Govt Spends $1.59M on Terrible Vaxx Compaign After Almost Everyone Vaxxed

December 16, 2022

A basic 15-second promotional video for the campaign costs $38,000. (Jensen says someone else managed this video and she can’t recall discussions about its cost.)

In a bid to break out of the Waikato base the campaign appears to be focused on, $90,000 is spent on a paid social media ‘influencer’ campaign promoting the ‘That’s Us’ kaupapa nationally. It hires a specialist influencer company, Socialites, to run the side project.

Thirteen young Māori influencers create 53 pieces of content for Instagram and TikTok between December and March. It’s highly successful, with posts reaching more than 722,000 people and attracting 70,000 engagements, such as likes, shares and comments.

It’s so successful that the contract is extended for another three months. The Socialites campaign later wins two awards at the 2022 Australasian Social Media Awards for Best Public Service Campaign and Best Social Good awards across New Zealand and Australia.

In total, the paid influencer campaign delivers 73 pieces of unique content for $157,000, equating to $2150 per piece.

In comparison, the rangatahi hired by THH created 79 unique pieces of content, at what appears to have been a cost of up to $481,800, according to documents seen by RNZ. Another $714,000 is spent on consultancy fees and media placement with Aro Media. This equates to $15,126 per piece of content.

Some THH staff baulk at how much some of the rangatahi are being paid. University students or recent graduates are earning between $40 an hour for social media moderation, up to $70 an hour for a co-lead role. A few that are professional designers or video editors earn up to $100 per hour.