What you need to know:

• Are Media readers are becoming bellwethers for the critical macro trends facing Australia, highlighting key societal issues that are informing the publishing group’s efforts to enact social good, says CEO, Jane Huxley.
• Over the last six years and via its Change AREgenda program of work, Are Media has amplified and successfully helped drive new legislative changes around protecting the elderly from financial abuse and tackle coercive control, seen $2bn allocated to social housing across the country, and improved the financial literacy of more than 170,000 women.
• In its latest campaign, the publisher has joined forces with Carers Australia to ask the Federal Government to add superannuation to the fortnightly Carers payment. According to figures, a primary carer loses $175,000 in superannuation and $392,000 in lifetime earnings by the time they’re 67 years of age.  
• To do this, it’s utilising editorial content, social channels and amplifying via advertising across all available touchpoints – magazine, digital and social – to drive awareness and education.
• Highlighting issues that could potentially become politically charged can be dangerous for brands. According to the recent The Good Study from Leo Burnett, more than six in 10 Australians insist brands should not weigh in on political and social issues, even as 65 per cent agreed a company’s role isn’t just to make money, but to have a positive impact on society.
• But Huxley waves aside fears of politicism and striking the wrong tone with readers, noting these are authentic social issues readers are proactive choosing Are’s magazine brands to support. “That hasn’t really been a concern because we take a very bipartisan approach,” she says.

Readers as bellwethers for the critical macro trends government must tackle in the near term isn’t something you’d immediately consider when you peruse the pages of Australian Women’s Weekly, New Idea or Better Homes and Gardens.

But for Are Media chief, Jane Huxley, that’s exactly what her audience insight panels are delivering when informing the media giant’s Change AREgenda campaigns. With nine in 10 Australians reading its publications and 20 million followers in total through social channels, it’s a fair whack of the nation’s consumers.

“I do think it is possible that these campaigns through these brands could be foreshadowing what will become critical issues in the years to come. So ipso facto government of the day listen to us and the companies and charities doing the work in these spaces,” Huxley says. “Because guess what, we can tell you what's going to be important in three years’ time and for the next election.”

Are Media’s Change AREgenda program was launched in 2018 with the ambition of uniting its house of 32 brands behind a single cause reflecting the generations of women engaging with its publications. Kicking off with the ‘No GST on Gender’ campaign, which called for the removal of the discriminatory tax on female sanitary products, Are Media has since petitioned across a range of emotive issues such as stopping Elder Financial Abuse (2019), Criminalising Coercive Control (2022). Last year, the Unhoused (2023) campaign, which encompassed $1m in pro bono advertising, called for more social and affordable housing across the country to help the 49,000 homeless women in Australia.

You can’t attribute all the effort to Are Media, but they’ve certainly chosen to amplify causes with notable social astuteness. Baseline minimum standards of financial power of attorneys and a mandatory national register have been introduced as a direct response to minimising elderly financial abuse. The GST was removed on sanitary products. Are Media supported 726,000 women to improve their financial literacy through its content, breakfast series and messaging, with 54 per cent of its audience reporting they felt more educated on financial matters. With regards to Criminalise Coercive Control, three states thus far have agreed to review the legislation. And an additional $2 billion towards social housing in Australia’s Housing Future Fund was announced by the Federal Government late last year.

Informing the Change AREgenda choices are a readers Insider Panel, which Are Media runs a significant survey with every 12-18 months.

“What we wanted to do was look for issues that were very personal to our readers and amplify those. They're not just chosen out of a hat, and it's not just ‘here's something that's topical’,” Huxley tells Mi3. “Once we identify the issue via our Insiders Panel, we then identify the real stakeholders representing that issue, and we tuck in behind them. We use the power of our platform and our influence to amplify the incredible work they're doing.

“We do not pretend for a moment we are on the frontline, actually affecting the change or doing the day in, day out work, the grind, that these other partner organisations do.”

Caring for Australians

In 2024, Are Media has its sights on getting better payments and superannuation contributions for carers across the country, pairing up with Carers Australia for the task. Launched in late April, the ‘Cost of Caring’ social campaign calls on the Federal Government and Opposition to consider adding superannuation to the fortnightly Carers Payment. To do this, Are Media is utilising editorial content and advertising across all available touchpoints – magazine, digital and social – to drive awareness and education. There’s a particular focus on case studies of Australian carers, the work they undertake, and the economic and social impact this has on their lives.

“I really got to know the CEO and the team at Carers Australia in this initiative and seriously, when I'm having a bad CEO day, I just take a step back and I think of the most extraordinary work they do,” Huxley comments. “I went down to Canberra when we launched this initiative to Parliament House with Annabel [Reid, Carers Australia CEO] plus the state leads for Carers Australia. Getting to talk to them was extraordinary because it brought a different lens to the issue.”

