Canada Caregiver Credit Advertising Campaign
Executive Summary

Prepared for the Canada Revenue Agency

Contract Award Date: January 12, 2018

Delivery Date: March 28, 2018

Contract Number: 46575-180118/001/CY

POR Number: POR 078-17

Produced by: Environics Research Group

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For more information on this report, please email media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca

Executive Summary

Background and objectives

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is launching an advertising campaign to support the new Canada Caregiver Credit (CCC) announced in the Budget 2017.

The new credit replaces previous three credits: the Caregiver Credit, the Infirm Dependant Credit and the Family Caregiver Tax Credit, each of which had different eligibility rules. It is anticipated that the new CCC’s eligibility and threshold requirements will extend tax relief to a greater number of caregivers, particularly those providing care to dependent relatives with impairments who do not live with them. The credit will be available as soon as the 2017 tax year.

The CRA identified the need for public opinion research to determine the most effective type of messaging and proposed creative to inform Canadians of the new tax credit. The campaign’s primary target is women aged 18 to 54, and the secondary audience is men 18+ who provide care for a qualifying relative. The campaign will consist of digital banner ads and digital Out-of-Home ads, and will run from February to March, 2018. As such, timely feedback was required in support of creative production and marketing schedules.

Methodology

To address the research objectives, an online survey was conducted with 513 Canadian caregivers (aged 18 and over) from January 19 to January 23, 2018. Quotas were set to ensure the final sample included Canadians who provide care for spouses, parents/parents-in-law or extended relatives (grandparents, nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers, aunts/uncles) living in Canada (n=400) and those who provide care for children/step-children of any age (adult children included), who need more assistance for their personal needs and care compared to children of the same age (n=100).

Because an online survey is not a random probability sample, a margin of sampling error cannot be reported.

Cost of research

The contracted amount for this research was $38,060.66 (HST included).

Key findings

Three ad concepts were tested for this research, in both out-of-home and Web banner formats: ‘Testimonial’, ‘Thank You’ and ‘The Care You Give Counts’.

• The results of the research indicate that ‘Testimonial’ performed best of the out-of-home concepts on all aspects, including overall appeal, attention-grabbing, communicating the availability of a tax credit, and interest in going to the Government of Canada website for more information. While ‘The Care You Give Counts’ performed best overall of the online banner format, ‘Testimonial’ actually received very similar scores when considering only strong agreement (versus overall agreement).
• Six in ten caregivers experienced a positive emotion after viewing the ‘Testimonial’ concept, compared to slightly more than half for ‘Thank You’ and fewer than half for ‘The Care You Give Counts.’ The top emotions are feelings of compassion and empathy, while caregivers also associate ‘Testimonial’ and ‘Thank You’ with feeling informed about government assistance.
• On a head-to-head basis, more than half of caregivers prefer the ‘Testimonial’ concept overall, while about two in ten each prefer ‘Thank You’ and ‘The Care You Give Counts’. Preference is based on different elements for each ad. ‘Testimonial’ was mainly preferred for its appealing and easy-to-read design elements, ‘Thank You’ for its clear and simple message, and ‘The Care You Give Counts’ for being relatable.
• Most caregivers agree that ads (as a whole) encourage them to see themselves as a caregiver and that the concepts make it clear that there is a need to have spent money in caring for their family members to be eligible for the credit. Only two in ten caregivers say that the ads contain too much detail.
• Most caregivers (61%) say they incur financial expenses for the care they provide for family members. However, only one in ten have applied for any of the caregiving tax credits that will be replaced by the CCC. Currently, fewer than one in five caregivers are aware of the new Canada Caregiver Credit.

Political Neutrality Certification

I hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Environics Research that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research. Specifically, the deliverables do not contain any reference to electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leader.

Sarah Roberton
Vice President, Environics Research Group
sarah.roberton@environics.ca
613-230-5089

Supplier name: Environics Research Group

PWGSC contract number: 46575-180118/001/CY

Original contract date: 2018-01-12

For more information, contact media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca