2025 Crocodile Awards
Best Film Campaign
– Opal HealthCare –

For many families, choosing aged care is an emotional decision, often accompanied by guilt and hesitation. Opal HealthCare’s film campaign set out to change this narrative, repositioning aged care from a reluctant necessity to a vibrant, positive lifestyle choice.

Blending emotive storytelling with genuine humour, we captured the real experiences of residents, showing their transformation from isolation to thriving in connected communities. By highlighting the proven benefits of community living, we reshaped perceptions and drove meaningful engagement and action. This campaign delivered exceptional audience interaction and led to a 30% uplift in new residents joining West Australian care communities, making it worthy of recognition.

The Results and Impact

The Opal HealthCare film campaign generated exceptional, measurable results, significantly shifting perceptions, enhancing brand engagement, and driving substantial admissions growth. Specifically, within the targeted Perth region, Opal saw a remarkable 30% increase in new resident admissions directly attributable to the campaign, underscoring the profound effectiveness of targeted emotional storytelling combined with strategic media placement.

Engagement metrics consistently surpassed industry benchmarks, demonstrating not just reach but meaningful resonance with the intended audience:

  • Cost-Per-Completed-View (CPCV) was impressively low at just $0.01, significantly outperforming typical benchmarks and showcasing exceptional cost efficiency.

  • Interaction rates across platforms consistently exceeded 40%, reflecting highly engaging, resonant content that effectively connected with families and caregivers.

  • View-through rates of the film campaign surpassed 55%, clearly indicating that audiences engaged deeply and meaningfully with the campaign’s emotive storytelling.

Critically, beyond strong media metrics, these outcomes translated directly into meaningful business results. Families previously hesitant or uncertain embraced aged care as an aspirational lifestyle choice, significantly increasing admissions and changing long-held negative perceptions.

By combining emotive, authentic storytelling with a highly targeted multi-platform approach, Opal effectively transformed consumer attitudes and behaviours. The campaign’s impact went beyond short-term results; it fundamentally reshaped public dialogue about aged care, fostering a new narrative of positivity, empowerment, and vibrant community life.

Ultimately, Opal HealthCare demonstrated the transformative power of innovative, strategically executed film content to drive meaningful change, making it a clear standout within its category and an exemplary candidate for recognition at the Crocodile Awards.

Thank you…

Challenge, Context and Objectives

Opal HealthCare operates in a highly competitive aged care market, where trust, reputation, and consumer perception greatly influence family decisions. Despite being a leading provider with 133 Care Communities nationwide, Opal faced a persistent industry stigma: aged care was widely viewed as a necessary last resort rather than an empowering choice.

Competitor communications reinforced a clinical, service-driven narrative, emphasising medical necessity over lifestyle benefits. This approach deepened consumer hesitation, guilt, and disengagement, often discouraging timely decisions for loved ones’ wellbeing.

Our challenge was clear: redefine the narrative around aged care, shifting it from reluctant necessity to a positive, proactive lifestyle choice. Objectives included:

• Repositioning aged care positively, highlighting the value of community and connection.

• Increasing emotional engagement and trust with families and caregivers.

• Driving tangible action through increased admissions.

Leveraging powerful storytelling and strategically targeted media, Opal aimed to change perceptions, inspire confidence, and drive meaningful growth.

Insights and Strategy

Research provided a critical insight: social isolation significantly accelerates cognitive decline, increasing dementia risks and reducing overall life expectancy. In fact, social isolation was shown to be as detrimental to health as smoking. Despite this powerful data, aged care was still predominantly presented by competitors as a reluctant choice, focusing primarily on care necessities rather than emotional wellbeing or community benefits.

Understanding this critical gap, Opal HealthCare aimed to reposition aged care positively, as an empowering lifestyle choice fostering vibrant social connections and active living. Our strategy was to directly challenge entrenched negative perceptions, shifting the narrative away from clinical care towards meaningful human connections.

The campaign used emotional, authentic storytelling combined with relatable humour, spotlighting real residents thriving through community interactions. By humanising the aged care experience and showcasing genuine resident journeys, we reinforced the scientifically supported benefits of community-based living.

To maximise strategic impact, our messaging targeted families and caregivers at critical decision-making junctures, addressing emotional barriers such as guilt and hesitation with reassuring narratives of joy and community. This holistic approach strategically aligned Opal’s communications directly with its objectives, reshaping perceptions, fostering trust, and ultimately motivating positive action.

Execution and Audience Engagement

The decision to enter aged care typically involves profound emotional conflict, driven by guilt and fear of diminished quality of life. We intentionally confronted these fears, re-framing aged care not as a sacrifice, but as a transformative, enriching chapter of life.

Creatively, we produced films with authentic, emotional storytelling that vividly showcased residents’ journeys from isolated living to joyful community involvement. Real residents were the heroes of these narratives, bringing genuine warmth, emotional connection, and authenticity. Our films captured powerful moments, including spontaneous friendships, social engagements, and vibrant community interactions, communicated with warmth, relatable humour, and cinematic storytelling.

Strategically, our media approach combined broad awareness channels with highly targeted digital placements:

  • Nationally aired television commercials and high-impact YouTube campaigns drove broad awareness and visibility, reinforcing Opal’s positive positioning at scale.

  • Precision-targeted campaigns on Google, Bing, and Meta reached families at critical decision-making points, delivering impactful messaging precisely when and where families sought support and reassurance.

  • A dedicated regional campaign in Perth allowed focused testing, measuring real-world impact and informing the national strategy.

The combined creative and media execution significantly exceeded engagement benchmarks. With interaction rates over 40%, a highly efficient CPCV of just $0.01, and view-through rates consistently above 55%, the campaign effectively connected with audiences, significantly shifting perceptions, addressing emotional barriers, and positioning Opal HealthCare as a vibrant community destination for aged care..