Helping Australian Businesses Understand Their Role in Stopping Financial Crime

Financial crime costs Australia up to $82 billion every year, funding organised crime, human trafficking and terrorism through legitimate businesses that often have no idea they are involved. Australia's AML/CTF reforms exist to close that gap, bringing 80,000 businesses across five industries into a compliance regime for the first time. But reform only works if those businesses understand it and act. The task was to reach all of them: build understanding of why it matters, establish trust in a new regulator, and drive timely action across sectors with fundamentally different needs, before a hard legislative deadline.

A comprehensive campaign strategy and creative system was developed over 12 weeks, the team conducted moderated 1-on-1 research sessions with 16 industry professionals across five sectors and co-designed with three peak industry bodies: the Law Council of Australia, Real Estate Institute of Australia, and CPA Australia.The strategy delivered: campaign positioning and narrative architecture, a tested messaging framework tailored to each audience segment, a campaign visual identity, creative assets and templates, a content and channel sequencing plan, and a framework for measuring impact. All components were built to be reused and scaled by AUSTRAC's own teams.

In an Australian first, 80,000 businesses across five industries are being brought into the AML/CTF regime, closing a gap criminals exploited for years.This strategy helped make that possible. By leading with engagement over enforcement, it shifted the tone of regulatory communication. Businesses began understanding not just what was being asked of them, but why it mattered. Advertising alone reached 21.5+ million people.The visual identity, messaging architecture, and content system are built for ongoing use, owned and scaled by AUSTRAC's teams. This is the foundation for how Australia communicates financial crime reform for years to come.

The strategy's most important innovation was the central insight that drove everything: “By leading with the ‘why’ of the AML/CTF reforms, this campaign inspired and empowered AUSTRAC’s existing and newly regulated entities to understand and own their role in protecting Australia’s financial system and everyday Australians. This inspired meaningful action, particularly readiness across our newly regulated sectors.” – Dr Rochelle Hurst, National Manager Education & Industry Engagement branchThe campaign was never a standalone comms exercise. It is the entry point into a broader AUSTRAC ecosystem: a connected suite of guidance, tools, webinars, and sector-specific resources built to take businesses from first awareness through to compliance readiness. The results demonstrate that approach working at scale: - Advertising reached over 21.5 million impressions and drove 111,051 clicks through to AUSTRAC’s platform. - More than 14,191 people attended webinars. - 166,016 Program Starter Kits were downloaded, each representing a business that did not just see the campaign but took a next step. - Among webinar attendees, 88% said their understanding of AUSTRAC’s guidance improved, and 77.9% reported feeling moderately or very confident in applying compliance practices.