Background New Zealanders are not sufficiently informed of, nor understand what advance care planning (ACP) is and how they could benefit from it. Our research established individuals like talking about what is important to them and what they want as they approach end-of-life. However, they do not know how to start the conversation. Individuals also want their doctors/partners/family to raise this topic and they want them to feel confident to start and continue conversations.

Aim In 2014 the New Zealand National ACP Cooperative (the Cooperative) sought to establish a national ACP awareness raising day to meet this need. The Cooperative elected to hold this on April 16^th – to align with the United States and Canada. The campaign, Conversations That Count Day, initially targeted active retirees with the aim of increasing awareness of and get them talking about ACP.

Method The Cooperative utilises the co-design methodology. This incorporated two co-design workshops with 18 consumers held in a retirement village. The workshops were designed to understand what messaging and imaging would work, and used various forums/platforms to test the images and messaging before finalising. Consumers wanted this campaign to be clear, simple, interactive and humorous.

Discussion Post cards, posters, a Facebook page and a Conversations That Count website (linked to the main ACP website) were developed.

Conclusion The campaign was a great success: over 80,000 postcards distributed, substantial increase in website visits and positive media coverage. The 2015 campaign is currently being planned and is anticipated to be even larger and more prominent.