Imagine a debilitating medical condition so prevalent it affects 10% of the population; equivalent to all left-handed people or all people with blue eyes. There would be a national outcry. Government funding would flow rapidly into medical research. Doctors would be compelled to investigate the cause.

But in 2024, for roughly 10% of women and girls in Australia, the crippling symptoms of endometriosis were met with little more than sympathy, short-lived consultations, or silence. It could take, on average, up to eight years to achieve a diagnosis, let alone treatment.

That was until the About Bloody Time campaign by news.com.au sparked a national conversation and achieved meaningful government action.

The multi-platform campaign pushed for increased funding for endometriosis diagnosis and treatment. It attracted 55,000 petition signatures in a week and, within just two months of the campaign launch, led the federal government to commit A$49.1 million for longer consultations, impacting 430,000 women and girls.

Sharing her pain

At the heart of the campaign was the personal story of Lexie Cartwright, a senior journalist, whose frequent absences from work prompted her to confide to her editor that she was suffering from endometriosis. So, too, it transpired, were seven colleagues.

If they were impacted, how many readers might also be?

The editorial team spent months talking to sufferers, health experts, and policy-makers to determine the size and scale of the problem and how best to advocate for change. They exposed how Medicare was failing the million-plus women suffering from endometriosis, a “silent” condition that causes chronic pain and infertility, largely because the government paid a very low rebate for gynaecological care, leaving women with two options: short consults that barely scratched the surface of their issues, or huge out-of-pocket expenses.

About Bloody Time launched on International Women’s Day, March 8, aiming not just to achieve widespread awareness but to secure 20,000 signatures on a petition calling on the government to increase Medicare funding for longer appointments.

The PR team, challenged with amplifying the campaign to as many Australians as possible, identified a missing link: The campaign needed a social video that would be capable of creating an emotional connection with audiences to drive visitation to site.

The video — conceived, crafted and shot entirely in-house — became central to the campaign’s success. It delivered an emotive and repetitive central message: “It’s just bad period pain, they’ll say” and achieved 4.4 million views across news.com.au, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. It helped deliver 3.8 million pageviews on stories throughout March 2024.

Further proactive publicity delivered 521 campaign mentions within a week across external media, with an audience reach of 21.9 million Australians utilising key spokespeople whose personal accounts spoke first-hand about not just the condition, but also the campaign. Additionally, there were 170 radio hits on launch day alone, courtesy of an audio news release featuring excerpts from the editor.

Making a difference

Remarkably, the online petition garnered 55,000 signatures by the end of just one week and, in a halo effect for the brand, young female audiences grew by 24% (362,000) year-on-year.

Ultimately, the campaign secured over nine hours of earned broadcast airtime. But most importantly, on May 10, 2024, just two months after the campaign launched, the Australian government announced a A$49.1 million investment into tackling endometriosis.

Effective July 1, 2025, women suffering from endometriosis will have longer specialist consultations of 45 minutes or more covered under Medicare. The investment will provide about 430,000 more services to help women across the country with complex gynaecological conditions.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .