” KYB is inherently person-centred, enabling older people (and people of all ages) to be proactive in understanding their bone health and so maintain mobility and avoid falls in older life. Included in the Bone Health Campaign is the promotion and provision of evidence based easily understood information on bone health to engage and empower older people.