Executive Summary

In November 2020, while working in cooperation with various government departments, the CRA initiated a multi-year, cross-departmental advertising initiative. The main objective of this ad campaign was to increase awareness among Canadians about government-related scams, especially among newcomers to Canada, seniors, and youth.

To ensure the efficacy of the ad campaign, a thorough evaluation, commonly known as a "disaster check," was required. The research objectives were:

• To determine if the ad concept is effective among target audiences
• To determine if the campaign is relevant, eye-catching, etc.
• To evaluate the effectiveness and comprehension of the proposed taglines and messaging

The disaster check served to 1) determine if the content is relevant to each audience, clearly understood, and creatively appealing; 2) elicit suggestions for potential changes to ensure the message(s) and ad(s) resonate with the target audiences; and 3) elicit suggestions for possible modifications to the concept that would increase effectiveness.

The 2023-2024 CRA Be Scam Smart Advertising Campaign Concept Testing was conducted with online focus groups. Participants to the focus groups were asked to give their impressions on a storyboard for a video ad, an audio ad, and taglines.

All participants were recruited on the phone by Advanis using Advanis' General Population Random Sample (GPRS), a proprietary, representative sample source recruited via probability-sampling. After being recruited on the phone, participants received a confirmation email containing the information necessary to participate in the focus group.

A total of 8 groups were conducted with Zoom (4 in English, 4 in French). Moderators were located in Montreal, Quebec. Groups were held from September 11 to September 13, 2023. The research participants included members of the target audience which were individuals new to Canada (less than 10 years in Canada), seniors (60 years old and older), youth (18 to 34 years old) as well as the general population (35 to 59 years old).

The ad concept was effective among the target audiences. Its message was understood and it encouraged people to be vigilant about scams. It is less clear whether the call to action of the ads to visit the website was efficient, as many participants did not feel personally targeted, but believed it could be useful for other people.

Participants agreed on the importance of these ads to raise awareness about scams involving the Government of Canada name. Given that it was common among participants to have been exposed to these types of scams, having ads to help people be cautious was considered a good initiative.

The ads were generally considered attention-grabbing. For the storyboard of the video ad, participants pointed to the importance for the ad to immediately catch the audience's attention. The message conveyed in the taglines was also generally understood and considered clear. The audio ad was believed by some to be attention-grabbing, efficient, and funny, but reactions were mixed about the reference to gift cards. Participants differed on whether they would take action after hearing the audio ad.

As in all qualitative projects, the results of the research are directional and not statistically projectable to the target population.

Political Neutrality Statement and Contact Information

I hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Advanis that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research.

Specifically, the deliverables do not contain any reference to electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leader.

Signature:

Nicolas Toutant,
Vice-President of Research and Evaluation,
Advanis
ntoutant@advanis.net