According to Carers Australia data, 2.65 million unpaid carers nationally – seven in 10 of which are women – provide 2.2 billion hours of unpaid care each year worth nearly $80 billion. An Inquiry into Unpaid Carers has recommended the Australian Government explore options to incentivise and recognise the impact of caring, including through superannuation systems. While there’s some means-tested income support in place, a primary carer is estimated to lose about $175,000 in superannuation and $392,500 in lifetime earnings by the age of 67. The most affected 10 per cent of carers lose at least $940,000 in lifetime income and $444,500 in retirement savings.

“I would hazard an unscientific guess there are probably 50 per cent of the employees here that are in the same boat as our readers representing carers. They're either caring or they know someone who's caring. Certainly those of us who have had a little more experience of life are either in that role, about to be in that role, or we know somebody who is,” Huxley says. “It is very much an engagement initiative internally; it's not why we do it but we do get strong buy-in internally. We talk about the campaign, how we're launching it, tracking, what the results have been, whether it be video testimonials or petitions.”

The latest campaign for Are Media was created with Cocogun’s help and has a heavy emphasis on editorial content. From May, a raft of articles are being published across New Idea, Women's Weekly, Better Homes and Gardens and Take Life reflecting “genuine stories of the carers that represent the same profile of the readership of those magazines”, Huxley says.

“People see themselves in these stories. In those articles we ask for their support in the form of signing our petition and also amplifying that more broadly,” she says.  

It’s expected to reach 10.5 million reaches with a campaign value of over $5 million in its first phase from April to October. For Huxley, it’s the outcome that counts, such as whether legislation was changed, the GST was removed, or more educated readers.

“With this particular campaign, we are asking for superannuation to be paid on the carers allowance. The cost of that to the government will be $700 million in their first year. It's really a drop in the ocean in terms of other spending. That becomes the measurement of the overall campaign. This one will go for about 18 months because the timing was right before the Federal Budget. We knew by the time we got down to Canberra, a lot of the decisions had already been made and there was some very pressing cost-of-living issues that rightfully were taking up a lot of the oxygen. Notwithstanding that, we still went down there to begin the conversation because they go on for an extended period of time.

“We weren't hoping for a short outcome but we are certainly hoping by the next budget that there will be consideration for superannuation for carers who are seriously disadvantaged in the unpaid work they're doing.”

Embracing and avoiding the politics

A lot of the issues Are Media has been looking to highlight could run the risk of gaining a political skew. And according to the recent The Good Study from Leo Burnett and UTS looking at how consumers view the way brands can do good, that’s a big no-go for many consumers. More than six in 10 Australians surveyed insisted brands should not weigh in on political and social issues, even as 65 per cent agreed a company’s role isn’t just to make money, but to have a positive impact on society. That’s almost inevitably going to lead to politically charged issues.

Huxley waves aside fears of politicism and striking the wrong tone with readers.  “That hasn’t really been a concern because we take a very bipartisan an approach to this. We've only really just started down the path with the Carers campaign, but in Unhoused, I went and called on all the major parties. We will go and talk to anyone in terms of being able to generate support for what we're doing,” she says.

“And it comes through quite unexpected quarters at times as well. We don't take a political lens on it.”

According to Huxley, the other critical ingredients here are authenticity and “knowing what your role is”. “We don't pretend we are out in the trenches. Our role is to bring the stories of these carers [to life], then to amass the participation of our readers in the form of a petition,” she continues.

“That petition is used as further fodder for Carers Australia and other organisations to demonstrate broad national support for the work that they're doing outside of their sector. That really is where the amplification works.

“They talk directly to carers. We talk directly to people who know a carer, are a carer, or care about the issue… When we do show up in this campaign, we show up through the authentic voices of our brands.”

“So for me, it’s about knowing your role, working carefully in the space but also remembering what we do… Our real work is telling stories. And remember, this starts with our readers; we go to them first. We don't choose the issues, we might narrow down a list of issues they tell us are important, but it really starts with the voice of the consumer.

“I think that's where the core of authenticity starts. We are reflecting on what they're telling us. We're trying to get into some of these issues that really don't necessarily get a lot of the spotlight a lot of the time.”

For Huxley, magazines have always had a role in influencing, informing and inspiring consumers.

“What we're seeing now though and what we’ve certainly started to talk a lot about this last year is igniting intention. What we've found – I’m sure a lot of brands have found is this – is the ability to ignite an action and immediacy in an action on a mobile phone or a tablet or a computer,” she says. “The time to act is so much shorter than it ever was. We reflect a lot on the fact that the speed of getting the message into a social channel then igniting an action is a very quick one.

“But at all times, we have to honour our brands. Because if you have a jarring experience on social, that action you ignite might be an unfollow. Because that's just as easy, right? So you've got to be really mindful about the brand, the place of the brand, the authenticity we've talked about for many years, but also the velocity of the action, that can be negative or positive.”